Dealing with burnout...

[ritapita]

Just wanted to start a thread and see what people have to say about dealing with burnout...you know, when you have another 20+ pages to write, and they were due like yesterday and all you can do is stare at the screen and the last thing you want to do is type anything because the action of thinking and regurgitating any more info makes you feel like that time you ate too many clif bars on that camping trip 8 years ago and now you can never ever eat another clif bar ever again, and if you do you will puke.  That.  

 

I know it passes, I know we have all been there.  But seriously, how do you all tackle this issue?

[fuzzylogician]

I take a break. If I can't get work done, sitting in front of the computer and failing to get work done, or pulling teeth for a fraction of what I know I can usually do, will just make things worse. I take a break, even if on paper I don't have time for a break because I'm already behind. Sometimes you just have to get some distance between you and your work. Breaks can be just an hour, or the rest of the day or the rest of the week, depending on how I'm feeling and what the time constraints are like. I do non-work stuff. I like watching brainless TV shows. Cooking shows are my favorite for this kind of mood. Or I got sit in the sun; the sun makes everything better. After the break, I get back into work slowly. I start with easier tasks that I know I can finish before I get to the thing that frustrated me before, so I have some positive momentum of getting stuff done before I get to that thing. I might also talk to someone about it to help me think through why I'm having trouble, and I try to break the task down to the smallest possible pieces so I can achieve my goal one tiny bit at a time. I prefer succeeding in parts of the task than falling flat on my face as a whole. It may be slower, but eventually I feel good again and finish the task. It's also easier to get help if you can say "I need to do X, I've done parts Y and Z but W is just killing me" than if you don't even know where to begin.

[rising_star]

Sometimes, rather than staring at a blank computer screen, I freewrite. (I actually wrote my MA thesis almost entirely by hand and then typed/edited it later.) I'll also sometimes just make a list of everything that needs to be done for the project, with as many detailed bullet points as I can. That can help because sometimes just writing everything out helps me realize what else I need to do and can get my mind whirling in the right direction.

 

But, as fuzzylogician says, there are times when you just need to take a break. At one point in my third year, I took something like a month-long break from everything except teaching responsibilities. Yes, a month is a long time. But, by the time it happened, I was already over a month behind on things. It was the best thing for my mental health even if it delayed my productivity in the program.

[dr. t]

I've found that I fuss less about what I'm writing if I'm writing it out by hand. Often when I get writer's block, I'll start working on the paragraph in a notebook until I work it out.

[booksnlooks]

In addition to giving yourself some real time off and free writing (both of which i highly recommend, plus fuzzylogician & rising_star are always right), I recommend talking your way through your problem to determine what the source of the issue is. Keep asking yourself "why?" until you unlock the biggest cause of burnout. Maybe it's a lack of self care, maybe you haven't taken a break in months, maybe you've got too much on your plate...whatever it is, analyze it and talk yourself through it so you can figure out a plan. When I experienced burnout last May, I kept analyzing my problems until I realized that the biggest problem for me was my health. I made more of an effort to take care of my health problems, took a break, and felt much better. Hope this helps you too!

[Bleep_Bloop]

Sometimes, rather than staring at a blank computer screen, I freewrite.

 

This. For whatever reason, staring at a blank word document provokes anxiety and chokes me up. Not being able to get my thoughts down because of this  makes me even more anxious and worsens the writer's block. So I'll at least start writing my paper by hand and then switch to typing once I have some material, or just write the entire first draft by hand. I thought this was just a personal quirk until I saw this thread!

[ritapita]

I think I need to try the freewriting thing a bit more. Thanks for the reminder of the old-school ways. I do so much of the glazed over stare at the blank screen thing, which like you said, just makes me feel even more pressured and guilty. I also think the computer glare really affects us.

[GregsAnEngineer]

This was incredibly helpful. I'm going through this right now. I am working on a draft of a paper and it just feels like there's a barrier keeping me from getting anything done. I have all the information but putting it into words feels impossible. I haven't thought to try writing instead of typing and am going to give it a shot. 

 

Thanks again.

[juilletmercredi]

I also take a break. Sometimes you have to lean into the slump and just wait for it to get over.

 

Freewriting by hand doesn't work for me because I write incredibly slowly by hand, but I do often just clear my mind and allow myself to write whatever relevant nonsense comes to head. A zero draft, if you will. A lot of times the "block" comes from insecurity and perfectionism about our work. It's hard to let go, but you're more productive without it. You do have to go back and edit, but it's better than having blank pages for weeks on end! I wrote a lot of the dissertation this way, especially the last part. I was actually surprised at how much sense my discussion made because I felt like I was half-sleep through most of it and half-drunk through the rest

[Humulus_lupulus]

Go camping or something for a few days, and just take some time off. Put it out of your mind and don't feel obligated to try to make progress. Go back to it when you feel refreshed--camping is good because there is no internet to distract you! I'd start off with just an outline, throw in as much detail as you can. I find papers basically write themselves this way.

[Spiesie]

One thing that I've found helpful (especially when I have multiple projects to do) is make a schedule/checklist. I'll schedule a specific time into my day when I know I need to only focus on an assignment and then make time for doing fun/brainless activities where I can unwind in between work. Also, I break up assignments into smaller pieces that I'm able to physically check off of a list. I've found this to be very motivating as I can actually watch myself make progress even if it doesn't feel like I'm doing much. I agree with the other posters who suggested taking a break. There have been multiple times where I've resorted to watching Doctor Who in the library instead of working on a project! This helps me to rest and clear my mind though, and I've found that the ideas flow much more smoothly afterward!

[ANewGuy]

Sometimes, rather than staring at a blank computer screen, I freewrite. (I actually wrote my MA thesis almost entirely by hand and then typed/edited it later.) I'll also sometimes just make a list of everything that needs to be done for the project, with as many detailed bullet points as I can. That can help because sometimes just writing everything out helps me realize what else I need to do and can get my mind whirling in the right direction.

 

But, as fuzzylogician says, there are times when you just need to take a break. At one point in my third year, I took something like a month-long break from everything except teaching responsibilities. Yes, a month is a long time. But, by the time it happened, I was already over a month behind on things. It was the best thing for my mental health even if it delayed my productivity in the program.

 

Dude.  Pretty sure this would just piss my advisor off. I mean were you still pulling the stipend?

[fuzzylogician]

There is no reason why the first text you produce to get yourself unstuck is anything your advisor should see. It's simply a way to get unstuck. As with other parts of life, then you exercise your better judgment about what you do or don't share with others.

[rising_star]

Dude.  Pretty sure this would just piss my advisor off. I mean were you still pulling the stipend?

 

Yes, because I was still doing what I was paid to do, which was teach (I was funded as a TA at that time). I specifically said that I didn't shirk my teaching responsibilities because I didn't. I taught my classes, held office hours, assigned and graded student work, did course prep, etc., which took up the 20 hours a week I was paid to work. I'm in the social sciences and wasn't a RA at the time so while I delayed my own research, I didn't delay anyone else's or steal time or something like that. 

 

Also, I never said it didn't piss my advisor off. But, I didn't have the kind of advisor that let stuff like that in my life bother him. At some point he was probably bothered by the slowdown in my progress but, in the months prior to that break I'd worked my butt off sending out grant applications to fund my research. After that break, I found out I got multiple awards to collect data for my dissertation. 

 

A Ph.D. program is a marathon, not a sprint. It's nice to think you can keep up a sub-4 minute mile pace the entire time but, realistically, you can't. I never tried to, which probably helped manage my burnout but, churning out grant applications while teaching a new course and taking two grad seminars is what led me to burnout in my third year. Had I not taken a month to step back from everything that wasn't necessary, I might've ended up taking a leave of absence from the program to preserve my mental health and well-being.

[dr. t]

PhD comics is, as always, apropos