Strategies for effective thesis writing I
Part I - The Hermit-eske Approach
Although the heat has been turned down in Townsville over the last few weeks, the pressure has been on the up-and-up. PhD students are freaking out left, right, and centre. Fortunately, I’ve managed to avoid most of the carnage by adopting The Hermit-eske Approach. Dictionary.com defines a hermit thus:
her·mit (hûr’mĭt) n.
1. A person who has withdrawn from society and lives a solitary existence; a recluse.
2. A spiced cookie made with molasses, raisins, and nuts.
But I prefer a pictoral definition.
As you will see if you visit the pictures in the link above, being a hermit is often associated with living in squalor. I’ve added the “-eske” to my take on the hermit lifestyle because I haven’t really withdrawn from society, I’ve just been forced to speng way more time alone. I still go out for breakfast a couple of times a week, and to get coffee and other provisions (nobody brings me whisky!). I order taxis, using the home phone (which arrive in about 2 minutes - don’t you love semi-regional living), and an array of bounties, using the internet.
The main influence this lifestyle change has had is on my working day. I now work whenever I want. Some days I get up early (at 9) and work all day (till 5). Other days I actually do work and end up writing till 3 in the morning. Okay, I did that once, so? I’m thinking of starting an organisation like MSF, but calling it “Doctoral Students Without Any Borders: D-SWAB. Our mission could be to have all doctoral students working whenever the hell they like, free from the oppression of seminars, tutoring, and feeding themselves. We could keep our supervisors in a cage downstairs, primed to proof-read at our beck-and-call.
Other students at uni, I hear, have begun doubting their own working arrangements in response to my hermit-eske lifestyle. They’re under the impression that I’m getting things done. “Maybe I should do what Tom’s doing and work from home. Perhaps then I’d get something done”. I think what it really comes down to is commitment, the ability to say “Yes, I will work. No, I won’t be at Bludgers tonight”. But, really, we’re still learning.
See you there.
April 1st, 2006 at 9:56 am
But you don’t tell them that your time at home is divided into:
50% sleep/dozing
3% Muscle Cramps and ‘owww….Zoe my leg hurts!’
2.5% Making or fetching coffee
23.5% Internet searching (i.e. fixed gear, sexyloops, photography….etc)
1% dumping from great heights
10% Eating or thinking about food
5% Thinking ‘maybe I should do some work…..er….. when Oprah finishes. Yeah…then.’
and
5% Actually working.
But that 5% of working time is probably more than other PhD students do in their day at uni.
(note: Those with an educated eye will recognise that this post itself is way for me to minimise my percentage work time. Well… be fair. I am waiting around for the LAGO (Late Afternoon Glassy Offshore), new swell on the way. Ow that hurts Tommy. Don’t worry, I’ll pull in extra deep for you.)
April 1st, 2006 at 11:35 am
That is all I ask.
April 3rd, 2006 at 2:18 pm
heehee, I like both of those definitions!!
April 16th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
For future reference and use - it isn’t eske, it is esque.
eske has something to do with keeping beer in a cold box, I think.
esque is far more refined.
There is a definition in the online dictionary but I don’t know how to put the link onto this post…