Part-time PhD

Making progress:

Avoiding defeatism and self-sabotage

Learning outcomesBy the end of this session you will have:• Discussed your own working practices and

considered how constructive they are. • Learnt about the physiological basis of stress and

considered typical symptoms. • Considered strategies to deal with stress and

negative thinking. • Considered techniques to help you recognise

progress when you are making it.

Self-sabotage

Sabotage: to ruin, destroy, or disable deliberately and maliciously.

Self-sabotage: to act against your own best-interests whether consciously or unconsciously.

3

When do you self-sabotage?

In pairs discuss things that you do that on reflection make the completion of your PhD less-likely.

4

Progress?

• In groups discuss when you feel like you are making progress on your PhD.

• When do you feel that you are not making progress?

5

Focus on specific events and examples.

Stress

6The fight or flight response

Stress: Physical Symptoms

• Constant tiredness. • Limbs heavy/face taut/neck

cramp • Breathlessness/ sweating

without exertion. • Feeling faint at times. • Light, patchy sleep. • Weepiness• Lack of appetite. • Indigestion or heartburn

• Sickness/diarrhoea• Headaches/migraine. • Disinterest in sex • Craving for food when under

pressure. • Increased reliance on

caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes, chocolate, sugar.

• Nervous tics, nail biting. • Inability to sit still without

fidgeting.

7

Stress: Mental Symptoms

• Reluctance to laugh/smile or make jokes.

• Poor concentration. • Tendency to flit from task to

task. • Inability to finish a task properly. • A lack of drive/motivation in your

work. • Feelings of guilt/inadequacy

where work is concerned/ feeling of being a failure.

• Lack of interest in life, and in activities that previously gave you pleasure.

• No desire to contact people/ loss of interest in your friends.

• Difficulty in making decisions. • Constant irritability. • Feeling of helplessness and

lack of control. • Feeling of being surrounded by

busy people. • Feelings of inadequacy in

relationship to your partner. • No real interest in the future. • Frustration at not being able to

show your true feelings.

8

Dealing with stress

• There are 168 hours a week.

• How do you divide them between– Routine activities (sleep/travel etc)– Work (including PhD)– Play

9

Ideal

100

34

34

Stress Management: Physical• Take regular exercise.• Go outside and experience the daylight. • Try to walk, talk and move at a slower pace. • For some, yoga/meditation or relaxation tapes, may help. • Allow at least 30 minutes at mealtimes. Try to eat slowly. • Examine your diet. Make sure that it is balanced and

provides you with plenty of energy. • Reduce your dependence on drugs (including coffee, pain

killers and wine).• Seek advice if relationships are upsetting you.

Scenario

Your supervisor calls you and says

How do you feel?

11

“I’d like to have a look at how you are getting on. Can you send me the chapter that we discussed at our last supervision. Don’t worry if it is not quite finished yet.”

Common problems

Performance anxiety

• Daunted by the size of the task

• Perfectionism

• Fear of consequences

• Lack of self-belief

12

Dealing with negative thoughts

13

ANTsAutomatic negative thoughts

MATHsMore accurate thoughts

Dealing with performance anxiety

• Free writing – “write rubbish”

• Three draft approach1. Get the big ideas down

2. Structure and fill in the gaps

3. Proof

• Use a draft stamp

• “Nail your feet to the floor”

Creating realistic plans

• Chunk work up

• Try to achieve something concrete every day/week.

• Reward achievement

• Keep track of the whole.

15

Tips to help you achieve

• Realise that you have a choice– ‘I could work’ or I ‘could go out’.– Choose and then act, don’t then feel guilty.

• Work no more than eight hours a day.• Get at least a days leisure time every week.• Regard your work as a job not as your life;• Control your environment. Put yourself in a

situation that minimizes distractions.

Measures of progressUseful• Tasks completed• Number of words

written/ interviews/ data collected per day

• Percentage of the whole completed

Not so useful• Tasks started• Hours worked• Unrealistic

assessments of standard

• Lists of failures

Supervisor

Make some progress• Identify the next day or half day that you

have available for your research.

• What are you going to do on that day?

• What will you have achieved by the end of the day?

• What kind of impact will this have made on your project?