Surviving the last few weeks...

[Sadie_Bea]

Just posting to try to summon up the motivation to make it through the finish line that (for me) is 3 weeks, 3 presentations, and 3 papers away.   I'm a first-year PhD finally getting over the "imposter syndrome," but, as always, the last couple weeks are practically paralyzing me.  I have 2 out of 3 presentations ready, and 1 out of 3 papers mostly completed, but I'm still only halfway there with waning energy and an even worse level of motivation.  Thanksgiving break hasn't helped at all because I just did nothing all week and I feel like I've lost some momentum.  That, and I suddenly feel the panic of realizing its too late to change my paper topics even if they are irreconcilably dumb (which I realize they are not, in rare moments of sanity).  AND I'm ridiculously distracted.  I can sit for hours designing the website of my imaginary future business, but stapling my butt to the chair for serious paper-writing is just not happening very successfully.   I feel like I get up every 5 minutes for a snack or to do dishes or check the mail or take out the garbage...and the list goes on.  

 

Is anyone else experiencing this?   What are you doing to motivate yourself in the last stretch of the semester? 

 

Best,

 

Sadie Bea

[memyselfandcoffee]

well, I am also struggling to get through these last few weeks.I don't have much advice, I can only empahasize really.

For me, part of the problem is I have received bad feedback recently , and also I normally really look forward to xams break. But this year I have conference right after christmas and my super who is not too happy with me, wants a paper ready by mid january-- so guilt free xams lounging, the thought of which normally gives me an enery boost towards end of term, is not to be for me this year. I'm feeling very sorry for myself at the momnet, and pretty browned off.  I am just going to try and carve out a few hours here and there of 'me time' and try and really appreciate and savour them. I just went for 40 minute walk, and i feel somewhat better already and I am now going to enjoy a large cup of coffee and an hours guilt free tv watching. Hopefully i will be somewhat more motivated  and energized once i acknowledge the breaks and really savour them.

 

I find what I often end up doing when I feel like is pretty much what you describe-- working, ploughing on, but really not being very efficient-- I am hoping the way to circumvent this-- is to take propoer guilt free decent breaks. I have shed loads to do with exams and presentations coming up too, but i think the only way I will be any way profductive is if i take the odd evening/morning off.

 

I would be interested to hear what you think of my strategy, please feel free to respond.

 

Elise

[MsDarjeeling]

I'm only in an MA program, but I find when I feel this way at the end of the semester it is because the assignments that I have left literally don't interest me.  If it is something I got to choose the topic for or whatever then I have no problem getting it done.  And like you I get up often to snack, clean, use the phone, or whatever and waste a lot of time.  What helps?  A few things:

 

Set a timer for 45 minutes, turn on meditation music, and force myself to work.  Take 15 minute break, then repeat for a total of 3 hours.

 

Stop working at home.  Go to the school library, public library, coffee shop, park (if its warm), etc.

 

Do not plan to spend the whole day working.  Carve out time to go run errands, watch a movie, meet friends, etc.  I have to get some work done if I want to meet my *go have fun* deadline.

[callista]

Ugh, I'm having the same problem, too.  We can do this!!

[St Andrews Lynx]

I submitted my preference form for joining a lab group right before Thanksgiving. I was stressing and dithering about that for a while, until I made a choice I'm happy with. Now it's just a case of waiting to hear if I've been accepted or not. I might officially hear back before Christmas...anecdotal evidence suggests that is what commonly happens. 

 

Adding in my last 2 exams and the TA evaluation forms that are starting to trickle in...it *is* going to be a slog to get to the end of term. But at least it appears I'll get there alive. 

 

My best advice for avoiding distractions is to take your work to the library or coffeeshop. Most of the time I treat my apartment as my "unwind, chillout and potter about" space, which makes it hard to do serious work there. I also change locations when my attention starts to flag, that keeps me focussed for more of the day. 

[danieleWrites]

A complex of vitamin B, V8 juice (low sodium, regular) rather than or in addition to caffeine, and some exercise that involves being outside, and some sunlight (if possible). Add jiggling around and Ritalin to your list of feelings when staring at a blank word processor, and you're talking about me.

 

The problem you're running into (writer's block) is pretty usual. You have some options available. First, figure out your writing process. No doubt, you have some ideas about how to develop your papers' topics, by now. So go back to the invention stage of writing. See what kinds of ideas you can worm out of your topics that are more interesting, if that's possible! If one of my comp students had to write a paper on socialism, I might suggest s/he explain how the NFL is a working model of socialism. After that, plan it out. If you're running into a wall, most writing centers can help you out. They're not just there to fix draft, they're also there to help generate the paper, all the way from "this is the assignment, what now?!" panic to looking for missing commas. If the writing center sucks for you, maybe a member of your cohort will like the opportunity to bounce ideas with you. Some do, some don't. This isn't helpful for everyone. But I will be toddling off to take my own advice now. With a piece of chocolate. Ghiradelli. Nummy.

 

Motivation, I feel that. I have a picture of my future PhD diploma that says "YOUR NAME HERE; THAT'S WHY!" taped to the wall. It doesn't always help.

[kaister]

Lalala~ feeling the craziness setting in. I just had a bout of the "imposter syndrome" and I'm just about getting over it again.  It's a vicious cycle.

 

I find that procrastinating by doing other things that need to get done a nifty excuse for not getting a paper done…so it's not like I'm completely wasting time? Hah.  I can't wait for break and then to start semi-fresh with a new semester! 

I think I'm going to buy myself some new headphones so I can block out everything in the lab and just focus.  Maybe it'll deter people from bothering me as well and force me to work!

[JaneDoe41319]

I've been feeling this way since the week before Thanksgiving.  Had a paper to finish the Friday before Thanksgiving and that was a miserable week of being up late four nights in a row trying to finish.  It didn't help the professor for that class gave us no feedback on what he was looking for but gave us a very vague, write a review paper command and told us it had to do with genetics.  Kind of broad

My motivation is waning because I'm not sold on my research and I'm not enjoying the classes I'm taking.  Bad start to grad school

I'm beginning to wonder if I've been suffering from "imposter syndrome" myself for the better part of the semester...

[callista]

Don't you love these broad assignments?!

 

OK, I'm one paper and one presentation down.

 

Noise cancelling headphones are wonderful.  (I initially typed "nose" instead of "noise"... that wouldn't be very nice, would it?)

 

I'm gonna stop here.

[Sadie_Bea]

Glad I'm not the only one in this boat!  Panic eventually set in as the motivating factor, and I'm finally down to one paper!!!  It's almost worse now, though, because there's just one thing standing between me and glorious sleep-filled Christmas break, and most of my cohort is already done for the semester.  

 

Anyway, good luck to everyone else still working on final papers/projects - we can do this!

[Arrowfletch]

No papers for me.  Just one more test on Wednesday, which I'm taking tomorrow to study for, and then two and a half days of being in the office that I need to fill somehow before I can go home (I'd love to leave after my final, but have very limited vacation days).  I'm more worried about filling that time than anything else--I don't want to just sit in the office and goof off, but I'm a bit stuck on my project right now and haven't been able to ask anyone what I should be doing.  And I need to talk to my advisor before I go, but he isn't super approachable.  Besides, all I really want to do is stay in my apartment and rest...

[sansao]

all I really want to do is stay in my apartment and rest...

 

That's pretty much what I've been doing all week.  I finished my last project and paper on Wednesday and Friday respectively.  I'ts been difficult to fight the urge to just sleep for the entire holiday break.