Doubting myself? or near impossible

LottieLou

Thank you all so much for your replies!! I feel alittle better about it already

CKhalvashi - The staff in you're mums department are very lucky! Unfortunately we don't get any CPD time, it's just not doable. But my manager has agreed this morning to a few uni-days as study time.

Dunroamin - I look after my nana once a week, but I am not a sole carer for anyone, I'm the bereverement nurse on my unit, so i am always doing things to do with that out of work hours (i need to stop this maybe). My main concern is I just dont sleep!! And find a working week hard enough with this issue.

Tony66 - Yes if i ever want to progress.

Grannykate and Fbaby - i really admire you both! You put me to shame!! I agree that deciding the topic is one of the hardest parts, i think its what brought this stress on :eek:

Bronnie - Because of my work environment, they have become quite strict with our annual leave. They like us to take just one week on a regular basis ie every 6 weeks to prevent burnout.

Thanks again :T

elsien

When would you have to complete by and approx how many hours would the dissertation take to write? I know this is a bit "how long is a piece of string" but there should be a bit of rough guidance out there.
I work full time doing shifts, unpaid overtime and until recently also spending a lot of time with an elderly relative. The secret is planning, self discipline and knowing what works for you.
Cut back on the extra time at work. No point killing yourself doing work you don't need or can't do at this point in time. And don't feel guilty about it. The bottom line is that it's the organisations problem not yours. (And yes I do know how hard it can be for a conscientious person to say no. But sometimes you have to.)
Then work out when/where you can work most effectively. In theory I could get in an hour or two writing in the morning before work - in practice hell would freeze over before I got my @rse out of bed. Similarly although a night owl, after a long day at work, getting the books out of an evening is a struggle.
So as my shifts go over 5 days a week, I allocate one of the 2 days off to working on my assignments and nothing else. I do have to guard against procrastination, as it's so easy to just put the washing in, eye up the ironing, make another cup of tea........self discipline not a strong point!
If you really want it, you'll make it work.

dancingfairy

Hi. I can understand being overwhelmed by it all. Here's a few thoughts from me:
1) how much time have you spent worrying about it? You could have achieved some of it in the time you spent worrying about it.
2) at 2am in the morning when it is keeping you awake there is probably not much you can do about it, you need your sleep.
3) plan, plan. plan. Work out when it's got to be done by and work backwards. Work out whether you are going to do it in chunks ie say 2/3 day out of your annual leave every time you get a holiday or whether you can devote say an hour a day (or half an hour a day to it). Also like someone else said there is not point planning to do it first thing in the morning if it just isn't going to happen. Try and plan to do it at a realistic time.
4) Are there people you can talk to? colleagues/fellow students/your uni? they can help bounce ideas around and alo suggest times that may work for you.
Best of Luck
df
Edit: What resources can you harness? Do you have family/friends outside nursing that would look after your kids for a little while for you? Can you try and cut back a bit at work and not go above and beyond just for a short period whilst you get the dissertation done?

LottieLou

Thank you for all you're replies and advice, I managed to secure funding!!! I don't entirely know how this happened...I only found out last week and I start on Thursday!!

I still don't have a title yet, and am letting anxiety overwhelm me slightly, but hopefully that will go once I start. I have allocated one day off per week to doing it, and 2 weeks of my annual leave. I hope some good luck appears from somewhere!! x

emsywoo123

LottieLou wrote: »

Thank you for all you're replies and advice, I managed to secure funding!!! I don't entirely know how this happened...I only found out last week and I start on Thursday!!

I still don't have a title yet, and am letting anxiety overwhelm me slightly, but hopefully that will go once I start. I have allocated one day off per week to doing it, and 2 weeks of my annual leave. I hope some good luck appears from somewhere!! x

Good luck and well done

purplepardalis

Well done!

I have extensive experience as an 'end user' (well, parent of end user) on neonatal so happy to help complete any surveys or answer any questions about my experiences. Feel free to pm me

gibson123

I am a lone parent, work in a stressful job AND did my MBA in my "spare" time.

Here;s my tips...

Get organised - Plan in 15 hours per week - yes 15 hrs, so one of your days off for study (10 hours) and 1 hr per night (for reading)

Get a cleaner to come in once a week or once a fortnight to clean your house thoroughly (this saves 4 hrs) you got funding so spend some money on digging yourself out time.

Drop your social life to once a month only, tell your friends, ask them to support you.

Ration phone time/ texting / facebook time. Send a message to friends to say you will only pick up messages once a day.

Find pockets of time throughout the day and take your laptop / tablet / text book. It's amazing how much you can get done on the bus / train / waiting in a car park.

Talk to your boss about a dissertation subject that would be useful in your workplace, if you can make it work related there will be additional resources available to you.

Take the time to talk to your lecturers, colleagues, people who have completed their degree and get them to suggest subjects.

Deep breath and good luck