I agree, 25/26 is no age at all! I'm in an engineering department (but I'm not an engineer myself) and the postgraduates are of all ages - some are in their early/mid twenties but there are far more who are older, 30s is very common and 40s and older not at all unusual. The department is very proud of how well their students do once they leave the university, so there can't be a problem with older people finding work. And I think it's true that the maturity that comes with being a couple of years older than someone who's come straight through counts for a lot with employers. (Also I got my MSc at the age of 36 and will be 40 when (hopefully) I get my PhD and I'm really not worried at all about that affecting my employment - but I'm not in your subject area.)

Fresh from my supervision meeting. Kindly, they've given me two weeks to write a first draft of my 10,000 word upgrade report. Argh! Luckily a lot of it will be summarising stuff I've already written, but all the same - two weeks! 10,000 words!

Final goal for today - write up notes of my supervision meeting. Any more work can wait until tomorrow!

Heh, I've done that before, Sneaks - drove me crazy until I worked out what was wrong!

Gah, my supervisor just emailed me about my first year upgrade report, which I thought was due in August but he now tells me is due in July, and as he's on holiday for 2 weeks can I submit it by 14 July. Arrrgghhhh! That's more than a month sooner than I was expecting! And - yikes - only three weeks away!

Goal one for today - don't panic about first year report!

Goal two - get ready for this afternoon's supervision meeting - feedback on the two papers I just submitted plus discussion of the upgrade report. Yikes!

Hope it all works out the way you want!

I've achieved goal one - sent off my paper to my supervisors - and just went for a lovely walk by the river. Too hot though so had to come home again for some shade! Ah well. The rest of today is odd jobs and things i haven't got around to.

Morning all!

After working flat-out yesterday I only have a small amount to do on my paper before the lunchtime deadline. Yay! So goal one is to get that finished and sent off. Goal 2 is to do the housework I've been ignoring while doing this paper!

But it looks like it'll be a nice day so I might go for a walk this afternoon. There's a beautiful, peaceful spot about half an hour's walk away, where the canal meets the river, with a path going up through the woods along the riverbank - I love going there, and I feel like I've earned a good break!

Wow, Moonblue, you have been working hard! Good luck everyone else as well.

I have to send the paper I'm writing to my supervisors by tomorrow lunchtime, and have about 2000 words left to write. Some of those words will be straightforward, but others require looking stuff up in books. Eek! Goal for today is to get the whole thing drafted out, so I can edit/tidy up/add references tomorrow. I'd better get on with it!

Gah. Okay, I haven't achieved much on the PhD today, but I will be positive!

Today has not been a waste because:

* I remembered to send my Dad a Fathers' Day card and present
* I gave good advice to a Masters student whose dissertation I am supervising
* I was comforting and reassuring to my sister who was crying on the phone to me for ages about her horrible nasty husband....
* My other half is cooking me dinner tonight!

And in between I have actually managed to get some work done!

Congratulations on getting the interview, Eska! Even if you don't get the job that's a great achievement and should give great hope for the future.

I agree, it's important to try to put it out of your mind. Not easy! But maybe if you allow yourself a little time (a day or so) to daydream in your spare time about all the good things that could come from the job that would actually help you to shien with enthusiasm for the job in the interview? As long as you don't let the daydreams overwhelm you! I've done this sort of thing before when I've had something major like this to wait for - I let myself enjoy the feelings and the excitement for a short while, then gradually try to pull my enthusiasm in and make myself look more realistically (or pessimistically) at the situation. I find it helps me to focus on the things I need to do while waiting for the big event, and then I find I feel a lot calmer about it when the day actually comes.

But that's just what works for me! Other people may have better suggestions. Good luck with it anyway!

I think the weather's had a lot to do with it for me! It's also been having non-PhD things to do in the middle of the days, which just disrupted my flow. But that's just excuses really! I suppose the main thing is, it's normal to have times like this, nobody can concentrate at the same rate all the time, so I'm not going to beat myself up about it!

Anyway - achieved goal 1, yay! Now need to get sections three and four written. But maybe I'd better have a shower and get dressed first. And go and buy my Dad a Fathers' Day present!

Pink_numbers and star-shaped, I feel the same way too - far too much messing around doing other things thi week, and as a result I've done nowhere near as much as I should have.

Oh well. A big push today, and then I've promised myself the day off tomorrow, as I worked all through last weekend.

Goal 1 - finish section 2 of my paper.

What a great idea for a thread!

So far today I have:
* got up early and started work at 8.30
* Restructured the paper I'm supposed to be writing
* Given a talk in a school for a voluntary project I help to run
* Bought nice salady food in the supermarket, and no chocolate!
Ummm.... That's it. So far, anyway!

Eek! Fathers' Day! Thanks for the reminder!

Done my talk at the school, which went well. They were a GCSE group with an exam on the topic I spoke on coming up next week, and yet they still didn't come up with any questions. Yesterday's group was much more lively. I'm glad the talks are out of the way, they've been a big distraction when I should be focusing on PhD work!

After a short break to cool down and rehydrate, on with the next goal: writing lots.

Goal one achieved! Woo hoo. It was a lot easier and quicker than I was expecting. So, straight on to goal 2: writing as much as I can!

Good luck everyone!

Right, I have two and a half hours until I have to go out (doing a school talk for a project I volunteer for). I need to make some serious progress on my paper in that time. Goal 1 - sort out the structure and re-order the parts I've already written.

Managed to write 1850 words today, which isn't bad really. But not enough! May have to beg an extension off my supervisors. Maybe I'll mollify them by sending them the paper I actually managed to finish writing at the same time as asking for extra time for this one. Gah - I feel like an undergraduate! But really, trying to write two papers at once - what was I thinking?!