Hey everyone, I just wanted to get some tips on how to get out of amajor rut and stuck back into work. It has been a really tough yearpersonally involving a breakup, and some people very close to megetting really sick so its ongoing stresses.. So I've been taking timeout here and there but I have completely lost my work mojo and its beenproperly over a year now that I've been working full time properly andI'm due to submit in September..Well that's obviously not going tohappen and some days I cant even bring myself to get out of bed. Someof my friends know this and they have given me some tips but at the endof the day I'm still like this augh! I absolutely love my work and Inormally just pick myself and get on with it, but it seems that thisyear has just really taken it out of me. I hate this side of me and Ijust want to be able to get out of bed augh!

Draw up a to-do list of lots and lots of things you need to do. Then pick them off, one at a time, starting with those that look most appealing (or least unappealing). Keep the things on the list short and simple, and doable. Don't give yourself the task of tackling hard things.

I had to use this technique many times during my part-time PhD, when I would often be knocked out for months at a time and unable to do any PhD stuff. And the technique does work. It gets you making progress again, and builds your confidence.

Good luck!

Hi, I have had the same kind of problems in the past. During my degree i had a hospital laboraotry placement. I had to work full time and then find the energy to do massive assignments in my spare time. I found it near immpossible to do work. I suffer from anxiety and sometimes even mild depression, and its often when im at my lowest that i found it most difficult to work. I found that literally forcing myself out of bed, by say making appointments with friends early in the day helped alot. Also doing exercise really helped me. And what bilbo said is also good, and i often used lists to begin getting myself doing things again, and afterwards you can see what youve acheived in the day. I am starting my PhD in october and often worry that i will get like that again, but once you have the tehniques in place its much easier to drag yourself out again. O and also there are some absolutly amazing herbal products which really help with energy, worrys and many other problems. So nip down to holand and barats and ask. I know it seems like youll never get out of it, but if I can do it im sure you can to, considering im a stuborn mule haha. I hope this helps !!!

Hi cupcakes, sorry for the tough year. Atleast you have done a positive thing coming onto this site...
After my upgrade in April , I could not for the life of me bring myself to even sit with my laptop ... I didnt want to do anything!!! not for any serious reasons as you had, but I was simply fed up of all of it well and trully! I didnt do a thing on my phd for 2 months(I simply couldnt, however much my professor went on at me about it!!)... I came on here as a chance find.. and one of the golden things that people advised me was to give myself a true break .. not a guilt ridden one- so i did and I can honestly say a few days not looking at the work or even thinking about it allowing yourself wallowing time and soul recovery, works like a charm .. its not to say that its all super fantastic now,... but at least when I go through a dip(which does happen sometimes) I reflect on the break I had and the break I will have when this is finally submitted!!!

Other that that try my tomatoes.com it will inspire you to do small chunks of work

and as Bilbobaggins said .. write lists of stuff to do that are actually doable- dont sweat the hard stuff first- I did the bits I considered easier first.. when i started to get back into the writing - I did the bits that I could see results quickly ie the abstract which helped me think through the different parts of the thesis clearly....
I wish you all the very best!!! stay on here - there are some really great people who will support you and offer great advise :-) you will find you really arent on your own(up)

I set myself deadlines and then tell my supervisor when to expect stuff. It puts me under gentle pressure to work and works best for me.

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Thanks for the advise everyone! I think I'm going to give it all a go, I think it is nice to hear that others have been in the same boat especially! My supervisor has been fantastic and he does understand what has been going on, but I thought after a while I would be perfect and just plough on with work, but it turns out that apart from everything happening and me taking time out because of that, its really taking me a lot of time emotionally to act like a proper human again, and I don't really want to tell him that because he has already been so great .. Eugh I sound so ridiculous! But it is good to get this off my chest because I have been hiding it from everyone else, phew!