{"id":320,"date":"2018-01-02T22:31:13","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T22:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rowanspazzoli.com\/wp\/?p=320"},"modified":"2018-01-02T22:31:13","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T22:31:13","slug":"starting-thesis-gently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rowanspazzoli.com\/wp\/starting-thesis-gently\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting the thesis rush. Gently"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In my last therapy session of the year, we discussed how I was going to tackle my thesis. I told my therapist that I would take the week between Christmas and New Year off. But then, on the 2nd of January I would try starting with a 8-10 hour thesis session. This was the only possible way I&#8217;d get it done by the end of the month. I&#8217;d focus on it exclusively and cut out as many distractions as possible.<\/p>\n<p><em>She disagreed with me<\/em>. She said that I&#8217;d clearly tried this approach for many years, either with studying or working, and it didn&#8217;t work. It would create a destructive cycle for me, which might look something like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I&#8217;d set an overly ambitious target for my first day of work, which would sound great in theory<\/li>\n<li>I wouldn&#8217;t have any structures in place to ensure that it would be achieved. This includes the necessary habits, planning, feedback, commitment devices and support.<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;d manage a few minutes to an hour at best, because my willpower would be exhausted quickly<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;d then get frustrated with myself and get anxious about the situation.<\/li>\n<li>This would lead to me preventing myself from doing other things, like socialising or exercising. This is either because I was punishing myself or I was too anxious to.<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;d go to bed disappointed, so I&#8217;d set an even bigger goal for the day after.<\/li>\n<li>And then the cycle would repeat<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Starting Gently\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Instead of this, my therapist suggested a different approach. This includes the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Scheduling social events first.\u00a0<\/strong>This scared my a little to begin with, but it provides an anchor point for the day to plan around. It also ensures that I don&#8217;t isolate myself and that I have something to take my mind off the thesis when I need to. My aim is for most of these to be in the afternoon.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Having a thesis partner<\/strong>. My thesis partner gets back from holiday on 8 Jan, and we&#8217;ll work together after that. We&#8217;ll also keep each other accountable<\/li>\n<li><strong>Build up the habit<\/strong>. Instead of diving <a href=\"https:\/\/rowanspazzoli.com\/wp\/activating-superman-mode-wisely\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">straight into superman mode<\/a>, I should build up a habit of thesising. This would start with an hour on the first day and gently build up until I was able to handle it without exerting massive amounts of willpower<\/li>\n<li><strong>Public accountability<\/strong>. I&#8217;ll be sharing a tiny update of one line at the end of each blog, just so that I&#8217;m forced to be publicly accountable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I&#8217;ve adopted this approach, and am gently going to build momentum with my thesis.<\/p>\n<p>And I&#8217;m less scared than I thought as I&#8217;d be. In fact, after starting today I&#8217;m already feeling more confident about the journey<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Image is of the care pack that Kayleen got me for the start of my thesising. It includes everything from stationery to emergency chocolates and a tissues to bubbly to pop when I hand in \ud83d\ude42 Thanks Kay!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<pre><strong>Thesis update<\/strong>: 1 hour of work done today which included planning and some reading.<\/pre>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<pre>Blog 57\/365. <a href=\"https:\/\/rowanspazzoli.com\/wp\/grind-time-prime-time\/\">Read more about my #365of25 journey here<\/a><\/pre>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>[jetpack_subscription_form]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In my last therapy session of the year, we discussed how I was going to tackle my thesis. I told my therapist that I would take the week between Christmas and New Year off. But then, on the 2nd of January I would try starting with a 8-10 hour thesis session. 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