Dear all,

I am about 25 days away from "the submission deadline". There is no way I can finish it on time and I have reached a point where I don't feel I could finish it even if given an extension. I have been to the doctor with symptoms of depression and they have offered to sign me off. Have repeatedly tried to bring up the fact that I'm feeling depressed with my supervisor over the last six months, but have generally been told that its "normal" to feel like this by him and other colleagues. During my last supervision meeting I tried to say that I am going to have difficulty submitting on time, but was urged to submit on time because it "looks bad for the department". Needless to day I'm under a lot of pressure from family and (well meaning) friends who think that its crazy to just "not submit", but I've just had enough.

Do you know anyone how has quit like this/failed to submit? Did they recover from it? Any advice on how to handle this?

Runner

======= Date Modified 16 Aug 2011 11:24:57 =======
Hi Everyone,

I am only just sitting down to work (eeek). Goals for today:

1) Finish methodology section from yesterday.
2) Finish remaining graphs from yesterday.
3) Finish small part of discussion which did not get touched yesterday.

Runner


DEADLINE (APPOINTMENT WITH BINDER): 25th September
WEEKS TO GO: 6
DAYS: 41

Hi Guys,

Hope everyone has had a productive day :-) I managed to get 75% of my first and second tasks done, but did not get onto the third one. Well - its a start - anyway.

======= Date Modified 15 Aug 2011 08:47:39 =======
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the advice - really appreciate it. Have started an "Emergency...It has got to be done thread". Hopefully it will kick me and hopefully anyone else in this situation into action.

Have a good (productive :-)) day!

Runner

Hi Everyone,

Aiming low today to get myself up and running again after “head in sand” episode:

GOAL 1: Write 1 specific section of methodology.
GOAL 2: Finish graphs for second results chapter.
GOAL 3: Redraft (small) final section of chapter 1.

DEADLINE (APPOINTMENT WITH BINDER): 25th September
WEEKS TO GO: 6
DAYS: 42

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the “Emergency! ….It has got to be done” thread. I’ve created this thread for people trying to get things done on their PhD who feel they have reached a crisis point (like me☺). I have six weeks to go and have a mountain to climb. I will be posting my goals for the day and in the hope of being held accountable will report back on progress daily. Feel free to join me....

Dear all,

I am need of some honest and practical advice. I have six weeks to go until the submission of my PhD - I am currently a “fourth year”, having opted to take the extra writing up year. During the PhD, I have been quite down, but have managed to deal with it by myself and completed all the upgrade reports satisfactorily and basically kept plodding along. However, at the end of the day, the way I have been feeling (numb and demotivated) has affected my work during the last year and I have faffed about, gone off on tangents and don’t have to best data to work with as a result.

After completely devoting myself to the PhD for the last three months I have a literature review and one half written results chapter with just weeks to go. Every day of this is a struggle – I feel that its worth carrying on just to try to get an MPhil, but I find myself frozen in front of the computer fantasizing about getting on a train and just “running away”. For financial reasons I have had to move back home with parents and have become unbearably needy (if honest) towards friends and family.

A very good friend of mine has been acting as an “accountability partner” for the past few months and has been an amazing help, but I just can’t seem to find the energy to do what needs to be done. I am definitely “avoiding”. I did try to talk to my supervisor about how I was feeling about a year ago – he was sympathetic, but didn’t suggest that I do anything about like get an extension/interruption (which is unlikely to be possible at this late stage). Does anyone have any practical strategies on how to get things done while feeling like this? Is there any one else out there who wants to start an "Emergency Get it Done" Thread?

Runner