Overview of Dr_Crabby

I have been in your exact situation for a while and only recently have I started to get myself out of it.

I have so much to do that the very thought of it puts me off, I think to myself that there's no way I will get it done in the time I have today so it can wait until another day.

However, I recently spent a few days breaking down absolutely everything I have to do into smaller tasks, instead of thinking I have the data of 100 surveys to input into SPSS I wrote down "input 1-10", "input 11-21" etc and thinking of doing 10 at a time is a lot less scary than thinking of doing 100 and I have actually managed to get the whole data set input in less than a week by doing it this way. The main reason for this is because in my head I have had 10 to do and it has got me to actually sit down and focus and I ended up doing more. Plus on the day that I did only do 10, I still achieved what I had set out to when I sat down so I didn't walk away from my desk feeling like I had let myself down by not doing the whole lot.

pm133 and Tudor_Queen have both mentioned breaking down your to do list into smaller chunks and trust me, it honestly does work.

That's actually my plan, to write papers that will feed into the thesis and be chapters. Kill two birds with one stone...ish. Plus my supervisor said if your studies are peer reviewed, they are harder to argue with in your viva.

Thanks for the help.

Thanks Pjlu, that's a good point about the 'major' or 'R & R'. I would be over the moon with a 'major' actually as I know there is no way I'll get through it with no corrections.

This new job is the least stressful job I have ever had so I'm hoping it will give me plenty of head space to be able to go home and crack on with stuff. My 'to do' list seems endless though and I don't know where to start with it all.

I am a fee waiver student so I don't have to pay fees but I don't receive any additional funding to live, etc which is why I need to work full time. Also I can't go part time without losing this fee waiver and having to pay it all back which is an option I have considered but it wouldn't be worth doing that.

I have also applied for suspension previously and they have said they will only grant it for extreme circumstances and I would need to have substantive evidence to support those circumstances. They won't grant a suspension of studies just to delay the submission date. I have basically had as much time off as they will allow under my circumstances and I absolutely have to submit on or before the deadline.

The papers are study chapters that will be edited for publication so although it is extra work to prepare them, they need to be written anyway. I was trying to use paper submission deadlines as motivation to get them written quick.

My supervisor just keeps telling me she has faith that I will get it done, I wish I had the same confidence!! I don't think she realises how behind I actually am, despite me making several attempts to drum it in.

Hi folks,

I am needing advice or opinions on my progress.

Basically I have royally f**ked my Ph.D - I have just gone into submission pending stage, I have less than 12 months to complete the whole thing and I still have SOOO much to do, including;

-Inputting my whole data set into the software
-My whole analysis (mixed methods) so I have my quant analysis to do and thematic analysis of 100 surveys.
-My entire write up - so far I have written approx. 6 thousand words of my 90,000 word thesis.
-Three papers to write and/or edit for publication.

I know this is entirely my own fault (I have been doing a full time Ph.D with a full time, extremely demanding job plus doing an SVQ 4 in management alongside this for my job requirements and also working 2 voluntary jobs). I have recently changed jobs to a much easier, less demanding job with less hours although it is still full time and I have given up one of my voluntary jobs but I still have one voluntary job which I can't compromise on.

Realistically, I have about 2 days a week to work on my research and I need to submit by the end of March 2019.

What I am wanting to know is - can this be achieved or am I just wasting everyone's time and setting myself up for a huge fail??

I found a book approx. 2 years into my Ph.D that I wished I had been read before I started. It is "The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research" by Marian Petre and Gordon Rugg.

It provides tips and advice on how to make the most of your PhD from the start. Maybe worth a read if you find yourself at a loose end.

I am a full time student and have been experiencing the same motivation issues lately. I always justify my lack of motivation or procrastination with my full time job (I find it's a good excuse), however, I was asked to take a research seminar recently which required a lot of preparation and I had to get it done. I was a nervous wreck doing it but the seminar went really really well and I got a lot of interest and positive feedback from the audience. This has gave me a massive boost of motivation and I have spent the week writing a paper for publication which would usually have taken me months to get round to.

My point is, talking about your research and somebody else showing an interest in what you are doing can be a massive motivator, make use of any friends who are also doing a PhD or if you have any conferences coming up that you are presenting at, make time to speak to people after and get feedback on your research. The more people that you chat to about it, the easier it becomes to talk about it and that helps you be able to write about it too.