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"Aaarrrrrrrr - Brain Ache"

I'm plugging away at my uni project, deadline growing on the horizon, problems a plenty to sort out, and a big messy subject matter that refuses to be neatly sequenced.

You know that stage - where your brain just begins to cloud over and you can't think clearly? Where you can't concentrate or focus on what you're doing?

How do you overcome it?

Oh noes.

After weeks of stress building up (possibly causative..), yesterday I randomly passed out while talking to someone.

It was a very strange experience. I remember feeling ill, and I remember coming to in a heap on the floor with no idea what happened or how long I'd been out.
Apparantly it was only a couple of seconds, but it was really messed up.

I think I need to take a break and cool it for a while, but I don't have time :^S

Yay!

After talking to someone last week who had 15,000 words down, and feeling pretty bad about my miserable 4 thousand, today I spoke to people with 2 and 6 k, and felt okay about my now 8k or so.

Back to it Spiders, get cracking, get get cracking.

I've been planning it for ages, although it has taken a few twist and turns as I've discovered what areas have been explored academically before, and what is new ground.
Which shapes what I need to focus on.

It does have a very different emphasis nowto when I was first planning it.
I have a very clear oveall idea of what I'm doing, but it's complicated, and I'm struggling to get an awful lot of nitty-gritty stuff into line.

DS how much prep did you do for this?

(Planning and the like).

I'm disappointed only to have received one suggestion of masturbation.
Ah well, you have to be selective about who you listen to.


Simon, I love you.

I've actually been doing a little mapping trying to make it clearer what I wanted to achieve with each section. To an extent, I had been addressing things because it seemed like I should, instead of in pursuit of a specific goal.

When I first read your stuff, I didn't really connect the clear mapping with the fuzzy brain, but I think I'm beginning to see a link.
There's still a bit of an issue with concentration, but getting the plan in order gets the thoughts in order too.

A clear working space would be a fine thing. I've now got my books into two piles, instead of all over the place, but my desk and floor are covered with sheets of paper. I tend to come up with my best ideas while lying in bed at night, and usually produce a few pages of notes a night.

I think I need to get a few sections finished, instead of leaving them open-ended. Then I can clean everything to do with the section out of my floor and head. Problem is they're all so inter-dependent that it's hard to do. And I always need to chop and change between bits I'm working on to meet various deadlines.


Maybe I should just go to bed.
And write some notes

I've got a similar problem.
I'm currently coming up to my Phd3 meeting (end of second year) and I want to have two chapters of my thesis done and dusted by then. It's seemed a tall order a couple of weeks ago, and then the head of research sent me an email asking me to "volunteer" to write and present a paper on my work at an internal conference. I turned to my supervisors for assistance in getting me off the head of research's hook, but they both turned their back on me. They thought it would do me good.

They we right, however. It turns out that having to explain what I was doing to a bunch of effective "lay-people" meant I had to get a far firmer grasp on the concepts myself. So, aside from the advice already given about taking a break and trying to clear your head maybe you should try that, or at least thinking about how you would explain what your doing to someone who doesn't know. It's okay to equip them with tools to help them understand things later, so long as you explain that's what you're doing. For example, I had to explain a series of completely unrelated subjects, like laser scanning and spatial segmentation before I got down to the nitty gritty bits. You just have to provide the reader with a good road map, lead them through, and remember at each stage or chapter to explain what you're going to talk about, when you'll do that and why you're doing it. Virtually every chapter I've ever written begins with a road map.

e.g.
Chapter 1: How to work under pressure

This chapter will discus how to work under pressure. It is split into three subsections. In the first subsection there are details of how to ensure you work efficiently by avoiding unecessary procrastination and ensuring your workplace is a clean, distraction free area. The second subsection discusses, with examples, methods to plan and structure your work, enuring that you do not make additional editing tasks for later. The third section suggests ways of maintaining a positive mental attitude towards your work, by making sure you can see visible progress, and maintaining a constant set of achievable short and long term goals. The final subsection summarises the chapter.

Once you've done that, constantly refer back to it to make sure you are talking about what you said you were going to talk about, and that you haven't lost your way through brain ache. Don't deviate too far from your plan, and try not to do what I'm doing, which is ignoring your goals and procrastinating by writing lengthy replies to posts on internet forums.
(in fact, if you really want to get work done, remove your internet connection all together ;) )

Hope this helps some,
Let us know how it turns out

Or take a "power nap" - block all the senses and vanish into fifteen minutes of void. Refreshing?

Either that or buy a floatation tank.

"Thought Shower" is my personal favourite PC term.

Div-sheets.

I was thinking along the lines of "Mindmap", as we have to call the much more dynamically named "Brainstorms" so as not to offend those with Epilepsy