I started my paper some 8 weeks ago but left it thoroughly. At the moment i’m deep in a blockade, not even trying to make an inch of progress. I felt that i lost the ‘red line’ while working, leaving my previously laborious engaged concept.
So now i have to find a way to make it. I won’t stick any longer to the ‘make it right’-goal, because this evocates my perfectionism which leads to the old procrastination-road.
Some things and rules to stay by:
- make it first priority of EVERYTHING, it truly is the time now
- take EACH DAY the time to work on it, and if it’s only for 30minutes before sleeping after a 12-hour day of work, so it be!
- get to the work as often as possible
- don’t oversize the task in thinking you need at least 2-3hours to get into it, that’s wrong!
- reread your main text/passages each day
- rework and readjust your paper-structure, maybe getting back to this point, whenever you feel it will fit to your new results
- otherwise STAY with what you done so far, maybe it’s not the ‘real big thing’, but it’s much better than you consider it while you try to escape this task
- divide the structured parts in even smaller contexts, so that you have maybe a third to a half side of writing per thought or thesis or point or whatever. Go for the smallest possible steps.
It’s kind of strange and sad that my aversion of the process and the fear of failing makes this really interesting theme and texts to such a field of exertion. I really would like to find some sort of fun or interesting exercise in it, without only the focus of my feelings that i ‘will never make it!’. So maybe getting over and over into it takes some fear out of it. That’s one thing i hope for.
So now stop talking and go to work! :D
