god bless my paper can be accepted…..
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More "How I Did It" stories
How I did it: Once I decided on my timeline, I set incredibly harsh goals on myself and followed through on them (though I was exhausted in meeting them). I took 12 credits of coursework every semester (to get it out of the way so I could get to the research) and consequently earned an MS in my first year. I relied upon my advisor as little as possible, as waiting for him greatly slowed me down, and accepted very few excuses from people who wished to d… Read how I did it…
froglivers has to buckle up and go get'em.
How I did it: Do the first 3 years of the Masters count? I counted mine. Then another year after the defense to fix it up, and get it published. In between, I ate a lot of cheese and pie.And went for a walk every time I got stuck writing. Which was often. That made me (probably) the only grad student in our circle, who lost weight writing the Diss. Read how I did it…
amelia29 is trying to keep the pace
How I did it: work each day between 3 and 12 hours care as little as possible about the difficulties around you (not having a home for 1.5 months, having no desk during the time I was witting). establish deadlines for any little chunk of work. make lists of goals and try to follow them (well if you do science it is likely that the system you work on will influence your success rate, however it is worthy to make goals). give yourself a present … Read how I did it…
How I did it: Perseverance. It's mental endurance as much as smarts. Unfortunately I didn't do it in a topic I was incredibly passionate about, which is one thing I'd recommend to people considering doing one. Read how I did it…
How I did it: by developing a habit of reading at least one article a day. referencing software can make your life a lot easier, always be ready to rewrite what you've written..................................................----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read how I did it…
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Entries
How can I do this.. I’m almost there but I still see a vast ocean in front of my eyes and the shore is merely at the horizon.
An incredible thing to do, but very, very weird. Never again, I guess, will I be given such an opportunity, and I’m a little worried I may disappear up my own bum. We shall see.
froglivers has to buckle up and go get'em.
Yes it totally worth it. If I didn’t have so much fun in grad school, maybe it would have been done in 5. But why rush life?
Okay, well, update on my last entry. I tried implementing the resolution. I set up a 43things reminder that I must do at least 30 minutes, every single day. This is not working. On weekends, I just refuse to work. I think part of the problem is, at home, I do not have a desk, and my laptop is usually put away and hiding some place. I usually never take my laptop out at all, all weekend, assuming I can even find it. And then it’s a pain to find a place to plug it in, etc. So it seems like a desk of some sort, or perhaps a desktop computer or some kind of always set up computer at home, is in order.
But that could just be an excuse.
43things sends me the reminder to do 30 minutes every day, but I just ignore the email each day. Don’t even open it, usually. I also set up a “Don’t Break the Chain” calendar (http://dontbreakthechain.com/) to see how well I can keep up this habit. Answer: not very well. It worked for two days. I had a chain of TWO WHOLE DAYS. Yeah. I know. Great.
I think my main problem is complete lack of motivation. There is no reason why I want to do this. I am not particularly happy doing this. I feel bad and down about myself most of the time, when I am doing this. This does not particularly align with any career goals of mine. This isn’t even all that fun. I think initially, I wanted to do it for the prestige, but now that I’m old enough to realize that prestige doesn’t really mean that much in life, I have no motivation to finish.
I feel like my research is insignificant and stupid. Mostly, I don’t feel like I’m doing research at all. I feel like everyone else is doing such awesome-er things than me. I don’t like the direction my work is going in. I am ashamed to attend any events with other people in my field, or to meet with any researchers in my field, because I don’t want to have to talk about my research because I feel so ashamed of it. And the resulting isolation only makes it worse.
Well, 120 out of 122 people thought this was worth doing… 98%! Maybe when I graduate I’ll find out why this was worth doing. I’m not sure that’s enough of a motivator.
The faster I do my work, the faster I can graduate, and the faster I can move on with my life. That’s about the main motivator for me at this point. That was the motivation I was using for the past year, but it’s not working so well now. I was going to focus on just getting a PhD, forget about doing phenomenal research, just treat this as a day job. Just do the minimum necessary to produce a vaguely acceptable dissertation, and get out of here. That worked for a while, but now it’s not working anymore… Mostly because the research culture around here is starting to make me ambitious. And ambition makes you afraid. Or at least, it makes me afraid. I am afraid of doing anything because I know it won’t be good enough. I was going to attempt to get out of here without publishing any papers, but now that seems impossible.
Well, I think the best I can do for now is: “My motivation is, the faster I get things done, the faster I can get out of here and move on with my life.” Okay. Yeah. That sounds real motivating. I could make a poster out of it and stick it on my wall, behind my monitor. Put it on Post-It notes and stick ‘em to my mirror in the morning. Yeah.
:-( Help. Sorry I sound so sorry for myself. I really don’t know what to do.
Turned in the official passing form to the graduate school!! I have some edits, but nothing too bad. Finally copies due next Friday. I can’t believe it’s really almost over!!
I can’t believe I’m really defending my dissertation tomorrow!!!
A huge, major step completed!!! Next is the defense. I’m really not worried about my committee failing me. My biggest worry is that they’ll give me a heap of edits that I won’t be able to get through before the due date (May 8th), but regardless I know I am very, very close now.
Having a lot of trouble this quarter. Feeling down, lacking concentration, no momentum. Don’t know why, I felt like things were going well fall and winter quarters after I got back from a year on leave to work. Perhaps I should have applied for an internship this summer so that I can keep things in perspective. Going off to work really refreshed me. So I think maybe I should keep an internship in mind for next summer.
From all the “How I Did It” stories, it seems that building a regular habit is key. E.g. s1mr’s “Read one article a day.” And I find it’s true, if I stop working one day (because too many meetings, seminars, random useless crap to take care of, etc.) then the next day, it’s harder to get back into it…so I don’t really get back into it…and then the next day is even harder.
So I think I’m going to have to implement some kind of plan for myself, to do at least one thing every single day. Maybe a commitment to myself to spend at least 30 minutes working each day, even weekends, even if I don’t feel like it, just to keep the momentum going. A concrete goal would be better (like, finish a XYZ each day) but it’s hard to say what I would actually do because each day might be different (one day, read a paper, another day, fix some bugs in my code, etc.). So I think the half an hour a day thing will work. Okay, it’s decided. I will try this then. And set up a 43things reminder for it. :-)
My dissertation is due to my committee tomorrow!
Left to do:
*Read through and edit Chap V, especially figure legends! (never got edits from adviser and I will refuse any changes if he sends them tomorrow!!)
*Write abstract!!
*Merge chapters and format
*Page numbers for Table of Contents, Table and Figure lists
*Print and deliver!!!
It’s feeling doable- just getting tired. I know I could do the rest of this tomorrow, but I just want to get it over with!
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Ask for advice: Get help from people who've accomplished this goal
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jenkinscrowe asks,
“I'm 42 and have been back in college for almost 10 years. I fear I'm burning out. Do I really need a Ph.D in English or will my MFA do? I'm a creative writer w/some publications.”
— 2 years ago |
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