BB1

Over the last couple of days I have increasingly lacked motivation to work on my PhD. I wouldn't say I feel depressed as in other threads, just... tired. I'm not doing particularly badly, I'm halfway through (I started in October 2011) and believe I'll finish on time. I've had 3 competitive papers accepted to major conferences, 2 book chapters published and 1 journal article re-submitted after revisions (awaiting final decision). The problem is that I increasingly don't care. I almost feel that the more I know and the more I do, the more I see my work as insignificant and fail to find a sense of purpose in it. My research is interesting (social sciences- interpretivist), but not groundbreaking. I seem to flit between reading articles by great authors in my field and sitting back in awe at the scope of their knowledge and their intellectual ability (and feeling very dumb and insignificant in comparison) and feeling as though being an academic (in this field) is almost too easy. I'm 23, and will get my PhD at 24, and think to myself that by the time I'm 50 will I just be bored with academia? I'm hoping this will pass.I haven't had a break since Christmas (no more than the odd day or an evening off) and because I'm away at conferences and seminars in April, May and June I can't afford to take a break until July. I'm not sure if I'm just feeling 'burnt out' and whether something will re-ignite my interest, but at the moment I feel like a zombie going through the motions without any real enthusiasm, passion or flair

Over the last couple of days I have increasingly lacked motivation to work on my PhD. I wouldn't say I feel depressed as in other threads, just... tired. I'm not doing particularly badly, I'm halfway through (I started in October 2011) and believe I'll finish on time. I've had 3 competitive papers accepted to major conferences, 2 book chapters published and 1 journal article re-submitted after revisions (awaiting final decision). The problem is that I increasingly don't care. I almost feel that the more I know and the more I do, the more I see my work as insignificant and fail to find a sense of purpose in it. My research is interesting (social sciences- interpretivist), but not groundbreaking. I seem to flit between reading articles by great authors in my field and sitting back in awe at the scope of their knowledge and their intellectual ability (and feeling very dumb and insignificant in comparison) and feeling as though being an academic (in this field) is almost too easy. I'm 23, and will get my PhD at 24, and think to myself that by the time I'm 50 will I just be bored with academia? I'm hoping this will pass.I haven't had a break since Christmas (no more than the odd day or an evening off) and because I'm away at conferences and seminars in April, May and June I can't afford to take a break until July. I'm not sure if I'm just feeling 'burnt out' and whether something will re-ignite my interest, but at the moment I feel like a zombie going through the motions without any real enthusiasm, passion or flair