Apologies everyone--I know that there have been thousands of threads like this one, but I just wanted to vent somewhere! For the past month or so, I have done so little work that it's embarrassing. In fact, this year has been dreadful in terms of productivity. I kind of had a panic this morning when I realised how little I've done. Maybe it's an 'end of year' kind of worry as you realise that a year has passed and you've been a lazy bugger! Has anyone else had a lazy year? Do you think you can bring it back up to speed if you go at it hammer and tongs for a few months? I'm planning to catch up over the summer months and work solidly to make up for my slackness!

I can't believe how quickly time passes on the PhD! You think it's going to go on forever, and that you've got plenty of time, but I'm amazed at how quickly it flies past. Before you know it, another year has gone and you've got very little to show for it in relative terms. I think of how much I could have accomplished this year, and I just cringe at the reality of the situation. I'm just trying to work out what the hell I've been doing when I've not been doing work!

I'd say my computer has been a major culprit, and my telly in the evenings. If only I'd just worked a couple of hours each night, I'm sure it would have made all the difference! Well, I suppose there's no point in reflecting on what's already gone. The only thing I can do now is look forward. I get so frustrated with myself! If I actually did the work, I wouldn't sit around panicking about it! Arghhh!

What we could do with here (in general) is a procrastination tips thread. Often people have some very good ideas (I liked the 'diary idea' of someone's a little while ago, where you write down everything you have done in the day) that could be beneficial to all us procrastinators out there.

I also feel the same way, am almost half way through and think I have very little to show for this. Procrastination tips would be good. I am thinking when I can maybe to turn off the internet for a couple of hours because when I am writing up I spend the first 20 minutes checking emails then I start for about 5-10 mintues, then think of something else I can look up. TV is also a problem for me but I couldn't throw it out! I think it would be great if there was like a PhD camp where a person could go to write up. I read in a how to write your dissertation type book that in the US such places exist! Anyway, I have started to write out at the start of the day what I hope to achieve and then in the evening what I actually have done. It's a paper version at the moment but I think that doing this online might be better because you feel like you are putting this progress somewhere if that makes sense, so the online diary's here are a good idea.

sorry online diaries, what year are you in bellaz?

i also feel i've done very little this year - for my PhD, anyway. did plenty of other stuff (teaching, working on unrelated projects, funding applications, moved house internationally, etc.). then when finally i didn't have so many other things distracting me anymore, i slumped.

anti-procrastination tipps thread would be very welcome. that should be a sticky thread!

a friend of mine has a dream to do just that: open a house where people who need to write can go. you'd get a plain room, access to a garden, a communal kitchen/dining area, and lots and lots of different places to write (desk, bed, armchair, hammock, blanket in garden, places with views, places with nothing to distract you, ...)
if only she'd already made this real!

Join the club! 18 months in and feel I have nothing to show for it. Been in such a slump for about 6 months now and can't seem to break out of it.

procrastination thread is a really good idea!!!

maybe someone ought to start a thread of "what have you done today"

anyone is welcome to join my "online writing diary" (which was originally Jojo's idea) I would be glad of the company. BB is already a member hehe.

hmmm perhaps even a thread where people can update their progress of what they have achieved , even if they feel they need to update on an hourly basis to get themselves moving..and motivating.. sort of a "clock in" thread. where people log in on the hour and put down how much ACTUAL producitive time they have spent working during that hour, and what they have achieved

what do you all think ?

In a strange way, it's comforting to find that you're not the only one who is having trouble with motivation, although in the end I guess we can only answer for ourselves! That's the scary part of the PhD, accountability. Before starting the PhD, I imagined myself totally immersed in it, but the reality has been quite the opposite! I end up finding 101 things to occupy me, and none of them involve my PhD. This is terrible! It's funny, because when you talk to other non PhDers, you paint this picture of being completely consumed by your PhD.

I've talked to other academics about the motivation issue, and none of them confessed that they struggled with it too. Maybe they're just covering up. What do you think?

Bellaz I totally agree with the covering up thing...I find it really hard to actually tell the people I work with when I'm struggling with motivation, havne't produced any work, haven't got a clue about things etc etc. And that is part of the reson I have struggled so much with my PhD. In the meantime I put on this facade of pretending everything's ok and everyone probably thinks it is, even when I sit and cry at home because it is so not ok. I have a sneaky feeling I'm not the only person in my dept to hide their fear/unmotivation/unproductivity etc.

That is why I like you guys...I feel anonymous which means I can be totally honest, and you give me the support I don't get from uni. And yes, sometimes just knowing you're not the only one who's struggling helps - that's the whole part about uni, everyone else is hiding behind their "life wonderful, I'm doing great at my phd" facade too, which makes me feel even worse. I've said it before...there's solace in comradeship...
Oo...that was longer than I thought it would be!