Hi everyone,

My hand in date for dissertation is 9 weeks away and I have barely started which should be causing a LOT of stress but it isn't...I think I must be in denial about it as I don't feel anything at all. I have tested half my participants but I haven't even started the write up. I have lost a lot of confidence and find it so much easier to block it out of my mind and waste days doing nothing.

I think I am so worried about messing it up that I am having trouble starting it. I did my undergrad at a different uni and got a first which made me feel great, but my marks during my masters haven't been as good and my confidence has dropped completely. I have done very little over the last couple of months and when I do try to sit down and start planning the write up I just go round in circles unsure of where to start.

I know I am probably just ranting here but does anyone have any advice on how I can get things back on track??

When you do so well at soemthing there is tremendous pressure and expectation to do as well again the next time. But ti doesn't always work like that. It can be very hard to live up to your own success!

Let yourself off the hook. You got a first and that's great. There are alsorts of reason why that might not be happening this time but put that compeletely aside. Your focus now is on passing and everything else is gravy. If you've got your data, 9 weeks is definitely enough time to write your dissertation. Make yourself a daily timetable for progress and just take it one day at a time.