Maybe it's the dismal weather we've been having lately but I'm really feeling completely and utterly fed up with my PhD. I'm in my 3rd year and will be going into 4th year in October and I still have so much of the actual research to do let alone writing about any of it. I've had a few set backs along the way, illnesses, transferring to a new uni (and moving 200 miles) a year ago to follow sup when he got a new job, technical issues and a bereavement. But I'm getting to the point where I feel like I'm running out of steam and just want this all to be over so I can move on with my life. I know I just need to get on with it but at the moment it's all just a bit overwhelming and I find that one or two days can go by with not much progress. I've agreed a target submission date with my sup of Feb and I need to have all of my experiments etc finished by Sept, I just don't seem to have to motivation to get it done and I don't know why.

Sorry for a bit of a miserable post, I just felt the need to vent.

I'm sorry to hear so much has happened ... life can really get in the way. And the length of the PhD can really wear you down. It can eventually become like Groundhog Day where each day just repeats itself. But chin up, you can make it if you take a step back, breathe and plan.

You need to break your PhD into as many micro tasks as possible. Such planning will be tedious, even scary, but once you have a time-line of what needs to be done and it becomes a matter of just checking the boxes, it'll be easier to begin with work. Paralysis often happens when you know you have to get something done, but it's just so completely overwhelming that even looking at it makes you sick.

Try to get your hands on this book. It'll tell you how exactly to come up with that plan. I mean it'll literally take you through the process step by step as though you had a therapist by your side (it's the only PhD book of its kind that I've come across!)

http://www.amazon.com/Finish-Your-Dissertation-Once-Psychological/dp/1433804158

If you're really tired, give yourself some time to do this. It's better to be generous with yourself now and produce a plan (you'll also warm yourself to working in that process) than to force yourself to put in the hours without getting anything done.

Hang in there!

Hiya Pixie, you are not the only one. I have 6 months of funding left and I'm trying my best to optimise my time and money. Some days I feel so eager to finish my thesis, pack my stuff up and head home ; other days (like today and yesterday) I feel so weak, more so as I'm down with sneezing and cold. Ah, the wonderful British weather ! :D
I've more or less drawn a schedule for me to finish up : 5000 words per month for the next 4 months or so will bring me to a total of 70K words. Then I am going to start polishing and refining my work. Hope you can do the same. At the same time, be kind to yourself and take short breaks. Take care !

Hi Pixie, I'm in a very similar boat to you. My funding runs out in September. I'm planning to finish the research by November and submit in April. Life (stupid life!) got in my way too which is why I'm far behind where I had hoped to be.

I think, with still having research to do at this point it all seems overwhelming. Have you got a precise plan of what research still needs to be done?

Something that I have done recently which I found really motivational is to write the Abstract for my PhD. It's kind of a fantasy abstract in that I don't know what the results of my experiments will show, but it summarises my PhD story and helps to tie all the work together. Writing the abstract didn't take too long, but having the abstract written up (and printed out and stuck to the wall next to my desk) has really helped me get some motivation back. More importantly, it didn't take long for my supervisors to read and comment on which has really helped to formalise the plan/aims etc. in my mind. Think of the abstract as the wood. The research you're doing, and struggling to do is the trees. Writing the abstract has helped me to see the wood through the trees.

Oh and following ultimax's advice in another thread I bought the "Finish Your Dissertation" book. I'm just starting to read it now (as in, I'm sat at my desk now with the book in front of me) and so far, it seems to be really helpful. Thanks again Ultimax!

Glad you found it useful IntoTheSpiral. If you're familiar with therapy and CBT, there's nothing really new in the book. But what makes it brilliant is it's specifically for PhD students, so the anecdotes and ideas will speak directly to you, and in some instances, very powerfully so. The practical exercises will, at the very least, give you an idea of how to actually move ahead when you feel paralysed.

When I'm feeling down with self-doubt I like to thumb through the earlier sections to remind me that how I'm feeling isn't abnormal and to get some perspective on my thoughts and feelings. I think the isolation of independent research is a huge echo chamber for insecurities so being connected to the experiences of others, either in person (fellow PhD students who are honest with you) or virtually/textually (online forums like this, or books like Finish Your Dissertation), can really, really help you feel better. Just talking and commiserating with others about the woes of your research and finding out you aren't abnormal really helps! In fact, "troubles talk" among PhD students as part of the PhD experience has actually been researched and presented on!

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0158037X.2011.585151#.UadO19KG2uI

Thanks for the advice everyone. I looked up the book Ultimax recommended, I can't afford to buy it at the moment but I did find the authors website and there are some useful articles on there which are free to access.

I sat down and made a long detailed to do list and this has actually helped me to focus on what needs to be done in the short term, i.e. different stages of my experiments, and longer term. I also managed to tick one of the smaller tasks off not long after I wrote th list so that helped to give me a boost.

I'm not too worried about the writing side at the moment as my sup has always told me that my writing is good, guess I'm just lucky there. It's the research side that I find harder, especially since I decided a while ago that I know I don't want a career in research. This is also playing on my mind, what do I do next, but I'm trying not to think about it at the moment as it just stresses me out.

@IntoTheSpiral, my funding also runs out at the end of September although I am eligible to apply for an additional 6 months after my next committee meeting ( at my uni we have these every 6 months and the next will be some time in the next few weeks), this would keep me going until the end of March as long as I get it.

I had a meeting with my supervisor yesterday and he still seems to think I'm just about on track, so I suppose I just need to start believing in myself more. I am feeling a bit more positive today so I just need to try and keep hold of this feeling!