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.
Battling on with my PhD
Inspired by Thesis I will start checking in every day. I am starting from a very unproductive place so to begin with I will just try to do as many 10-minute bursts as possible - on whatever thesis-related work I can manage. Later on I hope to become more focused on writing new stuff and progressing with a timeline. The first goal is to not let weeks and months (years?!) go by without daring to go near my thesis.
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Day 11
Back to my favourite way of procrastinating: reading about how to overcome procrastination... I can't decide if it's better than other forms of procrastination (perhaps I am in fact learning something new about myself) or not.
Day 10
Today I hope to have a good day: I will head out in five minutes and be at the library when they open. This morning I had to make a phone call (finance-related) that I had been avoiding for two weeks. After all that time worrying, in the end it turned out there was no problem at all! I really should try to learn from this experience that it is better not to hide from these things.
Day 9
Well, my good intentions did not survive a visit with the in-laws. I do hope to some day establish good habits that survive interruptions... I want to get to the point where I prioritize making progress on my thesis - rather than prioritizing everything else...
Now I am back home and I am resolved to staying positive and going back to work.
After wasting several hours at the library I finally got my head into gear (interesting: that's actually precisely what it feels like) around 6 pm. I think I do need to get into the habit of leaving the house to do work. It feels like a hassle but might be necessary.
day 4
Visiting husband's family but managed to squeeze in 6 x 10 min of thesis work. Normally I would have done nothing so happy to have managed to prioritise getting some work in. Wishing all the people here good luck!
Day 3
Travel day today and a planned day off from work. Logging on for continuity.
Day 2
It's 3 p.m. over here and so far I have managed to do 8x10 min. It is less than I had hoped but since I've been writing for the most part it's still good. I am starting from near 0 productivity so every little bit counts. On my mini breaks I stay away from my normal procrastination habits and head over here instead. I tell myself that it is better than what I usually do, and most importantly the focus booster helps me keep those breaks short. I don't want to lose whole days to surfing the internet. OK, back to work.
First day
So, I managed to do 20x10 min work on my thesis today. This was mostly reading and note-taking, but I still feel good about it. The focus booster app is working better for me than the timer I am used to using. I like that it goes straight to counting down your break after a work session. That feature helps me to go right back to work after a short break.
Well done Marcelor
Well done for battling on with your thesis!
All the best with the struggle,
Hooch
BTW what is this Focus Booster App (is it something for a smartphone?) of which you speak?
thank you Hooch + focus booster
Thank you for your well wishes. Check out the focus booster app (free): http://www.focusboosterapp.com/
It is like a timer but has been developed to be used with the pomodoro technique. Like I mentioned, it has that advantage that it goes right into counting down your break and I find it helps me to go right into the next burst. Also it shows you how many work sessions you've done, which pushes me to go for a few more :-) You can use the online version but I installed mine locally so that it works even if I turn off my internet connection... Like all of us here I have tried many productivity tools, and though I find this one helpful so far I am not claiming that it is the miracle that will save us :-)
Thanks Marcelor
Oh coolio, thanks Marcelor!
Hi Marcelor! Wonderful to
Hi Marcelor! Wonderful to see another person who is soldiering on despite all the odds! Yayy! Everyday day is a new day, every minute is a new minute! :)
Thank you thesis
Thank you, thesis; and thank you for giving me inspiration to continue. I read your introduction and could relate to everything in there - including your description of quitting your job just as things were starting to close in on you... I have also always managed to do (undeservedly) well academically. I procrastinated during my undergraduate years and through a master's degree, but somehow managed to not only graduate but to do so at the top of my class. But now I am in my second (!) PhD program and running years behind. I may have procrastinated in the past but now this practice has reached a completely different level. The worst is that I seem not to be able to scare myself into action - which used to work. Anyway, that is in the past. I will start my day in a positive way now (8.30 PST). Good luck to all here on PA!