Labpixie - I hope your experiments went on well :-) My goals are really bite size chunks. It is really a very good feeling to tick things off your list.

I completed 2 of my goals before lunch and after that worked on my simulations and fixed another calculation. I am still at work trying to get one or two more things done, have printed some papers to read tonight. Have a nice evening everyone.

Hello every one,

I was at a very low point yesterday, lost perspective and freaked out thinking about the amount of work I still have to get done. I am feeling better now, so have started with:

Goal 1 - Troubleshoot simulations.
Goal 2 - Edit chapter 5.

Have a nice day! (up)

Hi everyone, I'm back! Hope you have all been getting on okay. I had a great holiday but it's back to the grind now!

Goal 1- wade through a ridiculous amount of emails
Goal 2- edit journal article

Think that will keep me occupied all day; hoping to submit the article tomorrow but would love to get it done today.

Morning if anyone is around! I managed to get my journal article edited and sent off yesterday, yippee. So my task for the next few weeks is to sort my dreaded lit review, which needs a horrendous amount of work and I've been putting it off, eugh!

Goal 1- edit context section and hopefully move it to intro

Think that will probably take me all day!

Hi Button (and everyone else)! I am also back from my holiday which was much needed! I really do think it's important to have a break away from the work from time to time! Sounds like you've had a good day yesterday Button, well done on getting your article sent off!

My main goal for today is to start reading through my draft in preparation for a supervision meeting on Thursday, so I imagine that'll keep me busy for the rest of today and most of tomorrow too!

BTW - Batfink - your fiance? Have you just become engaged? How exciting! (up)

Welcome back Linda! Ooh it didn't click with Batfink, congrats if you're newly engaged!

I've actually done goal 1 and I'm happy, but I now need to eat, make a phone call, and walk doggy. I also feel a bit meh and have a horrible cold, so not sure how much I'll achieve when I'm back at my desk!

Goal 2- start editing section 2 of lit review

Morning if anyone is around! I've got a bit of a busy day today so can only really do PhD work in the morning. May work one day at the weekend though as hubby is working.

Goal 1- lit review

morning Button! i too am on Lit Review duty today. have some feedback to wade through and some parts to amend. really lacking motivation today though. so knackered at the moment. hope your Lit Reviewing goes well! (up)

I hope you don't mind me joining you (again)... I've been meaning to do my amendments for a few weeks now but I haven't had the time and/or energy so far. So... I've had to quit my job, it was a 'normal' job anyway so I won't be missing much apart from the money lol

Anyway, I've been sat at the computer for over an hour now and haven't even got myself organised so that's my first goal of the day!

On a separate note, Batfink, you got engaged??? That's great news! Congratulations!!!

Today I am doing SCIENCE!!!

i.e.

Goal 1 - do experiment
Goal 2 - analyse experiment
Goal 3 - add results of experiment to paper draft
Goal 4 - read through paper draft and send it to supervisor - this should hopefully be the last thing I have to do on it before people from "outside" read it and make comments so I've got my fingers crossed

Good luck with all the lit reviews. I've still got that to look forward to.

Hello everyone! Been completely unmotivated for the last couple of days so not wanted to come and report that here... but I need to snap myself out of it, so maybe setting myself some simple tasks and being accountable to this thread will help me get back into my stride.

I'm trying to rewrite a journal paper after getting comments from my supervisors. So, breaking the tasks down, my first task is to draft out the abstract. Will report back when that's done.

And thanks everyone re the engagement! Actually we've been engaged for about eighteen months, I just don't always call him my fiance. We want to have a civil partnership rather than a marriage (make a statement about being equal, get away from all the historical/religious baggage around 'marriage' that we want no part of) so we're waiting to see whether the law changes to allow us to do that. At which point we'll have a big party!

Good luck with all of your work, hope you're all managing to do more than I am at the moment!

Abstract done - or as much as I can until I re-order some of the sections and add in a little more data.

Next task - re-order the sections and make notes on the extra bit I need to add.

I know what you mean Batfink - I didn't always call my husband my fiance either, it sounds too much like fancy for my liking! It's interesting what you say about civil partnership rather than marriage - I confess I'd never thought about it much but I do believe that there should be universal equality when it comes to being joined together - whether you're heterosexual or not. You've really sparked some interest for me there so I am going to have to go away and read about the different partnerships now! (Perhaps I should have done this before I got married, huh!) Well (extremely) belated congratulations anyway, sounds like you got engaged around the same time as me!

Today I'm continuing to read through and mark up my draft, it's amazing how blind you get to a piece of work when you've concentrated so hard on it for so long - I haven't looked at the draft for 2 weeks but now I'm reviewing I keep finding stupid typos and such, grr! At least it is only in draft and hasn't been submitted! Hope you are all having a good day whatever you're doing, and thank goodness for the sunshine!

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Thanks Linda. Yes, it was the equality thing that really made us think about it. Both of us had always said we'd never get married because of the historical/religious aspects (the religious thing particularly for me cos my parents are very very religious but I'm an atheist, but also the equality/women as property to be handed from one man to another man, etc etc) - we felt even registry office type ceremonies didn't completely escape that. And then some gay friends were talking about their civil partnership, and MrBatfink asked me if I'd consider a civil partnership if it became legal for opposite-sex couples, and it just seemed like a powerful statement of equality and partnership, so we agreed that we'd do that if the law eevr changed. Which I'm not sure it will - I think gay marriages will become law eventually, though who knows how soon (though great to see the Scottish news today), but I don't think they'll offer civil partnerships the other way. Oh well!

Anyway - paper now re-ordered, so time to get on with some actual writing. I'd like to get the introduction and hopefully most of the methodology sections rewritten before the end of the day.

Good luck with your work! I'm looking forward to having a full thesis to look at, but it feels like a very long way off...

Some food for thought there! I'd never thought about the equality thing either. Good points made but it's a bit too late for me now ;-)

I don't feel I've had the most productive of days so far but have managed to get myself organised and read on a few bits so it's not been too bad really. I just had a quick look at my to do list for today. I'm going to tackle a couple of minor bits after I had my cuppa and that will leave me with one of my papers to review.

I'm hoping to be able to finish by 6pm today as it's been a long time since I've dedicated the whole day to study and I don't want to burn out.