A day in the life of a thesis procrastinator

Or "yet another day..." I suppose it should say.

Yesterday the first thoughts of despair hit me. So far, I've always been fairly confident, even when the work has been tedious or when I haven't had time to work on my thesis at all. If I hit a wall, I either did something else for a bit, or just found a way around, or over, or on occasion even through the wall. I may have missed my initial deadline, but I wasn't too worried - I had the Christmas holidays.

Until I took on a massive translation for the last two weeks of the holidays, leaving me with this one week. Maybe this is what's made me all jittery - the deadline has either come waaaay closer than what I am comfortable with, or it has been pushed back so far that I've failed entirely with my plan of having my thesis done early. Sure, finishing it in, say, February would still be quite an achievement, but not what I had in mind at all.

So there's that, plus the fact that I've hit the largest, most sturdy wall to date. And I have no idea how to work with it, or get rid of it. Which, you know, is bloody a teeny, tiny bit stressful.

BUT that was yesterday. And I got through it by coldly deciding to get myself into revision - quite a large chunk of work, but one I could handle, and one that had to be done at some point anyway. So I got started on that in the evening (funny (or, actually, bloody stupid) how the majority of my day's work is done between 7pm and 9pm), which is always good, because there is nothing worse than having to start on something new first thing in the morning. That's what writers' block is made of.

So I'll take a deep breath, and just throw myself back in there. I can do this, I can, I can. Really.

Pictures: weheartit

Thesis week, day 2

Yesterday's score:

Pages: unsure (mainly revision)
Tomatoes: 7
Games of solitaire: too many

Yeah, seems a bit like my blog is getting more love and attention than my thesis at the moment.

Anyway, I did spent a fair few hours by the computer yesterday, and several of those I was actually working, too. As I found it so hard to start on a new, massive task, I decided to go at it from a different angle, and attacked a bit of revision. The notes from teachers and other people in my thesis group had piled up, so I had some suggested corrections to start out with. So I got those done, which is good, of course, but it also means that now I'm right back where I started - avoiding a large task that I haven't even completely figured out yet.

Yesterday I spent all day at my parents' house, but today I had to get into town super early, as I have to go to the dentist at half twelve, and I preferred to get a free ride, rather than having to walk 4 km in the snow and taking the bus. So here I am, at the coffee room at uni, all on me onesies. Well, there seems to be some sort of commotion in the hallway, no idea who it is or what they're up to, but there's no one else in here, which is good, because at least I can listen to music. So I got here at 7.50, when the building was technically still closed, and so far I've managed to get the final report of a class done (so all coursework for this year sorted, yay!!), and send a few important e-mails. Even solitaire lost its charm (and addictive nature) yesterday.

So, I guess it's time to get back to work.

weheartit

Time to get to work

weheartit

Ok, here I am. It's 7.30 am, I've had breakfast, I've got dressed, the laptop is up and running, and I've spread out a bunch of papers and notes and stuff. The parents have gone to work, after performing their duty of getting me out of bed. I'm bloody tired, and my brain is yelling at me to bloody go back to bed, but I'll have to resist it. Not just that, I have to start working now, but I'm really not sure where to start. I haven't had a chance to work on my thesis in a while, and the last time I did, I finished the previous chunk I was working on, and it's always the hardest bit to start a new chunk. Not made easier by the fact that I'm not 100% sure about what I'll do about this next chunk of work. Crap.

Well, the thesis writing guide I read said that when having trouble getting started, just do some freewriting or something for a while, just to get started and have something on a page. So I guess this qualifies as that - a little bit of my early-morning brain-goo on my blog. Good times.

Ok, just one more comment before I get to work: "Santa Baby" was just playing on the radio. There's something seriously wrong with that song, and I don't get why someone didn't see it when it was made.

Now. Work.

The Little Procrastination Guide: How to Avoid Your Thesis

These past two weekends, I've intended to get some work done on my thesis. Last weekend, however, going out for two nights in a row led to quite a comatose, unproductive weekend. This weekend I did manage to get a few things done, but nothing too notable. So, to anyone else working on their thesis, or something similar, here are a couple of ways to procrastinate, while still feeling like you're doing something worthwhile and work related:

1. DIY - Make a nice cover for your diary
A couple of years ago I remember my friend Anna having covered her diary in photos of her friends, so I thought I'd do the same. I got myself one of those diaries that let you make your own covers, printed out some (really bad quality) photos, and this is the result:

Front cover

Back cover

Despite the crappy quality and the uneven pictures, I have to say I'm really pleased with how it turned out! And it makes me smile every time I see it.

2. Time management
I tend to be a lot better at planning my time than actually following those plans, but that doesn't stop me from trying. I've seen a couple of friends making monthly calendars from post it notes on their wall, especially when there are lots of deadlines or things to get done during a certain period. It's also a great visualisation tool, so I thought I'd use it for my master's thesis (see, I was sort of working on it, right?). I've picked a deadline for it, which is mid-December, and I made this to keep track:

It covers a period of 15 weeks, starting on 3rd September, and I'll be marking all major deadlines, meetings with the professor, exams etc. on it. I'll also be removing a post it note every day, which hopefully will motivate me (not long to go now!) and not stress me (oh crap, there's no way I can finish it on time!) - it could go either way...

A week off

The uni-equivalent of test-week has started - my first one since getting back. Technically, it's supposed to be a week when we either have exams, or just work at home; teachers tell us not to call it at holiday, but a 'teaching free week'. In reality, it's a week off, because the teachers (at least the ones in my department) kindly have us take their exams the week before, or sometimes after. I guess they want a week off, too. Kind of hypocritical, but I'm definitely not complaining!

I once calculated that since we have four months of summer holidays, one month of Christmas holidays, and four of these extra weeks off*, we basically study six months of the year, and have six months off! Not bad!

This time, as on any 'test week' before it, I have great plans for what I'll get done during the week. I have a very daunting list of things to do sitting in the middle of my desktop, containing some school-related things, like essays and translations, as well as lots and lots of cleaning. And as on most of these weeks, I'll probably achieve very little on that list. You'd think a whole week off gives you a great chance to cath up on things like that, that you can't possibly just do nothing for a week. Think again. It's happened before, and I'm afraid it'll happen again. It's not something I'm proud of - really annoyed is actually the correct sentiment here - but at least I'm realistic about it. It all realtes to the procrastination-issues I told you about before.

I'll let you know how badly I failed with my list...

In other news, I'm going back to London!!! I couldn't stand missing it so much, so I'm going there for almost a week at the end of March/beginning of April. I'm so excited!! And on top of everything else, it'll be spring over there by then!! Spring shoes, yay!

That's all. As you were.

*Ok, to be honest, and to calm down any potential nitpickers out there, one of the four weeks of Christmas holiday is technically a 'teaching free week', but since we have one week off for Easter it evens itself out.

Procrastinators unite! - tomorrow...

One of the things about myself that I dislike the most is my tendency to procrastinate. Of course, it can be seen as the stereotypical personality trait of a student, but I think, at least in my case, it goes deeper than that, and it really bothers me. I wish I could be efficient and organised like some people, and actually do things when I'm supposed to, instead of always leaving them to the last minute. There are people like that out there, aren't there? Lucky bastards...

I know some people see me as very organised and efficient, and in some areas of my life I am. When I was in London, for example, I was always the person who organised things we did, looked up locations, booked tables, and so on. I love making lists and schedules for everything, including my studies. The problem is that when it has to do with something unpleasant, such as studying for an exam, I never follow that nice, colourful schedule I've drawn up for myself. I actually spend more time planning than actually doing whatever it is that I'm supposed to be doing.

Last spring, I complained that I didn't have enough free time. To be honest, I had plenty of free time - the problem was how I distributed that time. If I had started by doing all the things on my To Do list, I could have relaxed once I'd finish them. What I did, however, was taking the 'relaxation time' first, and leaving the stuff that needed to be done to the last minute. This led to my 'relaxation time' not being very relaxing at all; I was too stressed out by everything that still had to be done, and all the deadlines I had to meet. You'd think this would be a great incentive to make me do the work before taking some time off.
Strangely, it wasn't.

My tendency to procrastinate doesn't only concern my studies, but also things like cleaning and washing the dishes. Studying is clearly at the top of the list, though, because if there's nothing else, I might even clean or do the dishes in order to get out of studying. This habit is something that really annoys me, and I wish I'd find a way to get rid of it. Any hints, anyone?

Not surprisingly, while writing this post, I should really have been doing something else... Wanna take a wild guess?