Don't eat elephants

Tricky thing a PhD, working alone for a far distant goal; a huge undertaking that seems impossible at times. One of the hardest things is that the quantity of work seems so immense that it is hard to imagine how you will ever get through it so it is often easier to not start or to WAB... after all, life is full of distractions...

(I am linking some distractions in here just to prove my point: A blog on procrastination Wait but Why on Procrastination; I am a big fan of PhD comics PhDs Believe it or Don't; and this is the most awesome thing I have recently been told about you can learn a new language for FREE or you can just feed the fish at the bottom of my screen)

Elephants at Etosha, Namibia

So how to deal with the feeling of being overwhelmed... My fabulous friend (sanity-saving who has provided invaluably help to me during both my MSc and PhD), +Andrew Markham told me over and over again that the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. (This is an analogy, neither he nor I, condone the eating of elephants). Of course, this advice is all very well and good but HOW? 

Here I am not well suited to giving advice. I am, after all, way over my allocated time to finish a PhD (I will explain more about that another time) and instead of working on my chapter (s), I am writing a blog.

Don't eat elephants!!!!

So I suggest a schedule. Yes, of course this is obvious, and even fabulous schedules are frequently ignored, but hear me out. I allow myself GUILT FREE "wasted time" in the morning. This is when I check Facebook, write this blog (although I have made the rule to only do the blog on Fridays), read those random articles about procrastination. Then we have tea in the department, so I go to that, (that blog post will come) and then when tea is over, I know that I have to sit down and really concentrate. To help this, my friend Kate has recently told me about something called  Workrave which is supposed to help with carpal tunnel syndrome. I use it to force myself to concentrate for 25 minutes (you can set the time intervals) and then break for 4 minutes (during which I get up and refill my water glass - see benefits are endless, I am also drinking more water). Rather than aimlessly switching between multiple things and not getting anything done, I find it helps me focus on one thing at a time for those 25 minutes. Rad (yes, I am the type of person that says "Rad" unapologetically). Try it, maybe it will help (I mean the workrave thing, but saying rad is also quite fun! 

OK, almost tea time, Happy Friday!!!!!