I seem to be moping around than doing the task list which I was so proud of making. Somehow, the time flies and the list is undone! I was planning to finish an article by last week, but for the past two days just got about 2-3 hours work done. The annoying thing is-I make good task lists, plans and organise things (maybe not...)how I can actually do this? really frustrated with myself and Arrggh!I wont be able to finish this by next June :-(

This happens to me and I find I need to break my task list down into much smaller items, prioritise them, and set deadlines even by the hour if necessary with short rewards when items or groups of items get done.

I'm not in quite the same situation, but suffer from similar difficulties. I agree that small chunks works - but also small (but frequent) time periods. For example, when I'm struggling I tell myself that I don't have to work for more than 15 minutes at any one time - after that, I get to walk away again for a bit. What usually happens, is that during one of these 15 minute sessions, I get reabsorbed withiout realising it and go on working for hours. I don't know if that will help you - but I guess the idea is that by not being too strict on yourself you can relax into work more naturally.

Yep, always an issue! Maybe we create impossible goals for ourselves? I know that my task lists are ridiculous sometimes. I'll set myself the task of finishing two texts in one day, which is just impossible. I've had quite a few jobs on my list which still haven't gotten done. I've set myself the task of sorting out the tornado of paperwork which has been accruing, but still haven't had the courage to face it!

me too on the impossible goals! now I've got to face the prospect of telling my new boss I won't be starting when I said I would because I've still not finished- for the second time - Doh!

The trick to all of this is make sure that what you have down is "achievable"--not what you WANT to do, but what you CAN do. Otherwise, I think the lists just increase the frustration and paralysed feeling, because you have ever increasing lists of what is not done. I have a giant plan for the month, but its not too detailed. Then I break it down by the day or week, and CHANGE it if I have to. Sometimes stuff comes up that you have to adjust for. What works for me is at the end of each day is make a list for the next day, just two or three things I KNOW will get done and have to get done...it helps get my thoughts in order for the next day--then when I start work the next day, review the list, scratch things off as I need to as they get done, and etc..I don't do this every day, but it helps me I have that HELP I AM DROWNING IN PAPER feeling.

and what Smilodon and Leone said about using very small chunks--so you can see progress- I agree! Break it down as small as you have to for it to seem manageable. And remember to reward yourself with breaks or food or drinks or whatever you need for a motivator. While it defeats the purpose of health, sometimes my reward to myself is something out of the vending machine!

Hi Sheena

I make two to do lists when the going gets tough... things I absolutely must do but don't want to, things I can do quite quickly and don't mind doing. Then I alternate... and if I get bogged down in the difficult, I switch to the easy. It works most of the time and at least you get to feel a sense of achievement. On time... I use my mobile phone to set an alarm to go off every two hours when I work and when it goes off, I check whether I'm anywhere near to my goal and, if not, try to figure out why/where I'm drifting off. It's usually a good time to take a 10 minute break as well... and that often helps.

Oh great,thanks to all! I have worked a lot today and feeling a lot more confident (but still not finished, maybe night-duty). Would really like to apply some tips that was given for my next task. I like the idea of small tasks and setting the mobile alarm to go off in 2 hrs etc. When I get absorbed into writing then it really works but the problem is that either I have stop for a class or library closing etc so when I break the flow its hard to go back, but I guess setting small tasks for short periods is the best way So back to my motto "Draft 01 by June 09"

I kind of have the same problem. I enjoy doing experiments and will be at school early until late to get them done. However, on those days when I need to read, analyse data or just be productive, I just sit and make an endless string of "things to do" that never get done. I'd like to piggy back on Sheena's post and ask for suggestions...

Thanl you very much! Quite useful suggestions

Just to give an update of my situation and some tips as Maree looks like she is in the same situation. When I wrote this post I really wasn't producing anything. But with the timed and short term planning I managed to finish the first draft of my paper (but with a night-write). I tried to write pieces of work rather than one whole 'paper', so, it was reading one artcile and jotting down what I thought about it roughly then after 4-5 articles I managed to go back to computer and wrote those by putting connections between them. I got up from writing abt every 3-4 hours and came back to it. First read what you like or articles that looks interesting to you or your work. If its a study similar to your lab exp. then you might want to read it and see what they did and get ideas about improving or limitations of that. However, allow yourself to have some lazy hours. Hope this helps I'm going back to sorting my results sections.