Has this happened to you? #nomotivation

[HermoineG]

I'm in deep sh!!t.. quarter started 10 days ago and I haven't even seen syllabi of my 4 classes.. no readings done.. no nothing.. just doing bare minimum and attending classes. I have tons of grants I want to apply to and some of them need recommendation letters too. So I need to get moving - but I just dont want to. Has this ever happened to you? How did you overcome?

I have a 4.0 GPA and being this lazy will get me in a real mess that I wont be able to overcome

[fuzzylogician]

10 minutes ago, HermoineG said:

Has this ever happened to you? How did you overcome?

Yes. It happens to everyone. You need to recognize that your body and/or mind need a break, and you should do your best to let them have it. When this happens to me, if I can, I choose to take a break, however long I can afford to, to do whatever I want without feeling guilty. The worst thing about this situation is when you're not productive, but instead of recognizing that and doing something else, you try to work, waste time, then feel like a failure. You deserve guilt-free time off. If you can't really take time off (e.g. because the semester just started), you very deliberately decide what is the minimum that you have to do to stay in good standing, and you put off other things. Again, the idea is to allow yourself the time you need to recover. A PhD can be emotionally exhausting, and you have to be kind to yourself. It's also probably good to know that everyone has more productive and less productive times, and those times can be extended (I think I didn't do much of anything useful in the spring semester of my 3rd year! no classes, no teaching, no research, I just spent a bunch of time being confused about what I wanted to do for my dissertation and occasionally had meetings with various people to talk about my confusion and how to get out of it. I snapped out of it in my 4th year). You just have to get through the less productive times and remember that this won't last forever, and it happens to everyone. Take care of yourself, both physically and mentally.

[HermoineG]

3 hours ago, fuzzylogician said:

You just have to get through the less productive times and remember that this won't last forever, and it happens to everyone. Take care of yourself, both physically and mentally.

Thanks fuzzylogician. This really helps. The toughest part is to not feel guilty about it. I'm trying. Thanks  

[Need Coffee in an IV]

Yes its happening to me right now. I didn't do as much as I wanted/expected to do over the break. I lightly read some general info in my field, worked on an internship application, and scoped out possible leads for my required internship for my program. But I didn't do much academic reading, and learning skeletal systems. There also has been some family tensions that have caused me to lose focus. I really need to up my game and focus on learning bones. I agree with fuzzylogician to not be hard on yourself. Everyone has lulls or runts.  So just know you aren't the only one!

[Gadgette]

I'm not in school but I work full time. Usually I'm happy as a clam to be at work,  but now that applications are done I have no drive! Trying to keep up on everything that I need to do is not working out well without motivation.