COUNTING DOWN: DAY 1/30

SO...

It is 8:30 am already and I am awake since midnight. So, my guess is I have about 4 hours before I feel like I cannot take anymore info.

So, here is what I want to achieve today:

1. Finish reading the essays that I printed out about Culture and Translation.

2. Finish reading the marked chapters in the books I have regarding the same subject. 

3. If I felt I do not have all the info I need, skim through the other essays you have downloaded to see if any is useful. 

Okay, the tip I need to follow is to use a fast reading technique. SKIM! When you feel like a paragraph is relevant use your marker. We will tackle it in details later. No need to read the same info three times.

What I do while reading is the following:

1. I have a highlighter in hand, when I spot an idea that is important, I highlight it and write few words about the main idea.

2. When I finish the reading, I take a yellow paper and write down the main ideas I found important in it.

3. I staple the yellow paper in the first page of the paper. 

This way, by the end, I have summary of all the ideas. I can later arrange them, put on a plan and start writing. 

If anyone has a better idea to save time, please do not hesitate to share.

See you in approximately 6 hours to report the progress...

Okay, so it is the moment of the truth: I am in a deep shit!

We are all familiar with this feeling, right? Although I probably take it to a whole new level: I have a month to finish a 100 pages dissertation.

This is the definition of deep shit, right? 

Oh and get this: it is not a matter of just WRITING the dissertation. Oh no, I actually have to read, structure my ideas, and actually do the fucking work.

As I said: deep shit. 

But the thing is I have no choice but doing it. It has to be finished no matter what because my future depends on it, my job depends on it. Everything basically.

So it is a do or do. I am finishing that bitch (is a dissertation a female none?)

Anyway, here is the situation so far:

1. I have the preliminary plan ready, it can have some tweaking, but nothing major.

2. I wrote 20 pages of the first chapter. I still have a point to cover that will take 10 pages tops.

3. I still have reading to do for the rest of the dissertation and for my analysis which is the main part of the dissertation.

And I have 30 days to go...

Okay, what is the plan?

FIRST OF ALL, some things should be clear:

NO TIME FOR PROCRASTINATION!! SO CUT THIS SHIT OUT RIGHT NOW!

Secondly, be ready to separate yourself from the entire world. You will sit your ass down and work. No room for anything else at this point. I have a network marketing business that I am putting on hold, I took a permission from work so that I only go once or twice a week. 

Thirdly, DISTRACTIONS!!! My mobile is turned off most of the time. I downloaded an app for google chrome called stayfocused that blocks time consuming websites like facebook, youtube, etc. make them available for a short time only during the day. 

Forth, ignore your body. If you are a chronic procrastinator like mine, you will notice that as soon as you approach the task, a headache surfaces, or back pain, or whatever,... IGNORE IT. START ANYWAY. IT IS NOT REAL. And even if it was, no time to deal with it. Take an advil and MOVE.THE FUCK.ON!!

Lastly, spending less than 6 hours a day working is a joke. So don't bullshit yourself. You are already out of time. Sit your ass for 6 to 10 hours and hopefully you will manage to finish on time.

Now, about the plan>

I tried - over the years - scheduling the entire task I want to finish and it NEVER works. So I am dividing it into stages: a stage for every chapter. I schedule the first stage and see how it goes.

The advantage of this strategy is to have a sense of accomplishment, and give yourself a chance to regroup if things did not go as planned in the first stage. You do not watch the whole thing crumble before your eyes, just a misstep that will be rectified.

My 30 days start TODAY. Yours can start anytime you read this. 

I hope this will help you and me to save our asses. 

So let's get started...