“Deadlines (2)”

1. On March 7th, 2007 at 9:53 am Pip Says:

   I think if you constantly work at something for a large portion of the day, over many days, then I think you deserve the “start fresh in the morning” option. We all need that break otherwise we snap.

   On the other hand, if you’re still full of that initial enthusiasm that goes with starting a new project, then the “stay up late option” is good.

   We all have our limits. Realising when enough is enough is just as good work practice as working til the crack of dawn, depending on how you feel. If you work when you’re too tired, it will increase the chance of you making a mistake.

2. On March 7th, 2007 at 11:01 am Vanda Says:

   Olha amiga, depende do teu grau de cansaço… eu lembro-me dos (velhos) tempos de faculdade que tinha mais rendimento a fazer o máximo possível, nem que isso implicasse uma directa. Claro que era sempre em último caso, mas apesar de ficar exausta corria-me melhor do que deitar-me, descansar e relaxar. Nunca conseguia ficar “fresca” porque passava a noite a stressar e nem fazia o trabalho nem descansava… A resposta está dentro de ti, dentro do teu ritmo e dos teus limites.

   Bjs!

3. On March 7th, 2007 at 3:33 pm Becca Says:

   This is why an “i don’t work at weekends” policy doesn’t work if you are a PhD student

   I tend to work on average one day of each weekend since starting my 2nd year – i worked prob about 1/4 the weekends in my 1st year too.

   There has been a couple of stints where i have worked BOTH days of the weekend 8 WEEKS in a row. thats like 56 days of working days in a row with no breaks! Unfortunately that is the life of a researcher. Even postdocs work weekends and late nights often – so its not even gonna get any better i’m afraid you will just have to get used to it!

4. On March 7th, 2007 at 5:10 pm Cat Says:

   Yes but the weekends and what comes with them are everything I have at the moment to keep me sane. Considering that my sanity is already debatable, I will not give up on what’s left of it because of my PhD. If I break down I won’t finish it anyway. Maybe that is not the case for everybody, but then again not everybody is in the same condition as me. Weekends stay! At least most of them

5. On March 7th, 2007 at 11:27 pm Cat Says:

   PS- I also know PhD students and post docs who don’t even work 9-5. So i guess it depends on the project you are in and finding a balance. I don’t believe in dedicating life to work. People are more important. And there will always be deadlines and stress about it. In that case you panic and stress anyway. And no matter how many days you work, there are always last minute things that ruin everything as every PhD student (and many others)know. The question here was: What do you do???

6. On March 8th, 2007 at 10:32 am Becca Says:

   well cos i worked 5 hours on saturday and 3 hours or so on Sunday my poster was finished 1 day before the deadline – and I made my presentation for the Space Safari (mine had to be on two topics not one) and already started our presentation for Monday. So over the course of the week i have felt better cos i spread out my high stress situations so the average stress i feel each day is 0. It just makes more sense.

7. On March 8th, 2007 at 10:39 am Becca Says:

   Your comment about some PhD students is true – some PhD students have “soft” subjects for their PhDs. They also are fortunate enought to have “soft” supervisors too. But that means they won’t learn as much as us in terms of organisation, time-managment and presentation skills to scientists, peers, the public and children. I just think my PhD may take longer than some people’s but I’m using 4 instruments (!)and do loads of outreach and other things so i am learning a wider variety of things which may or may not be useful to me later in my career….

8. On March 8th, 2007 at 11:10 am Cat Says:

   Again, as you know, situations in peoples lives are different, priorities are different and difficulties are different. I suppose you know that perfectly. I shouldn’t have to say it. I’m glad you didn’t stress because you worked over the weekend. For me it wasn’t possible. And even if it was, I only found out what I could use on Tuesday. So nothing could be done at the weekend. But the purpose of the post wasn’t to complain about it. I sometimes complain but there are people that complain a lot more!!! All the time! And they don’t have half the difficulties of other people i know. So I guess each situation is different. And everybody has something to criticize other people, rightfully or not