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I've procrastinated working on my thesis for more than a year

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Re: I've procrastinated working on my thesis for more than a year

#151

Post by bdavis__ »

llm_sent_me wrote: post #116
theshrike79 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When coding I have a rule: "first make it work, then make it pretty". The MVP can be a complete spaghetti piece of crap, just make it work. When it works, you can iterate on making it elegant. Oh, and if you work for a Corporation, don't tell them it's done when the crappy MVP finally works. You're still "working on it" if they ask. Otherwise the spaghetti crap will end up in production.

My variation on this. Make it work then make it slightly less horrible.

Then repeat until you are proud of the work.

Re: I've procrastinated working on my thesis for more than a year

#152

Post by mensetmanusman »

This is writers block and is very common, don’t give up.

My solution was to stand in my lab for hours with an iPad on a stand and dictate 70 pages of my thesis.

It was actually an invigorating experience and you learn a bunch of random Siri/dictation syntax to boot.

Also, if I were to do it again today, try using chatgpt to write the bulk fluff from some outline concepts. The quality of your thesis doesn’t matter as much as doing the bare minimum to graduate :)

Re: I've procrastinated working on my thesis for more than a year

#153

Post by throwawaaarrgh »

> At this point I'm seriously considering quitting. I just don't have what it takes to earn this degree.

I'm sure you do have what it takes. But theres a difference between having something and using it. I have what it takes to learn Japanese. Am I gonna learn Japanese? No. Because as much as it sounds like a nice idea, there's other things I'd rather do with my time. I want it, but not nearly enough to do it. (although that's a bad example, because I could learn it one hour per week and finish it in 10 years. I'm not starting it because the process is intimidating in a toil-y way rather than a spark-my-creativity way)

If you could do only one thing with your life, with no problems for money, time, motivation, etc, what would that be? Go do that. Because no matter how hard it is, it's the one thing you want to do with your life. And you only get one life.

Before you leave the PhD, what can you do to take advantage of where you are in life right now? Meet more people around you, attend a lecture series, go dancing with fellow classmates, take an art class, join a theater troupe. You don't know - maybe you'll meet your future wife while you're distracting yourself from your PhD, and later this will be the funny story you tell about how you met. Don't take it so seriously. Just find something that feels valuable about your current situation, enjoy it, and let go of the guilt.

Re: I've procrastinated working on my thesis for more than a year

#154

Post by paulkre »

shikshake wrote: post #27

Hey, I'm the author of this blog post. I didn't think anyone would even read it, let alone post it on HN. To be honest it's a little scary how many people are seeing this post since it's basically my 2am anxiety-fueled cry for help. But it's also motivating reading all these comments from people who've had similar experiences and are offering encouragement. I'm reading every one of your replies and they're giving me…

Thanks for sharing your experience. I am currently in a similar situation, writing my master thesis. Your words motivated me.

Re: I've procrastinated working on my thesis for more than a year

#156

Post by eunos »

KVFinn wrote: post #2

If you're not just making slow progress but literally unable to make a single bit of progress, my goto strategy is similar to what writers call a vomit draft. For writing it conventionally means means writing words without stopping to plan or edit, no corrections allowed, the rule is you just have to keep typing, no matter what. It's about something being better than nothing, creating momentum, and also avoids being…

When I wrote my Master thesis, my vomit draft was written on paper with pen. Safe to say it was horrendous and even full of rant and swearing. Yet ultimately I managed to write much more words than directly on LaTex.

Re: I've procrastinated working on my thesis for more than a year

#157

Post by Gud »

KVFinn wrote: post #2

If you're not just making slow progress but literally unable to make a single bit of progress, my goto strategy is similar to what writers call a vomit draft. For writing it conventionally means means writing words without stopping to plan or edit, no corrections allowed, the rule is you just have to keep typing, no matter what. It's about something being better than nothing, creating momentum, and also avoids being…

And if you're so stuck you don't even know what to do, you can always clean the space around you.

Re: I've procrastinated working on my thesis for more than a year

#158

Post by jinto36 »

KVFinn wrote: post #2

If you're not just making slow progress but literally unable to make a single bit of progress, my goto strategy is similar to what writers call a vomit draft. For writing it conventionally means means writing words without stopping to plan or edit, no corrections allowed, the rule is you just have to keep typing, no matter what. It's about something being better than nothing, creating momentum, and also avoids being…

One thing that works for me is to just start writing figure legends. That seems easy, it doesn't feel like "writing the paper". I end up basically writing the results section for that figure or table, so I just cut and paste most of it to the actual results later, and keep a summarized version for the actual figure legend. By coincidence, I'm trying to submit a PhD thesis today (Genetics/Computational Biology).

Re: I've procrastinated working on my thesis for more than a year

#159

Post by olau »

croisillon wrote: post #53
shikshake wrote: post #27

Hey, I'm the author of this blog post. I didn't think anyone would even read it, let alone post it on HN. To be honest it's a little scary how many people are seeing this post since it's basically my 2am anxiety-fueled cry for help. But it's also motivating reading all these comments from people who've had similar experiences and are offering encouragement. I'm reading every one of your replies and they're giving me…

My GF started working on her Master Thesis in 2011. A few things happened like moving to another city and some short jobs here and there. She was really dreading even thinking about it, constantly waiting for next year's updated statistics. Me trying to help also upset her, we were in a bad place in that respect. In 2015 she started going to a university help group but it still didn't really help. In 2016 I convinced…

This is the thesis swamp.

A lot of the young people in these swamps are in a bad place.

The university I attended many years ago almost didn't have that swamp for Master's students. It was largely attributed to students working in small teams thus pulling each other through.

I learned about this when I attended an evaluation group with some of the high-ranking staff members on the faculty. At some universities, most people end up in the swamp and have for decades if not centuries. Unfortunately, it's shameful, so people don't hear about it, and little changes.

If you work as staff at a university with a big swamp, the one single biggest contribution you can do to society is probably help fix the system at that university so people don't fall into the swamp. Even if it means putting your research on hold.

Re: I've procrastinated working on my thesis for more than a year

#160

Post by davnicwil »

KVFinn wrote: post #2

If you're not just making slow progress but literally unable to make a single bit of progress, my goto strategy is similar to what writers call a vomit draft. For writing it conventionally means means writing words without stopping to plan or edit, no corrections allowed, the rule is you just have to keep typing, no matter what. It's about something being better than nothing, creating momentum, and also avoids being…

This right here is "worse is better" in practice!

A thing in the world may well be the worst possible example of that thing that can exist. Yet it exists, so has a couple of key properties:

1) it does something (albeit poorly), not nothing

2) it can be improved upon.

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