Originally Posted by JKuehl  Hello everyone,
in 6 weeks i have to hand in and finish my final thesis for my bachelor degree, and i approximately have only worked on it 60 hours in the last 6 weeks.
This thesis makes up 50% of my final degree, so i know how important this one is and that i should work 8 hours or more per day on it rather than just one...
But itīs so hard for me - the more you know in PD, the more tricks and sneaky ways you find to keep yourself from working...
Usually the last few weeks i spend hundrets of hours watching tv, browsing forums, checking email, chatting, talking to friends, etc etc... instead of working on my thesis.
Well i tried several thing: first of all i shut off telephone and mobile phone, moved every game and icq off from my computer to an exernal hard drive.
Problem is: i need to use the internet for my thesis, as 95% of the work i have to do in php is something i donīt have any experience in and therfore i need to google alot - books are not an alternative for this.
Secondly, i tried something different: i left my room in the morning, went to university in the next city ( not my own! ). Took me about 30 Minutes in the morning and 30 more in the evening. Therefore i had "lost" an hour which would be e severe punishment, if i didnīt accomplish anything in between or work on my thesis.
The second thought for this decision was, to work in the quiet library in another university, because no one knew me there and couldnīt distract me from working.
Today i managed to work 3 hours at home by simply moving my notebook to the kitchen and working from there.. problem was: i had no internet and had to walk 10 times or so to my room to look something up...
I donīt know why i struggle so hard in getting this done or gaining momentum to begin with it... Since 6 hours, i havenīt worked on my thesis, although i only wanted to take an one hour break....
I also tried to break it down into REALLY small pieces, like: (1) write the function that opens the database (2) write the function that opens the textfile (3) write the function that parses the textfile into an array... Didnīt work either.
Big problem maybe is: since i began Personal Development i got into an attitude : "Whatever happens, and whatever i decide: life goes on and itīs not that iīm going to die.." In some things this led to some really great changes in my life, like quitting my part-time-job which stressed me too much - well i havenīt had much income since then - but who cares about money?
When "in the flow" for about half an hour or an hour, itīs not quite that hard to keep working but the SLIGHTEST distraction throws me completely off course, and i think: "Well, so much done already - letīs do xy!" or "Well so much done already - iīll get my reward!"
So: although i know the painful consequences of procrastinating on this thesis, i canīt get myself to work on it..
I canīt seem to find any concept in any of the PD Material i read in the last 2 years, to overcome that problem ( or at least not develop a way to trick myself and render that technique useless..... )
At least i had SOME success.. As i realized that my headaches and eyeburn couldnīt have been initialized phiysically, but rather as a way of my mind to keep me from working ( "i canīt work or concentrate with that headache!" ) i hadnīt had headaches or eyeburn in 2 weeks - at least everytime it comes up i laugh at myself :"Yeah right, donīt try to fool me and keep me from working this way - it wonīt work!"
Edit: the only way i can think of right now to keep me working is something like that: cellar, desk, chair, notebook, crate of water... Donīt let me out till a milestone has been reached. Any distraction as slightest it may be, and off i am from my work to something more pleasurable and fun... |