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[fxdupprincess]

Hey guys,

I was wondering, I've been working on my thesis, but I'm basically working alone, it's hard for me to stay motivated when I don't have a lot of feedback or camaraderie. I was wondering what sorts of tips and tricks you might have for keeping yourselves motivated for extremely long solo projects?

Thanks in advance!

Comments

[vlad_kosarev]

Read a lot of articles and books about your professional topic and discuss it with interested people.

[casualprofessor]

Been there, done that too many times ;) I can tell you what works for me. It sounds like you're working in solitary for a while.

Breaks - I reward myself with them - set a goal 30-45 minutes away and don't let myself take the break until I get there.

Exercise - schedule time to workout somehow; it'll make you feel better, and it actually might make things click.

Usually, we don't have that many people we can talk to about what we're doing because our work is too specialized/geeky. Talking to the people you're working with sometimes is like talking to yourself, if they think the same things/same way. You'll have to take risks and talk to other people about what you do, and it might bore/annoy them. Eventually, you'll find a way to talk about it that works for you.

[knitpurlportage]

I'll echo what casualprofessor said. Chop the big project into smaller chunks and then set goals with those chunks. I use an application called Self-control in conjunction with this (because I tend to fall into a Web of Science rabbit hole reading articles that are not *actually* useful or necessary, or y'know, facebook). You can tell Self-Control which websites you do not want to visit while you are working and you can set it for a specific amount of time. It blocks you from accessing them until the timer runs out and you cannot override it. Once that time is up, reward yourself with a break and do something different more-or-less guilt free.

[lincolnparadox]

This might date me a bit, but I drank a lot of Surge and smoked a lot of cigarettes. Every time I finished a page = can of Surge and one smokey-treat. The combination of sugar, caffeine and nicotine reward was enough to craft a 170-page dissertation in less than a month.

It took me 11 years to quit smoking.

Long story short, you can't buy Surge anymore.

[fxdupprincess]

Where is the like button, livejournal?
Hey, at least you made it through your dissertation, congratulations, and furthermore WOW on quitting smoking! That is awesome too. It seems as though the stress of school ages people very rapidly. I see it in my friends who have plowed through school. I have a bit of it, but I have been taking things slow.