You vs. You: How to Trick Yourself into Writing Your Thesis

Dear Thesis Writers,

A few months ago, I was in your position. I learned that when it comes to writing a long paper over the course of a few months, it can oftentimes be you versus you. Here are two strategies I used to trick myself into getting work done. These worked – I was pretty consistently productive throughout the semester and didn’t have any major writing binges or cram sessions!

Learn how to get in the zone. 

One of the best habits I learned throughout the semester was how to get in the zone when I really needed to. In general, some days I feel focused and productive and other days I don’t, but when it comes to writing a thesis, there were some days where work needed to get done even if I wasn’t feeling it. I learned the right recipe to trick myself into getting a minimum amount of work done. Here is what worked for me:

1. Leave my house. 
2. Start early in the morning before I get distracted with other stuff.
3. Listen to Kacey Musgraves.
4. Write the task on several to-do lists (my physical agenda, my iPad notepad, and Google Drive) to maximize the feeling of immense satisfaction of completing it by crossing it off several times.
5. Tell someone I respect (normally my advisor or my mom) that I would finish the task by a certain date and time.
6. Drink an iced coffee or matcha and have a snack.

Feel free to try some of these, or come up with your own, but having a mental rolodex of these types of tricks to get yourself in the zone will be a lifesaver when deadlines are coming up.

Find your happy place. 

Building off my first point, finding my happy thesis-writing place was essential. Having one place where I consistently wrote my thesis, and associating this place with productive thesis-writing, was probably the most helpful tactic I discovered during the process.

I actually discovered my thesis happy place by accident. About a month into the semester, my computer broke and died. It wasn’t in my budget to buy a new MacBook, but I could swing getting an iPad. However, an iPad was not an ideal device on which to write a thesis. The screen was far too small and the cheap bluetooth keyboard I had didn’t work half of the time. This prompted me to start spending a lot more time in the Indiana Memorial Union computer lab (the IMU being the closest campus building to my house). They have a few really nice iMacs, which in addition to having a big screen, just made me feel really fancy.

Soon enough, the IMU computer lab became my happy place. I knew that if I went and sat there to work on a desktop, I would get some good writing done. Eventually, I found myself gravitating to one specific computer in the lab more than the others. I became almost superstitious about that computer. I developed a genuine belief that if I sat at that specific computer, I would enter a productivity time-warp and get SO MUCH WORK DONE.

To this day, even beyond my thesis, every time I need to get serious work done, I go to that specific computer. If you’re curious, it’s the third iMac from the right as you walk into the lab and face the wall across from the IT help desk. I am writing this blog post on that computer right now. 

I’m not sure if this computer is magically making me get work done, or if I just pavloved myself into thinking it did, but it works wonders. I highly recommend you find your IMU computer lab. 

Good luck and happy writing!