The PhD Knowledge Base

You are not lazy

Dr. Max Lempriere

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You’re not lazy or unmotivated.

Also, you’re not failing and there’s nothing wrong with you.

Sure, your productivity might have gone down these last few weeks and you might be struggling to find your usual spark. You may even find previously easy tasks difficult, or that your momentum is slowing.

And you know what? That’s fine and it’s normal.

It doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with you. Instead it means there is something wrong with the world around you.

You’re in a new reality, facing new pressures and new constraints. The world has changed – at least temporarily – and it’s natural that your old routines, expectations and ways of working are being tested and sometimes failing.

So, rather convince yourself that you are in some way flawed, you can instead try to change your expectations of what is possible and realistic at this time, silence that inner critic and be grateful for the progress you are making, not the progress you aren’t.

Good luck.

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