As the first week of my project approached, I found myself drifting between activities, without a clear direction. My supervisor (through no fault of her own) offered little support, and so I was unsure what I was supposed to do with my time while I was in Durham.

Fortunately, at the start of this week, I received my first proper communication, with my supervisor arranging a call to discuss the project plan and sending over some reading to do prior to data collection. While the call was successful, I spent the first 2 days after receiving the reading procrastinating going through it. Having spent 2 weeks doing my own (minimally related) admin tasks and exercising, it was difficult to find the motivation to perform targeted tasks, in a relatively specific time period.

However, despite my initial lack of action, I reminded myself of my excitement when I was initially awarded the role as a scholar, especially due to my direct interest in my research topic. As well as this, I recognised the privilege I have in being awarded this role, and how many others also wished to do it. Both of these reminders spurred me into beginning the reading, and, despite my difficulty at first with remembering how to make effective notes, I quickly got back into the swing of academic reading, completing the task much more efficiently than I had initially suspected I would.

While this story may seem inconsequential, it is not the story itself that is important, but what I learnt from the experience; many tasks seem long and daunting at first, but once you find the drive to complete them, they often become much simpler than they initially appeared. As well as this, it is important to constantly remind yourself of why you are doing something, as 90% of the time this will be all the motivation you need.

In future, while I am sure there will be more opportunities where I am reluctant to complete a task, I will remind myself (as I did this time) of how simple the task is, why I want to do it, and how little time it is likely to actually take (in the grand scheme of things).