Does anybody else feel like this? I have so much to do and physically do not thing I can do it all in the time I have. I feel so under pressure but can't think of anything cosntructive to help the situation. I am trying to prioritise but I have to have a revised literature review in by wednesday, I am presenting a paper at a conference on Thursday and I am on research visits from Friday which need work doing on before I go. All of these are important and can't not be done. I feel like hiding under the duvet and hoping everything will go away!

hope it works out allright for you in the end! and just a suggestion - do you actually have to write the conference paper? maybe it will be enough to prepare the powerpoint presentation and a general outline of what you want to say,this will save time, I have found out for myself that this approach works and the audience seems to welcome a person that engages with the audience and doesn't hide behind the piece of paper. good luck!

Hey AnnieG that's a really good idea. It's a conference at my own university and it is interdisciplinary so not everybody will know much about my area so doing it your way might actually be better. My work is very visual based so lots of pics to talk about might work.
Thanks

I feel the same at the moment. I have a report that is now 2 months overdue; there's a backlog of data on my computer I need to anaylse; I SHOULD be doing lots of lab work at the moment; plus a million other things. And I know the next few months are only going to get worse.

I am finding the main thing that is holding me back is me! Even though I have so much to do, I am so demotivated lately. I find it very difficult to drag myself out of bed in the mornings and get stuck into it. I'm really underperforming at the moment. How on earth did I manage to get to PhD level with such a lazy attitude to work?

Wow Sim, it's like you're reading my mind...like you I have overdue work, analysis to do (with software that makes limited sense) and not a rosy view on the upcoming phases. Demotivaiton is taking a huge toll on remedying any of this. I am not eating or sleeping properly as a result, which doesn't help. Also crying far too much... What were they thinking taking me on?!!
Anyway...(deep breath)...like you say pamw, totally overwhelmed by the whole thing. Duvet approach is very appealing
Today I have managed to make a little progress and it has a positive effect, and I try not to think how, relative to the list of jobs I have to do it is not enough progress, but at least it is going forward.

One thing that has helped, oddly, is using microsoft onenote. Our uni got Office2007 and onenote really helps to arrange my ideas etc. Recommend it for a new approach to lit reviews and chapters if you are not enjoying standard word.
Sorry if that doesn't help much, not very good at answers to this conundrum...
Good luck

Don't think there is an answer to this conundrum. knowing that we are not alone is plenty help. It's comforting. Feel a bit less isolated now...a bit.

I agree. Answers are hard to come by, but solace in sharing the experience is apparently just a website away

i've been feeling overwhelmed by the workload for the past 6 months. deadlines, conferences, papers, essay marking, teaching (and moving house in the middle). kept telling myself: this is a very busy phase- i just need to keep going- it will eventually get better. it kept not getting better. stuck it out until the end of term (teaching finished). now the worst is over and i feel so relieved.

at the same time, as soon as i reached that magic moment - end of term - i realised that there are still about 6 huge mountains of work waiting, deadlines just around the corner, and so much to be done. until now, i've always been able to rise to the challenge. now i am beginning to think that this "really busy period" that i barely survived is actually what life is going to be like for the rest of the PhD - and maybe later, too. that is seriously panicking me out - i feel i'm simply not up to it. sorry about being so negative - i guess what i'm saying is yes, i'm feeling overwhelmed by the workload, too.