How do I stay motivated when I'm sick of my dissertation topic? 😴

[Collin]

I'm in my final year and I'm so tired of my topic. I used to find it fascinating; now it feels like a chore. A dissertation coach says: “It's normal to hate your topic at the end.

The goal isn't passion anymore; it's completion”. But how do I push through when I have zero motivation? Any tricks for writing when you don't care?

 

[Kile]

The trick is to lower your standards. Way down.

You're not writing a masterpiece. You're writing a draft. A draft that will be revised. A draft that only needs to exist.

Give yourself permission to write badly. Bad paragraphs can be fixed. Empty pages cannot.

My advisor told me: "You can't edit a blank page." I wrote that on a sticky note. It's been on my monitor for 8 months. Write badly. Fix later. Finish now.