Need help finishing my thesis (energy problems!)

[Sven]

I know this isn't very fitness related, but I can't think of a more helpful and supportive community to ask. I'm quite late for the ongoing 7-week challenge, but finishing my bachelor's thesis in computer science would be my life goal for this. Very fitting because the final due date is the same as the end date of the challenge, Feb 20th.

I have been working on and off my project for over a year now, and the official four months of time we have for it here (I registered for it much after I started) are almost over too. Actually are over since Jan 16th. But I have been diagnosed a light depression since Jan 2nd and I was given five additional weeks to recover. I could request more, but I want to finish the damn thing, so Feb 20th it is.

I could finish it in time and with everything in it that I want to include, but whenever I try working on it, I immediately feel tired and could fall asleep right on the spot. I don't think these are actual energy problems (at least not every one of those instances), but also psychosomatic problems. I also have problems getting up early in the morning to start working and get much done, feeling sleepy and having headaches as soon as the alarm goes off.

I know there are multiple ways to increase my energy, like drinking enough water and excercising regularly. But it just doesn't help much, just sucking it up and going on doesn't help much either because I can't concentrate because of said energy drops.

I am in desperate need of help and would like to know if anybody has encountered the same problems in the past (or knows someone who has) and can help me find ways to overcome this.

Thanks for your attention,

Sven

PS: I just had the idea of a challenge if this is some hidden lack of motivation kind of problem - whoever puts in the most 45-min blocks of work on a personal project until Feb 20th wins - the loser buys the winner a NF shirt or something.. anyone up for it?

Still welcoming all other helpful thoughts though..

[Morrigainz]

I have this same problem with studying...it makes me so tiiiiiiiiiiiiiired! I haven't found a great solution for it - the only real idea I've had is every time I get tired, to get down and do 10 pushups. However I should mention that I have not implemented this idea.

Coffee? Pop? Vitamin B? Sun lamp?

Good luck...let me know if you find an awesome solution.

['Roos]

I dunno, dude. I would recommend the pushups as well to see if you can get the blood pumping. Out of curiosity do you actually fall asleep at the keyboard?

I had similar issues with my grant proposal recently, but eventually it got to the point where the anxiety over not having it finished outweighed the anxiety over doing it, and it got done. Mostly.

Question is this: can you block out the tasks that remain and assign approximate (Realistic) time values to each of them? Then it may be possible to break them up into chunks which ARE doable, emotionally or whatever.

[CalvinHobbes]

OK I'm in for a challenge on the "rush to finish the thesis" thing. I actually have a lot of work to do on mine, but I want to get my lit review + 2 parts of the project totally done by Feb 21...I can make it Feb 20 for sake of this.

[Sven]

Alright, it's on! I'll start tomorrow morning, you may take a head start and start today. Starting on a Sunday is extra tough but if it helps us, why not..

Anyone else may join in if they wish, I'll post my progress tomorrow. Thanks for the other tips, I'll see how they work.

Edit: I thought about it again and I'll take todays blocks as training. Will post some more formal rules on my blog in the next hours and the official start is tomorrow. Don't want to discourage you with a head start already. Hope you are still in.

[CalvinHobbes]

Oh I'm in. I got a solid 2 hours in yesterday

Are we counting just thesis work or are we counting all school work? I'm in 20 credits in addition to my thesis, so just wondering.

[Sven]

Posted a rules proposal on my blog.

Anyone is invited to join, just post here.

Strange what a little challenge may do motivation-wise.. now to hope that this is enough to bust my energy problems..

CalvinHobbes, great, let's do this!

As I am able to work nearly full-time on this, it's fair to allow all your school work in this.. More challenge for me, more motivation for you I guess. You might want to track both seperately though and we'll see how it goes along the way.

[CalvinHobbes]

OK so I got a nice 4 hours in Tuesday, 3 Wednesday, plus 6 today (hell yeah!) Gonna kick this semester in the butt!

FYI--this was a mix of all classwork...if you just count thesis it was probably 1.5 Tues, 1 Wed, and 1 today so far :/ but I am in class now until 7pm plus I need some gym time, so that might be all for today.

[Sven]

Well, any progress is good!

I didn't get much done myself (6 hours total until now), but I set my surroundings up for much more productive work next week.

Details (and pictures of my new workspace) can be found in my latest blog post:

http://nerdfitness.com/community/entry.php?2985-Personal-project-challenge-update

Have a nice weekend!

[Nasbrain]

I get lunch with friends, that gives me energy to get through school work. I just read an article about levity and approaching work with lightheartedness and humor...I don't know if it can be as applicable to school work, but it's all about perspective, right?

Anyway, I know you two can do it! Good luck!

[Sven]

Here's my conclusion of the challenge:

http://nerdfitness.com/community/entry.php?3393-Personal-project-challenge-conclusion

Total work time: 16:30. Should have been way more but that's what I did. Thinking back, I had hoped for way more logging / communication but I can't tell what exactly went wrong.

How about you? Can't wait to hear how much you got done, hope it's more than what I did..

I'm also up for another challenge(this time with waaaaay more communication), just in case you need more done, too.

[CalvinHobbes]

I had hoped for a lot more logging as well--generally when I was finished doing homework the last thing I wanted to do was talk about my homework!

I got 14:30 for thesis and 26:30 for general schoolwork. Downfall: I didn't take into account when I started how long real schoolwork would be.

I'm totally up for another challenge--school doesn't end until May 5th!

[Sven]

Alright, let's turn this into a four week challenge and let's try to improve on the communication / motivating each other department. I think the logging takes a lot less time if we do it each day, and we could comment on those to motivate each other to do even more..

[CalvinHobbes]

Good call--still using this thread?

[Sven]

I'll keep using my blog and post summaries and links here. You can do the same or keep on posting status updates here. But I like the blog because you can go into more detail and post comments to each post there..

[Sven]

Seems like not much has changed on the logging and communication front.

I feel pretty exhausted from today, off to jugger training in some minutes.

I might or might not post a status update for the last week when I return in some hours, but I'll edit a link in here if I do.

And I wrote a post on The Anatomy Of Procrastination.

I still fall prey to a lot of procrastination and I needed to write stuff down to get a clear picture. Now to act on that.. hoping for a more productive day tomorrow.

Edit One:

WOOT! I have finished my thesis last friday. It's done. I kicked procrastination's ass right after examining its anatomy! And I finally posted a wrap-up with my work times and afterthoughts.

I also sent CalvinHobbes some productivity tips I learned to be helpful and might write a blog post in the near future.