So, I guess I'd start with this: Does your "Absolutely has to happen today" list really contain only items that HAVE to happen today?
I've been posting progress to my personal LJ every day. I know that MAYBE 3 of my (wow, exactly) hundred friends care, but it still makes me feel accountable and motivates me. I also have a colleague at another university on my flist doing the same, and it makes me feel like there's some (very friendly, non-judgmental) competition.
I know some people who set timers--i.e., "I *must* work for [three solid hours] before I take a break", etc. That doesn't really work for me and my attention span, especially now because I have a young baby who needs to eat and get new diapers on her own schedule. :P
If you want to be progress buddies (like workout buddies, but with less exercise and more research), feel free to add me! (Caveat: I sometimes get posty, and my attempt to start a separate research journal has failed thus far, so it's a mishmash of grad school and outside life, if there is such a thing.)
To be honest, I am at my most productive writing when I stop doing basically everything else - socializing, cooking, teaching, job applications, you name it. I work insanely hard in bursts of a week or two, but can get up to 10,000 words done in that time. I'm a humanities person so what do I know, but I'm surprised that you're still doing data collection if you plan to defend this winter, and amazed that you're trying to 'keep up in the field' - do you absolutely need to do those things to complete your degree? Because if you don't, then I'd stop doing them until your thesis is written
( ... )
I have a friend who's a research assistant prof, and she claims that the way she gets things done is to schedule her entire day into 15-minute chunks and change what she's working on every 15 minutes.
There is absolutely no way I could do that! It takes me longer than that to get settled into whatever it is I'm doing and start being really productive. In fact, if I have a half hour or less of down time in between meetings, etc, I have real trouble putting it to use because I feel like I can't really accomplish anything in that time.
Also, that link is a revelation. This man is brilliant and deserves some kind of very important prize!
Maybe re-evaluate your goals? Start VERY small so you can feel accomplished.
Right now, I'm sucking terribly because teaching (3 course load this term) + applying for jobs/postdocs is zapping everything I have. I haven't seriously worked on revisions since the summer.
The way I get things done, though, is to force everything that isn't a priority off the table. In your case, maybe that means no conferences for a while, stop reading lit. in your field (everyone always says stop reading while you finish your own stuff). I tend to ensconce myself in my office and work like crazy for a short period of time (i.e. cranking out a chapter in 1-2 weeks) then I burn out for a while and do it over again. Figure out what works for you and do that. I think you probably know, there's just a lot of chatter in the way.
I want to defend in March-April too. We can do it!!!
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I've been posting progress to my personal LJ every day. I know that MAYBE 3 of my (wow, exactly) hundred friends care, but it still makes me feel accountable and motivates me. I also have a colleague at another university on my flist doing the same, and it makes me feel like there's some (very friendly, non-judgmental) competition.
I know some people who set timers--i.e., "I *must* work for [three solid hours] before I take a break", etc. That doesn't really work for me and my attention span, especially now because I have a young baby who needs to eat and get new diapers on her own schedule. :P
If you want to be progress buddies (like workout buddies, but with less exercise and more research), feel free to add me! (Caveat: I sometimes get posty, and my attempt to start a separate research journal has failed thus far, so it's a mishmash of grad school and outside life, if there is such a thing.)
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There is absolutely no way I could do that! It takes me longer than that to get settled into whatever it is I'm doing and start being really productive. In fact, if I have a half hour or less of down time in between meetings, etc, I have real trouble putting it to use because I feel like I can't really accomplish anything in that time.
Also, that link is a revelation. This man is brilliant and deserves some kind of very important prize!
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Right now, I'm sucking terribly because teaching (3 course load this term) + applying for jobs/postdocs is zapping everything I have. I haven't seriously worked on revisions since the summer.
The way I get things done, though, is to force everything that isn't a priority off the table. In your case, maybe that means no conferences for a while, stop reading lit. in your field (everyone always says stop reading while you finish your own stuff). I tend to ensconce myself in my office and work like crazy for a short period of time (i.e. cranking out a chapter in 1-2 weeks) then I burn out for a while and do it over again. Figure out what works for you and do that. I think you probably know, there's just a lot of chatter in the way.
I want to defend in March-April too. We can do it!!!
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