The biggest mistake that prevents you from working effectively

There is a really big mistake that PhD students make while working on their thesis. One that causes you to become exhausted and more stressed. And that mistake is maybe not so obvious but has a lot of impacts.

What is it?

STOP IN TIME

I know that getting started can be tricky as well; almost everybody does procrastinate now and then.

Today I want to focus on stopping in time. It seems very responsible to continue working and not taking any rest if there is a lot to do – and when do you have nothing to do as a PhD student? You are not going to stop when something that has to be finished is still not done? And besides that, if you are really in the flow of working, why would you stop?

And that causes the problem. To continue working for too long is almost synonymous with ‘making mistakes.  And you won’t take the time to relax and rest, exactly the things you need to stay focussed. Experienced writers and composers, for instance, know that you have to stop, especially at that point in time when you have the feeling that you could easily continue and therefore they don’t stop when tired and exhausted.

Why should I stop?

An overloaded diary can tempt you to continue. But also if you look at it in a psychological way it is not easy to finish off: if you stop with something, it doesn’t mean that you actually stop dealing with it completely. Most of the time your mind is still busy with the things you are occupied with, or what will happen later, or what is said, or……

If you can’t manage to stop that, to truly stop with the things you were busy with, or the things you were thinking or worrying about, then you won’t find rest or relaxation. Time to recover yourself. Time to start with new fresh energy and a clear head. You really need that clear head to work in a productive way to finish your thesis!

So stop in time so you can launch with new energy.