Frankly, after working and doing the PhD, "only" doing a PhD is a bit boring sometimes! I sort of miss, in an odd way, the constant pressure!

I think you have to keep a clear line in your head that more hours does not mean more or even better work...at some point there are diminishing returns where you are better off walking away from the work and calling it a day, than slogging away at it for more long hours. Your brain can honestly only do so much. I was in the full time practice of law for the first two years of my PhD ( doing it distance learning, but with full time expectations on submissions nevertheless), and I managed to keep up. It was hard, but it just meant being highly organized about time, and very planful about how to meet deadlines.

There is a huge gulf between lack of motivation and other sort of mental health issues. I well see how the isolation of the PhD could contribute to depression and anxiety. A real antidote to that can be exercise, decent diet and I think most significant, contact with real live people. Ring a friend for lunch, water ( if your budget is low), coffee, whatever. Go to a campus activity that you might never go to otherwise, find out if there is an on campus training course for a day you could do--any sort of human contact is important!

I think some of the problem is just the sheer unstructedness of PhD work. And I think that the answer is to some extent a rigid and unflexible self-discipline. Be at work at your desk at 8:00 ( or whatever time you set yourself) no ifs, no ands, no buts. You would not have those available to you in paid employment, so just shift that mindset to your PhD. Its your job. And then set yourself daily, weekly and monthly tasks that HAVE to be met. For instance, work until your daily to do list is done. If it gets done early, then give yourself a break, or move onto the next day and get a head start.

Good luck, I hope it turns out well. And good luck with your transfer to PhD. Just focus on the most important thing right now, which is getting a successful transfer to your PhD. After that, then, you can re-focus and decide what next steps make sens. Let us know how it all turns out.

Yes, and perhaps this was all in pursuit of a world wide conspiracy to establish ***FRENCH CULINARY HEGEMONY****--the real aims of the Evil Fuzzy unmasked??!!

I think the ferret makes a lovely addition--but you cannot leave out the adventures of Basel, the Mouth Breather Trout in the Thames ( he got lost or perhaps kidnapped by the Evil Fuzzy....)

Truth IS stranger than fiction--that or we are uncovering the real motives of the EVIL FUZZY!!!!

His unsuspecting humans no doubt would blame Sweet Big Tabby...and the Evil Fuzzy had done his best to make sure that Sweet Big Tabby would be implicated in the explosion of the computer!

With the object of his revenge clearly in his sights, the Evil Fuzzy paused for a moment to savour his sweet revenge. Then, in a careful and deliberate movement, he let fly with his best evilness, right onto the Demon cumpoota--which exploded in a rush of plastic, wiring and smoke!

www.venganza.org

This is a website that points out the usefulness of charts in supporting arguments of correlation as causation--very helpful in demonstrating the links between global warming and the decline in the number of pirates in the world. Not too mention, the Flying Spaghetti Monster notion solves many of the debates in current science, and might be just the reference scholars have been searching for. The book out about the Flying Spaghetti Monster, for instance, explains the mysteries of the Big Bang Theory as simply being the Flying Spaghetti Monster falling out of bed with a hangover. Fridays are the days set aside to worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the form of worship being to wear pirate regalia, amongst other thins.

Concerned, Evil Fuzzy had done what he thought best--established clear signals that this was his property and not theirs--and he denied their wish to move to another dwelling in the Domain of the Evil Fuzzy. And it was that which had gotten him locked out--his Royal Entrance CatFlap denied to him.

The Evil Fuzzy retreated to a warmer, drier and more feline friendly corner of his domain to ponder his next move. In the distance, he could see the windows of Bleak Towers sparkling like catnip diamonds, reflecting the murky waters of the sluggish Thames. All of this--all of this---as far as his gleaming kitty eyes could see--was HIS and his alone. His owners had some grave misunderstanding about what was what in the Domain of the Evil Fuzzy. Why...he had even heard them say that they intended to sell their home! They could not do that--it was HIS and not theirs to dispose of. Why--they could not even move without his permission, and they had not asked for it--far be it that he might grant it.

After a few nights away, I was sort of amazed that I felt happy and restored to return to my new "home" in Bleak Towers. Its hulking presence on the banks of the windswept moors that oversee the lumbering Thames and L-ville was indeed a sight for sore eyes!

How could the article be complete without the famous mouthbreather trout recipe??!