look Mum, I made my bed

In May, I wrote to you about my progress on my thesis.

The first six months of this year were rather hard, and overcome by pessimism and my flair for the dramatic and melancholic, I found myself in a place where I couldn't speak of my thesis without crying. 

I was overcome with the immensity of the hugeness of the entire thesis that I was unable to see that each small task I complete adds to the completion of the whole project. I then stumbled across a speech given by Admiral William H. McRaven at the University of Texas, from which I took one key message: 

If you want to change the world, start by making your bed 

"If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day.  It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another". 

It is this small task that I have incorporated into my life for the past three weeks, and have subsequently applied to my thesis - perform one tangible task a day, and it will get done. 

As I have been told many a times, I need to stop being so hard on myself and look at what I have already achieved, and use that as impetus to continue to strive for greatness. Everybody has days that are more productive than others, everyone has days where they wonder why on earth they got out of bed, everyone has days where they conquer major tasks - I am just like everyone else. 

So whilst I am still overwhelmed with the sheer amount of work I need to get done in the next 120 days or so, I know that if I keep chipping away at it and doing my best, that's all that I can do. Just keep going.

You can read the rest of Adm. McRaven's speech here.