Bit sheepish

I have to confess, and I am very embarrassed to do so, but I didn't really do anything today.

I feel so awful and so embarrassed at myself! I am supposed to be a hard working academic and slowly, slowly I am slip-sliding into the slacker that I always was. This makes me cross, sad, frustrated and oddly not-bothered at the same time (the latter emotion being the main problem).

What can I do to get out of this? What might the problems be?

Problem 1
* I am bored. Really, really bored. Getting the ideas is exciting and reading for them is also pretty good. Writing them out is *tedious*.
Solution?
Stop waiting to be 'inspired', thinking you'll have a day of working like a demon and that this will then carry on into weeks of fevered work. It won't happen. Do be pleased with working more than you skive and take it from there. It *is* boring. Doing more exercise will perk you up, make you feel more in control and 'fresher' too.

Problem 2
* My concentration levels are really low and I don't even know how bad I am being until the end of the day when I have done nothing but procrastinate all day.
Solution?
Work in chunks of time, say for one hour, and turn the radio off for that time as you and I both know that surfing the internet is more fun with the radio than without. Then have time off and come back again.

Problem 3
* I feel that I am in a rut and don't like the room I work in because I feel it has lazy slacker vibes
Solution?
Work somewhere else! Clear your desk and tidy up so it isn't a dump?! Swap offices with DB over the next two weeks. Get out more and away from the laptop.

Ok, so my plan of action is thus: the work is boring and won't stop being boring. Full stop. This fact of it being boring is actually what makes it a PhD - it is the determination to work and work until you never want to work or think about it again. Overcome this by working in short chunks of time then wandering off. I also think I should go out of the house more to get out of my rut and away from the desk and claustrophobia of the laptop. Going out for a nice swim cannot be as much of a waste of time as staring at ebay for a chest of drawers. (But I do really need some drawers...)

Ok, feel a bit better now. Tomorrow will be *great*. I will start work for 10am, work for a couple of hours then go swimming... then come home and work for a couple more hours, which if it is only 4 hours in total, is better than sitting here doing nothing for an entire day.

x J