Whilst writing your thesis, you will find things interesting that you never thought possible. Suddenly, cleaning the house will seem meaningful and fulfilling, playing those fruit matching games will no longer be void of all purpose, and calling your parents will become exciting. This is all normal.
There will also be points when looking at your thesis makes you feel a bit sick. Under these circumstances it is ok to take a break. If you fancy cleaning that bit of mould behind the sink, then do that.
Sometimes you need to push through the boredom and actually write something, but when you need a break take it, and don’t feel guilty. Your thesis will still be there when you get back, and likely you will work a lot faster and better after a break.
Get Practical Tips- Schedule how much you need to write at the start of each day. Meeting smaller targets is easier.
- Reward yourself for good work with breaks.
- Don’t stress yourself if you have procrastinated for too long. Everybody does it. Just start work again in the knowledge that you are now fresher than everybody else.
Read Personal Perspective
- After a particularly gruelling section of my thesis, I once stopped for a five minute break to play some Plants vs. Zombies. I told myself five more minutes so many times that by the time I finally finished, the sun was rising again and the idea of returning to my thesis had only become more repellent.
- I once returned home to find that my flatmate had completely run out of ways to procrastinate. He’d cleaned the entire house, including the rooms no one ever went in so that the entire place smelt like perfume. I lived with him for a year before that and he’d never so much as changed his bedsheets, but clearly anything was better than thesis writing.
