Hi Squaredot,

I'm not sure if this helps you but I gave up 'my life' 2 months ago when I realised I'd never finish this in time if I didn't. WARNING: what I do is seen as excessive by everyone I know but my supervisors ;-) In practice 'giving up my life' means that I work on my thesis all day every day. I make sure that I eat 3 meals a day (plus a few snacks) and I sleep enough hours. But I don't go anywhere unless I have to (e.g. GP, to buy food, etc), I cancelled my gym membership and all my shifts at work too. Saying that, I allow myself the odd morning off but more recently, with the deadline approaching, I only really don't work if I really need to do something else or I'm too tired that I can't concentrate.

To be honest, I cancelled the gym because I couldn't afford it as well so ideally I'd sleep, eat, study and exercise (it helps with stress!) but remember that, at the end of the day, it's completely up to you!

I think I'm also aware that my schedule is pretty tight and, at present, I have a spare week but I really don't want to hand in on the submission date in case something happens on the day or even before then and I end up not being able to submit (touch wood).

Considering your progress so far, when do you think you'd finish?

Skigs

I'm WAY behind on my 30th sep deadline :-( today I have to..

- phone scary people
- phone more scary people
- read my draft of chapter 1 and 2 and make changes
- start working out what I need to do for Chapter 3.

THen I have chapter 4,5,6 to re-draft and then chapter 7 to write from scratch by 30th!!!!! ARGH!

urgh, scary people aren't picking up - I hate it when you build yourslef up to phone someone and they aren't there, so you have to hang around all nervous until you can get through!

Goal 1 done, scary people phoned.

Goal 2 - find glasses and read through drafts.

hey hey sneaks,
hows is it going (busy - very busy by the sound of it) well join my world. It literally is crunch time. Re-drafting and writting from scratch are now second nature on my end....
I have to complete a scary section today
Start on another partially scary one.
Dabble in the final section.

As for the scary people you have to call just have a piece of choco. before you ring them.. and however they react it will not matter because you will be full of choc. endorphines :p

Everyone else- all the very best for today ... We can do this .. the finish line is round the corner for most of us its just that final push that is the trickiest( I can definately testify!!!)
Having no life is the order of the day for me- the odd coffee out or meal out is literally the most exciting thing ever.. so we are many in this boat!!

Morning!

Well done for calling the scary peep Sneaks! And I like the chocolate idea Naturalme, will def try that nxt time I have to face a challenge ;-)

I didn't manage everything I'd planned for yesterday so goals for today so far:
1) write a conclusion section and email the section to sup - it's already in my head so I just need to organise it and write it
2) finish editing my other chapter

If I manage these, I'll go and write a bit more on another chapter

======= Date Modified 12 Sep 2011 10:58:49 =======
Morning everyone!

Sneaks, well done on calling the scary people, those are the kinds of jobs I tend to put off until they're way overdue and then really embarrassing to carry out!

I just looked in my diary and realised I only have two working weeks until I set off for the conference I'm presenting at, and that scares the pants off me, because I currently have no results to present. Eeeek!

I'm luckily not feeling too ill today. But I get some major test results on Thursday and I can't help being anxious about that - I know it's unlikely to be anything too serious, but I can't help thinking 'what if...'

Anyway. Goals for today:
1.) Plan out analysis needed to be able to present at conference and timetable to get it all done
2.) Prepare for supervision meeting and write up notes afterwards
3.) Start following timetable to get presentation done in time

ooh also, congrats batfink!

I think I now have 6 weeks officially before I start new job, so I NEED to get my thesis submitted ASAP, otherwise it will become some crazy whirwind of stress before xmas trying to get settled in job and writing thesis :-(

fingers crossed for good news on Thursday Batfink; it's really hard to concentrate when you have something really big on your mind.

Ah yes, my earlier congrats was for the viva, not being ill! Obviously :$ I know what you mean about tests playing on your mind. I recenlty found out I have mild PCOS, but when they were ultrasounding me they found a big lumpy thing in my uterus and they have to re-scan me in another month to see if its grown. I gotthe doctors saying "its probably nothing" and then looking a bit anxious while I beamed back at them in my defensive-smile mode.

Hah, Sneaks, I assumed it was for the viva! Thanks anyway. PCOS sounds unpleasant - and I do hope it's all okay when you have your next check-up.

Ady, thanks too, it is playing on my mind but if I can focus on work it'll be okay.

Making progress on my plan of things I need to get done before my conference, anyway. Feeling calmer about it all. Hope everyone else's work is going well today!

Just wanted to say good luck to Batfink and Sneaks with their tests and scans... keeping fingers and toes crossed for you guys!

Many thanks(up), Ady and Skig, for sharing your experiences. I will be working harder and squeeze more time to work, will reduce sleeping hours, take a leave from part time job but keep exercise routine.

Ady, I share your worry about being unemployed after submission but I try not to think about it too much at the moment. From what I gathered, you are almost there so don’t let the worry drain your energy, just keep going and you will be there soon.

Skig, I think end of October is more realistic. I wanted (my supervisors too) to submit by end of September so that there is a chance I can have viva before Christmas. But by the look of it, if I am to submit by 30 Sep, I would be making a very challenging schedule without a day to spare. Both of my supervisors are away on holiday until late September. I am working on draft2 and won’t be able to have their feedbacks on it until they come back, which means I will only have a week to revise draft 2 according to their feedbacks.

Right I've read through all 80 pages of my first two chapters. IT IS DULL 8-)

Now I have to make the changes to my documents - the changes I make whenever I print it out but never actually change on the file. So that must be done!

I'm SO worried about my new thesis structure. So far I have

Chapter 1 = 6,000 words
Chapter 2 = 18,000 words
Chapter 3 = 5,000 words
Chapter 4 = 5,000 words
Chapter 5 = 14,000 words
Chapter 6 = 10,000 words

It looks so stupidly uneven and I think the lit review is WAY too long. But sup ignores everything I say about it. :-s

Squaredot, although Ady and I shared our experiences, you may need to find what works best for you! And by the way, I don't want to put words in Ady's mouth but I think she meant she's not sleeping because she's stressed, not that she cut down on her sleep so she could study (??) I might be wrong on this one though. I'm not sure cutting down on sleep is a good idea, especially if you're stressed and not sleeping well already! It affects concentration and overall wellbeing... as for your viva before Xmas, you don't necessarily need to way to submit before you book it so you might be able to still arrange it for November?

Sneaks, sounds like your thesis is progressing along just fine! Good work! As for the lengths, I'm not sure myself as I've been given specific guidelines for these but one thing that I've learn is to trust myself, so if you think the lit review is too long AND you have time to edit it, go for it!

Work this end is moving along ok and although timing is very tight, I'm still hoping to get everything done in time but that obviously depends on the feedback I receive ;-)

Hope everyone else is having a productive day.