On the way to find a new research project/problem

It is May 16th, 2024. I am experiencing a little or big transition in my PhD journey. I don't know how big it is at this point. It will be discovered later in the future. I have just submitted my first full paper 9 days ago. I have been chilling and frustrated at the same time. I am chilling because I don't have concrete duties that I need to complete with a certain deadline (welcome to PhD). I am frustrated because I didn't get what I wanted for the summer(internship).

 

Moreover, I am feeling I am not doing anything productive. I am writing and reading random stuff. But I don't see them necessary in my primary work. The current primary task is doing something that can help find a new research topic for my next project. I see myself being very lazy and clearly not doing something 'concrete'. At the moment that I am writing this post, I totally feel self-contradictory. Simply reading paper and tech blog post is not directly helpful for finding a new project but I can't stop.

 

It sounds like structured procrastination! I appreaciate John Perry for giving procrastinators good justification to do less useful tasks!

 

Being easily distracted to random things also contributes to non-productive times. There are too many interesting things in life that always terrifically distract my primary task. oh yeah I am pretty good at being distracted. In daily basis, I context switch between different task too frequently. I often have hard time to do one task for long enough consecutive hours (probably, mild ADHD symptom. no joke).