Thesis writing is a complicated and tiring process, regardless of your academic level and desired grades. There will be no room for failure in your academic papers. Ultimately, you may face pressure and draining psychological experiences such as frustration, writer’s block, uncertainty, fear, stress, postponing the thesis and procrastination. This article will guide you in coping with these tiring psychological experiences and their possible solutions.
What Are the Psychological Experiences You May Face During Your Thesis Writing?
Most students suffer from an extreme fear of failure (this condition is termed atychiphobia), which hinders them from using their full potential. It leads them to other mental health issues such as depression, panic attacks, eating disorders, burnout or other functional limitations, such as dyslexia or autism. This performance anxiety can badly affect the thesis writing process and ultimately affect your grades. We will provide you with helpful tips on effectively tackling performance anxiety.
What Is Performance Anxiety?
Do you feel stress, tension and increased heartbeat during your exams or at the thought of writing your thesis for your degree? You may also face physical symptoms, such as the release of adrenaline, a stress hormone. During the thesis writing process, you may experience an extreme fear of failure and anxiety, which can lead you to miss your deadlines, perform badly, postpone the thesis and feel demotivated.
What Are Some Tips That Can Help You Overcome Performance Anxiety During Thesis Writing?
The following tips will help you overcome your performance anxiety during the process of thesis writing and studying for it:
- Setting Clear and Achievable Learning Goals
- Avoiding Negative Thoughts
- Embracing the Failure
- Avoid Comparing Yourself to Anyone Else
- Rewarding Yourself for Achieving the Goals
- Staying Relaxed and Calm
- Start From Writing Drafts
- Making a Preliminary Writing Plan
- Seek Professional Academic Help
Let us discuss these helpful tips in detail now.
Setting Clear and Achievable Learning Goals
It is easier to complete the small and achievable goals during thesis writing than worry about completing the bigger ones. You can start by writing your literature review instead of contemplating how to complete your thesis without much effort. Instead of focusing on the final bigger goals, you should concentrate on the intermediate and achievable learning objectives. This way, you can write more efficiently and confidently – plus, you will also enjoy the task!
Avoiding Negative Thoughts
Students suffering from the fear of failure often face writer’s block (the inability to start writing on a given topic or any subject in general). Such students think much about the negative consequences of not passing the thesis or failing the exam. You must overcome negative thoughts and transform such thoughts into positive affirmations. Believe you can, and eventually, you will do it!
Embracing the Failure
Setting high standards for yourself and leaving little room for failure will prove stressful for you in the long run. What if you fail? Nothing would anything, but you will keep stressing and blaming yourself. It would be best if you tried to accept the failure and move on. It is okay to fail or take a bit longer than others to finish your thesis. When you embrace failure, you will experience less stress and perform much better.
Avoid Comparing Yourself to Anyone Else
As they say, the comparison is the thief of joy!
Students often compare themselves with their fellows, creating a lot of stress, uncertainty and pressure. Of course, there will be students performing better than you, but comparing your academic progress or the speed of thesis writing will stress you out. Instead of this meaningless yet stressful comparison, you should ask for the support of your fellow students or peers. You can ask for their review of your thesis, which can prove beneficial.
Rewarding Yourself for Achieving the Goals
You can also relieve stress by doing some fun activities or exercising. Whenever you achieve any goal during thesis writing, you should reward yourself for it. You may go to the cinema for a movie or shopping – do what pleases you; you deserve it.
Staying Relaxed and Calm
Do you find it difficult to relax while working on your academic papers or a thesis? Relax- you do not have to be a perfectionist to write your thesis. Take a power nap, listen to your favourite music, watch your comfort show, play with your pet – in short, do anything that makes you happy, relax, and relieve stress. It will increase your productivity, and you will be able to write your thesis efficiently.
Start From Writing Drafts
You might not be able to craft a perfect chapter of your thesis on the first try, which is okay!
It would be best to take it slowly but steadily. It would help if you started by writing a draft and then expanding your work. Later, you can use the same drafts for final writing. You may edit, rewrite or use the same drafts in the final thesis writing.
Making a Preliminary Writing Plan
You should make a rough writing plan and decide the major chunks of data you will include in your thesis. You should write down everything you already know about the topic in headings or paragraphs. It will help you greatly when you finish your thesis and take assistance from the initial drafts you make.
Seek Professional Academic Help
You can hire thesis writing services to get professional academic assistance. This way, you will get your thesis written from scratch per your instructions. However, looking for professional and reliable help is necessary if you have less time to complete your thesis. It will save you from severe academic stress and burnout.
Conclusion:
If you suffer from performance anxiety and related draining psychological experiences during thesis writing, the tips mentioned in our article will help you greatly. It can seriously affect your health if you do not seem to manage academic stress. It would help if you did not hesitate to ask for professional help in such a case.
