Motivation and where to get it from. - (Mar/25/2011 )
pito on Wed Mar 30 13:40:41 2011 said:
But in general: The only thing you need to think about is "how to write a decent thesis" , the rest? Who cares...
focus on writing, all the rest: forget it, not your worry at this moment...
Indeed. I mentioned this in my original post, the part where it says, that the obvious solution is to just pull myself together and finish the stupid thing
. The problem is/was that the writer's block/PhD 
-ness does not respond to argument It apparently needs to be hypnothized...casandra's right, just venting a little already help. Once the whole mess is put into words its already not that bad anymore. and somebody holding your hand and telling you that it's going to be just fine, we've all been there also helps
As to "there's nothing to do than write a decent thesis": well, being enthusiastic about your stuff and driven is kind of socially expected, at least where I'm working - which is officially the greatest place of past, present AND future science, filled with privileged people who just love their work...meh. It is however also a fairly small place and excessive "I hate my life/lab/work"-talk to anybody is guaranteed to end up with your boss. So a significant amount of energy goes into keeping a smiley face
-anon-
anon on Wed Mar 30 16:46:10 2011 said:
pito on Wed Mar 30 13:40:41 2011 said:
But in general: The only thing you need to think about is "how to write a decent thesis" , the rest? Who cares...
focus on writing, all the rest: forget it, not your worry at this moment...
Indeed. I mentioned this in my original post, the part where it says, that the obvious solution is to just pull myself together and finish the stupid thing
. The problem is/was that the writer's block/PhD -ness does not respond to argument It apparently needs to be hypnothized...casandra's right, just venting a little already help. Once the whole mess is put into words its already not that bad anymore. and somebody holding your hand and telling you that it's going to be just fine, we've all been there also helps
As to "there's nothing to do than write a decent thesis": well, being enthusiastic about your stuff and driven is kind of socially expected, at least where I'm working - which is officially the greatest place of past, present AND future science, filled with privileged people who just love their work...meh. It is however also a fairly small place and excessive "I hate my life/lab/work"-talk to anybody is guaranteed to end up with your boss. So a significant amount of energy goes into keeping a smiley face
But do you still do labwork? Or not?
-pito-
pito on Wed Mar 30 17:04:28 2011 said:
anon on Wed Mar 30 16:46:10 2011 said:
pito on Wed Mar 30 13:40:41 2011 said:
But in general: The only thing you need to think about is "how to write a decent thesis" , the rest? Who cares...
focus on writing, all the rest: forget it, not your worry at this moment...
Indeed. I mentioned this in my original post, the part where it says, that the obvious solution is to just pull myself together and finish the stupid thing
. The problem is/was that the writer's block/PhD -ness does not respond to argument It apparently needs to be hypnothized...casandra's right, just venting a little already help. Once the whole mess is put into words its already not that bad anymore. and somebody holding your hand and telling you that it's going to be just fine, we've all been there also helps
As to "there's nothing to do than write a decent thesis": well, being enthusiastic about your stuff and driven is kind of socially expected, at least where I'm working - which is officially the greatest place of past, present AND future science, filled with privileged people who just love their work...meh. It is however also a fairly small place and excessive "I hate my life/lab/work"-talk to anybody is guaranteed to end up with your boss. So a significant amount of energy goes into keeping a smiley face
But do you still do labwork? Or not?
right now, no. I'll finish the first draft, then get back to the lab, as boss needs paper out, and few things still need to be done.
that's probably one of the reasons while I'm not really in hurry to get the writing done
-anon-
anon on Wed Mar 30 17:49:28 2011 said:
pito on Wed Mar 30 17:04:28 2011 said:
anon on Wed Mar 30 16:46:10 2011 said:
pito on Wed Mar 30 13:40:41 2011 said:
But in general: The only thing you need to think about is "how to write a decent thesis" , the rest? Who cares...
focus on writing, all the rest: forget it, not your worry at this moment...
Indeed. I mentioned this in my original post, the part where it says, that the obvious solution is to just pull myself together and finish the stupid thing
. The problem is/was that the writer's block/PhD -ness does not respond to argument It apparently needs to be hypnothized...casandra's right, just venting a little already help. Once the whole mess is put into words its already not that bad anymore. and somebody holding your hand and telling you that it's going to be just fine, we've all been there also helps
As to "there's nothing to do than write a decent thesis": well, being enthusiastic about your stuff and driven is kind of socially expected, at least where I'm working - which is officially the greatest place of past, present AND future science, filled with privileged people who just love their work...meh. It is however also a fairly small place and excessive "I hate my life/lab/work"-talk to anybody is guaranteed to end up with your boss. So a significant amount of energy goes into keeping a smiley face
But do you still do labwork? Or not?
right now, no. I'll finish the first draft, then get back to the lab, as boss needs paper out, and few things still need to be done.
that's probably one of the reasons while I'm not really in hurry to get the writing done
paper?
So you are writing a thesis and a paper?
Or the boss will use your thesis to write a paper from it?
-pito-
pito on Wed Mar 30 18:04:53 2011 said:
anon on Wed Mar 30 17:49:28 2011 said:
pito on Wed Mar 30 17:04:28 2011 said:
anon on Wed Mar 30 16:46:10 2011 said:
pito on Wed Mar 30 13:40:41 2011 said:
But in general: The only thing you need to think about is "how to write a decent thesis" , the rest? Who cares...
focus on writing, all the rest: forget it, not your worry at this moment...
Indeed. I mentioned this in my original post, the part where it says, that the obvious solution is to just pull myself together and finish the stupid thing
. The problem is/was that the writer's block/PhD -ness does not respond to argument It apparently needs to be hypnothized...casandra's right, just venting a little already help. Once the whole mess is put into words its already not that bad anymore. and somebody holding your hand and telling you that it's going to be just fine, we've all been there also helps
As to "there's nothing to do than write a decent thesis": well, being enthusiastic about your stuff and driven is kind of socially expected, at least where I'm working - which is officially the greatest place of past, present AND future science, filled with privileged people who just love their work...meh. It is however also a fairly small place and excessive "I hate my life/lab/work"-talk to anybody is guaranteed to end up with your boss. So a significant amount of energy goes into keeping a smiley face
But do you still do labwork? Or not?
right now, no. I'll finish the first draft, then get back to the lab, as boss needs paper out, and few things still need to be done.
that's probably one of the reasons while I'm not really in hurry to get the writing done
paper?
So you are writing a thesis and a paper?
for the paper, I guess she needs to do more experiments....
@anon: you are very lucky to be where you are now...can you imagine the other students who would give anything to be in your place...I think that this phase everyone goes thru so the thing is don't let it bog you down so much that it would be a little difficult to get up again..and if you need more motivational talk...we're here....for the tough love/boot camp kind...we can do that too....
-casandra-
I love gt-ameya's comic. It is so true. Especially this part "realize you just gave a 10mn talk on 6 years of work".
Nobody really cares about PhD thesis (very few will actually read it). The articles are what matters, so, you can relax .
As for a break, even if you don't have time for a 2 weeks vacations on a tropical island, you could take 2 days (+ the weekend make it 4 !!) and go to a nice (and not too far) place that will completly re-oxygenate your brain .
-Maddie-
Hi guys,
I just wanted to say thanks again for your help. There was a bit more drama - but I finally submitted the stupid thesis and things are going somewhere again. I still don't see any point in what I'm doing, but at least the leash is off my neck and I can do something else, if I want to. Such an improvement!
-anon-
Hey Anon,
Good to know you are much better now. When will you become Dr. Anon then?
And thanks for posting as well... It gives Casey a huge boost. When people dont post again, Casey is not so sure if her advice helped or drew someone to commit suicide 
-gt_ameya-