Hello all,
Searching the net for help and inspiration I spotted this forum and thought you might be able to advise.
I am coming towards the end of the first year of my PhD and I'm feeling completely at sea. I keep reading that you should treat a PhD like a 9-5 to get it done but at the moment I seem to be having one day where I can do a reasonable amount of work followed by one where I can do almost nothing then back to a reasonable amount and so on. I'm only working at the appropriate level half the time. I feel depressed and demotivated. I'm sure I haven't written or read enough this year and I've tried every motivational strategy I can think of.
My boyfriend, who is also a PhD student, now entering his 3rd year, has similar motivation and time management problems and it is causing rows and tension between us. :(

Everyone has the productive-nonproductive-productive cycle; don't worry about it. When you're feeling like you're achieving nothing, work on a separate project that day and come back to your previous work the next day.
As to working it like a 9-5: this depends on the person. I work mine as close to this as possible, only taking work home if I am a) really enjoying it or b) I've got to get it done. Some people like to push themselves to the absolute limit. Do what suits your brain best.

I'm also unable to work the 9-5 pattern,I'm part time and it is quite difficult sometimes to get anything done especially when I have a lot of work to do for my job. However I'm on holiday from school (well at least I can choose when i go in!)so I'm getting things sorted.

I've read the book 'Authoring a PhD' which has been recommended on this site, thanks for that by the way, and that has helped me sort out where I'm going as I've produced a rough outline (preliminary)of all my chapters and am now putting documents ready for each chapter. I feel much better now, and it will stop me photocopying the same paper three times as I have forgotten it is in the pile of files.

next week its going to be start the write up time! - I hope

hey frankie am in exact same position- tried doing a 9-5 yesterday- but really i can only concentrate for 30 minutes max and then get distracted- i managed to read a few chapters of a book- all in all i studied for a total of 3-4 hours. Trouble is, and this happens alot, i finished at 2am so i ended up getting at 12noon- so its all over the place!!

I used to be really diciplined and could work all day and night a few years back but now my brain just refuses to do this. I think as long as you study even 3-4 hours, at any time during the day than that is something- i have decided to study 6-10 today, or at least i hope i will...

A few points here which might help (a bit).

1) Work out your best working hours of the day. If you're a night owl then a 9-5 is not going to be as productive as evening working.
2) I find that the first hour of work is very vulnerable to distraction. If you can force yourself through that hour without procrastinating/surfing then you'll generate some momentum and should be able to work well for the next few hours.
3) I'm also vulnerable to suddenly thinking about something (non-PhD)I'd like to look at on the internet, going off to look at it, then looking at various other things, thereby killing half an hour or more. If you must browse, note down what you want to look at then look at it during non-work time.

If only I practised what I preached!

You are not alone! I generally try and be at my desk between 9.30am and 6 but I may have a gym break for two hours in the middle/start late/finish early/start early/finish late... I may get only one hour's work in even. Most days I would say that I work for about five productive hours and the rest is faffing about. I am nearing the end of my second year, am looked on as a 'good student' by my peers and sups and am meeting all my deadlines. The end of your first year is a time for reflection and to start to get yourself sorted, but for YOU - it is also a time to stop comparing yourself with everyone else, to start to be more self-assured in your work, working patterns and deadlines. It will be fine!!

I bought myself one of those timers for parking, so you know when you have to get back to the car and I set it for a certain time, so if I'm sitting here procrastinating (as I am at the moment)I know I need to stop to get back to work!

Thanks for all the advice.
Having an okay day today - a good 3 1/2 hours of pretty solid work this morning and an hour this afternoon. Am feeling wiped out now though. Just can't think any more!
Still, it's better than the couple of hours I managed yesterday.

related to above question...it is said a PhD student has to be working 70 hrs per week throughout or be prepared to be doomed...is it a myth or a reality???? can we do this? i have worked in industry as well, i have worked in consulting as well, in those areas it was much easier to work these long hours, but for PhD i somehow seem its too difficult to constantly focus

I think if you are having to work 70 hours per week, then something is seriously wrong...

I agree Ju-ju. My funding stipulates a 37 hour week and 8 weeks holiday a year which is a realistic guideline (although more holiday than I actually take!)... you may have a week or two when you have been disorganised or feel under pressure and then you work more hours but really, when you get into the flow and get a routine you should be working 35 efficient, focussed hours. Then go and enjoy your time off!

Thing is though, you don't always know if what you are doing is productive. You might spend a whole week doing something and then decide it isn't going to be of any real use, or you might find that if you get one of those moments when you realise that inspiration has struck and you can condense a whole 2,000 words into one succinct paragraph, - so in theory the time you have spent slaving over all those words has been for naught, but thats the way it goes. I've spent two days sorting out my haphazard pile of stuff into chapters, which was a bit of an Ah Ha moment. This has obviously not been very productive as far as the writing bit goes, but it should help no-end in the future and I can slot other bits in as I find them, instead of losing them, or forgetting I've already printed them off.

I agree joyce... sometimes I have a fantastic week and others... or you end up doing something completely different to what you planned to do. This is part and parcel of getting a PhD I feel - maturing and learning to cope with the unpredictability of it. I find routine helps though and am on PhD 'time' between certain hours of the day - and hopefully working properly! (usually not... hmmph)

it is good to know this, cz i was beginning to think, i am going to be doomed, cz i can only work in random chunks, it wasnt this way when i was working, i was pretty much workaholic...but with PhD it is v unpredictable

joyce, i know where you are coming from. If someone had a look at all the notes i have taken they would think i could write a full chapter or two, but much of it is not so significant- i managed to condense all that info into a 2200 summary which i sent to my sup last night...my problem is that i always think that if i just take loads of notes, even if they are f no use, then it's ok cos i'm still 'working' and doing something at least- talk about a false sense of insecurity!