Hi everyone,

I am about 4 months into my second year in humanities based PhD and i feel like I am all out of motivation already. I have conducted my first round of interviews but feel very behind in things like my literature review and my methodology write up is non existent. I had an attempt at writing a paper as I was worried I was the only person not publishing anything and my supervisors pretty much tore it apart. After a few weeks transcribing I have now lost the plot with it all a bit. I am struggling to work for more than a couple of hours a day. Did anyone else go threw a period like this in year 2? Any advice for getting things moving again?

Thanks all :)

Sarah

It's really common to go through what are called mid PhD doldrums or blues. Either in 2nd year if you're full-time, or the part-time equivalent as I went through. They are very tough!

The way I dragged myself back was to make a long list of lots of short achievable tasks I could be getting on with. Then I would pick the most appealing task (or least unappealing usually!), and start with that, do it, then cross it off the list, and move on. Crossing things off the list really gave me a boost, and I managed to get back into the swing of things that way.

Also I would recommend not comparing yourself to others too much, that doesn't always help. And supervisor feedback can at times be really tough. It will be again before the end. But you can get there!

Also even if you are studying for just a couple of hours a day that's a lot during the week. I was managing on at most 5 hours a week by the end, in 1 hour chunks spread throughout the week. But I'd use my to-do list method to get on with something, however little time I had, and so still make progress that way.

Good luck!

Thanks for your reply :)

I am starting the week with a big to do list to try and increase productivity! Although I am sure I will discover lots of ways to procrastinate along the way!

Just remember about the lists you are making - keep it reasonable. This 'friendly reminder' isn't about the tasks but about the time. This just may be me talking about myself but if my list got long enough where I couldn't finish it in a reasonable time frame (weekly list or daily list), it would turn into a drag. Be thorough and reasonable about what activities are on there. If it is really that important, you won't forget.