Fear of writing

Research is pathfinding. Pathfinding takes inspiration, creativity, and keen observation skills. Sure, you can also try to thrash your way through the underbrush, but how long will your stamina last? Especially with an expedition as sizeable as your thesis, managing your energy reserves smartly is key. Particularly if you feel your energy reserves dwindling, don’t waste them. Relax for a bit, calm down, observe your surroundings, carefully judge your options to proceed, and then test your options.

Consequently, When you feel an onset of writer’s block, consider carefully if trying to power through is really the sensible path to take in your situation. It might be—it might not. In most cases we observed, attempting to power through and discipline yourself out of a situation where you could not immediately find your path led to more exhaustion and less advancement than what a few days of stepping away from the project and then a careful consideration of the options to proceed might have yielded.

Research, to a degree, also means mind over muscle. It is an easy mistake to think that work is work and that discipline helps the builder to build his cathedral. It might help some. It does not help those, however, who do not see the path to follow next. For creative work—and research is a variant of creative work—seeing the path to be followed (or at least to be created) is crucial to avoid diligently taking steps to nowhere.

(This is a preview section. The full chapter on this topic continues with the sections “Rough coordinates”, “Train of thought”, “In essence”, “To reflect”, “Two travellers’ tales”, “Devil’s advocate”, and “How to tackle”.)