Hey guys,

I know there are multiple threads relating to motivation but I'm perhaps looking for some good suggestions on how to keep motivated and make sure I'm getting my thesis in shape for submission pretty soon (say next 6 weeks).

This is a seemingly daunting task, filled with the fact that I've got to rewrite my results chapters to include more evaluation; work (my three part time jobs as I'm a part time self funded student); and take the criticisms of my increasingly hard to please primary supervisor, who over the last year has been a massive pain in the arse going from my best friend to my worst enemy in a single week, and there the supervisor-student relationship has remained!

I really need to stay motivated to keep on track for a submission so I can at least move on and begin to look for a proper full time position in academia (which will then be a whole new kettle of fish!).

So, to any recent submissions or completions or even anyone with any amazing ideas, does anyone have some decent advice on how to remain calm, but most of all motivated, to get through the writing up stage to submission? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you
Smiler :-)

Hi Smiler!

I'm posting in this thread partly for selfish reasons as I'm finishing up too - my submission date is in two weeks! - so it would be good to hear what other people have to say on the matter.

One piece of advice I can share, though, is to make a plan: work out exactly how much you have left to do and how long you need to do it. I did mine just before Christmas and it's been really helpful as I've found the process of being able to tick something off the list really satisfying. I really think it helps to have some way of monitoring your progress; not just for organisational but also for motivational purposes.

Other than that, the other thing I've found helpful is trying to make sure I have at least a little time off every day - even if it's just an hour to catch up on TV. I'm still managing to treat it as a 9-5 job (just about!) so I stop in the evening when my boyfriend gets home from work, which means that I still get some downtime.

Hope this helps - and that others have some good suggestions!

Hi guys, this is what seems to work well for me:

I copied my entire table of contents into an excel spreadsheet. In the columns next to it I added one of these criteria: Not started, in progress or complete each with different colour coding (red, yellow, green). Then another column for target word count for each section and then I set dates for each section. In a separate tab I compiled a statistic of how many not started/in progress/complete sections I have including what the percentage of each is out of 100%. So every day I can control my progress and see how much is left. It really helps breaking everything down into little tasks feeling less overwhelmed.

Btw I'm German - Is it obvious lol ;)

This is good advice AnnJolie, thanks!

Hey guys,

Thanks for your advice! I like the idea of doing the contents page list. I think the efficiency is something that I like about that method. I think seeing how much left gives you a bit of a confidence boost.

Maybe a tad AnnJolie ;-)