I'm am currently in the second year of my phd and feel completely overwhelmed and unmotivated. I don't seem to have many results and I must admit that this is partly my fault. I could have worked harder but earlier but I'm trying to make up for it now. One of my supervisors said she was worried that I wouldn't have enough results by the end and may have to write up for a masters instead of a phd. She also said that if she was in my position she wouldn't feel comfortable taking any holidays (I'd asked if I could take 3 weeks off) and then she wrote in an email to me and my supervisors that she doesn't restrict her students holidays. My parents have complete belief in me that I work very hard and that I am in the right and my supervisors are in the wrong. I really don't want to disappoint them. I just feel like curling up in a ball and sleeping forever even though I have a poster and a 2nd report and so much more work to do.
Perhaps you should call a meeting with your supervisory team in which you can all talk candidly about what you already have, what remains to be done, and whether or not anything can be salvaged...
It's a difficult action to take, but better than burying your head in the sand.
Take heart, I recall several periods in my 2nd and 3rd year when I was almost paralysed at the enormity of the task ahead of me. At times, I still feel that way even though I am at the tail end of editing. The only way to get anywhere, metaphorically and otherwise, is to take it one step at a time. Once you get started it will get progressively more do-able.
Definitely meet your supervisors to discuss this. Burying your head in the sand will only make the problem worse. I'd also recommend drawing up a list of things that you need to get on with. In some ways it's quite scary to do that, but if you then start working through the list, doing the easiest things first, you can start to make progress and feel better about things. It's how I've dragged myself out of similar problems.
i felt exactly the same way most of my years in my phd. i had no results for 5 years! my parents had faith in me, and i too was so scared of dissapointing them. i wanted to give up all the time, and was very depressed, it was only in the last few years that i managed to get data.
and again my supervisors always told me, you shouldnt take any holidays and you should work 7 days and work long hours. blah blah.
when your a phd student. you really are given the impression you have to eat, sleep, drink phd stuff. its depressing!
i have a deadline to submit my thesis, and yet i have days and moments where i dont feel like doing anything and just want to nap! i think its avoidance.
and taking 3 weeks off for a holiday wont make or break your phd. its only 3 weeks. i get really tired of supervisors treating phd students like slaves. i used to ALWAYS feel guilty asking for any holidays.
but realised, they wont thank you for NOT taking holidays. it wont even cross their mind, and will soon forget that you did not take any holidays.
do your best, make a plan and then just do the best you can do. regardless of what the outcome, that way at least you know you tried.
aloha, tetris, and bilbo, are spot on with their advice!!
have a meeting, and discuss what and what cannot be achieved and what your end aim and result is. and work according to the next targets and aims.
and i agree with what the others say, take it one step at a time...
This may be atypical but I draw up schedules and revise them regularly. As I reach each target I tick that item off and move on to the next. It helps, I think, having some tangible signs of progress. Why not draw one up, show it to your supervisors and ask their advice on whether it is feasible?
Oh, and yes, sometimes a break can help, provided you really do let go and not spend your time feeling guilty.
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