Procrastinators Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from chronic procrastination.

PhD thesis

My Phd thesis has been 10 years in the making. I don't have much time, as I teach full time, and spend a lot of time looking after the home/meals, kids, husband, husband's surgery and accounts, but I've been making that an excuse, because when I do have time, I'll do anything but face the thesis beast (of which I'm very much afraid). I've been deregistered for 3 years, as my supervisors only want to see the finished (rewritten) project, so no supervision/ guidance, which makes me more afraid. Here's what I need to do.

  1. Review theoretical chapters 2 & 3, taking notes so that the new version of ch 4 has continuity.
  2. Write section headings for ch 4, reviewing notes/ old version
  3. Write ch 4
  4. Rewrite intro, again (slight moifications)
  5. Review chapters 5 & 6, updating with more recent material
  6. Review methodology ch. 7
  7. Review results ch.s  8, 9, 10, 11, adding section about social class and taking notes for the final chapters
  8. Write section headings for discussion ch. 12,
  9. Write ch. 12
  10. Write section heading for final ch 13
  11. Write ch 13
  12. Review whole thesis
  13. Check bibliography/ annexes
  14. Send to reviewer
  15. Send to supervisors

Phew! Like this it seems enormous! But the big hurdle is ch. 4. It might be unrealistic to have it all done by mid August. I'm going to break this down further and add daily check-ins for smaller sections.

Task: preferably 4 hours a day from now till mid August. Minimum 2 hours, preferably early in the morning so I don't get to the end of the day with the idea that I haven't achieved anything, or getting sidetracked to all the short term goals at home/ work.

welcome teefee

welcome to the club. This has been a great place for me to face my big scary tasks. Hope you find help here too. (sounds like it's going good so far)

Teefee's PHD

 Wow, teefee, you certainly are a very busy person.  Maybe you just really don't have enough time to work on your thesis.   Perhaps you should discuss with hubby.  If this is a priority for you, you may need to drop some of your other activities temporarily.  Is it possible to hire an accountant/secretary to take care of his business while you concentrate on yours?  Good luck!

Jo

"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright

Thanks Jo

Although I am busy (and there are other activities I haven't even listed), I have the advantage of a daily cleaner, and I have no classes to teach from June- end of August, only exams to give/ mark, plus a few hours of tutorials to give every week. So I should have three or four hours a day most days at the moment if only I could gear myself up to it.

Today it's working well, so far!

TPB

teefee

I see you are checking in also, we're here for you! 

"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright