Fighting thesis procrastination

Last night, after the kids went to sleep, I had two choices: start work on a business idea I have, or start work on my thesis proposal.

It would have been so easy to choose the former. I am enthusiastic about this business concept, and it's a good idea to harness that enthusiasm to get the product off the ground.

And it would have been so easy to put off the proposal. I just finished a class and need a break from studying. I have the whole summer to work on the proposal. I already have a pretty good idea of what I want to do.

But in the end I forced myself to work on the proposal. It's so easy to put off work on one's thesis, especially when you're not in a structured class environment and are not required to follow a schedule. But the longer you wait, invariably other things come up -- business, new personal interests, and other distractions -- and before you know it, the five-year deadline for completing your degree is just around the corner and you are still ABT. I've seen it happen to friends, and I don't want it to happen to me. I've worked so long and so hard to get this far to get lazy and risk not finishing.

And there's really no excuse for me to procrastinate ... I know what I want to study, I have a methodology, and I have done most of my initial research. Now it's a matter of putting pen to paper (or digits to the keyboard) and cranking out a proposal, and honing it to something that will form the basis of my thesis.