Hi Fellow PhD'ers:

Does anyone else find that taking on new work (paid jobs, following new ideas, collaborations, etc.) to be way more gratifying than finishing off what needs be done (papers related to work, thesis, core research, etc.)?

I find that the best way to get over a "funk" (being bored/unmotivated) is to take something new on. Introspectively, this is probably the worst thing to do (being in my last year), but I just can't help it! On a side note, I find that dating is equally distracting, yet gratifying!

I hope things are as sunny there as they are here in Montreal :)

Cheers,
Baldy

Hmm, I think I will step out of the shadows on this one as I love side-tracking myself. It is a fun hobby to do when I don't want to do important (relevant) work. This tends to happen more when I am in a funk over my PhD. So I feel your elation/annoyance on that one. However, I have had to discipline myself to doing it in one of two ways, depending on my mood.

1) Take an hour to 1.5 hours to write about the new idea and get it out of my system. This is if it is just a bit of a flight of mental fancy. I had to set the timer on my watch just to keep it constrained. After that, no more mental deviations for the day. Make it fun, get a coffee or have your lunch break while doing that... that way, the time off is really time off anyway that you had planned. Just have to keep a cap on those.

2) The more nagging ones that won't leave me alone I use a different trick. I'll write it down and promise myself that I will play with it that evening. I tend to treat my PhD like a job, working set hours unless I am really behind the 8-ball. Doing this allows me to treat it more like a hobby. I have tried not working on it that evening though, and the next day I pay. It will attack my bring with a vengeance, especially if it is a reading day.

Also, you make a strange reference to something called "dating", what is this dating that is gratifying? When do you find the time to go on these "dates"? Good on ya for finding time for non-academic based distractions.

Yep! The research one is yet to do is always way more interesting than the research one is actually doing. I have written 4 not quite off topic but definitely only loosely related articles on my hobby research during the last 18 months. I kid myself by saying that it is all good for publication profile and interdisciplinary research etc, but the truth is it's just another avoidance tactic. Don't get me wrong, I still love my main research but I'm ready to move on - except that I haven't completed yet! All the job hunting and article writing and research proposals is good and well but it is not getting my PhD finished for me.