Monday, 1st July 2024 — It’s okay to say that I have a deep love for app development and programming, also known as coding. I could easily spend an entire day coding, and I would say that most of my day is spent on development and bug fixing. At my church, we use an application called OpenLP to send the signal of lyrics and songs over the internet, like over an IP, to the older system for broadcasting. However, for some reason, it failed. This signal was sent using JavaScript and HTML. I didn’t really know why it failed, but there was an update that seemed to have affected the code. It’s strange, but it failed nonetheless.
I spent a significant part of the day—well, not the entire day, probably a couple of hours—coding. Then I got engrossed in trying to do some other things. It was a fulfilling day because I didn’t have to struggle; I am genuinely enjoying it. Could it be that I’ve found my true path, or is this just a temporary phase? Or perhaps I’m meant to hybridise my knowledge and experience? I don’t know. I’m still pondering. If I told you how much joy and pleasure I derive from doing this, you wouldn’t believe me, considering my background. But then, it is what it is. I’m just following my passion, while trying not to be distracted because I’ve also got a project to finish. Really, just moving forward.
Now, let’s talk about my PhD. It’s not been an easy journey editing my work. I’ve mentioned this a few times, and it’s no child’s play. It gets tiring, sometimes boring, but when you finish, the excitement and satisfaction are incredible. It’s not that my research is boring; it’s just that I have other things competing for my attention. I’ve been using the priority quadrants: Important, Urgent, Not Important, Not Urgent. It’s easy to use, but not so easy to follow. Coding has become quite important to me, and it’s competing with my PhD. Plus, I’ve got other things to do, like applications and more.
Let’s delve into the mindset of a PhD student. From my experience, it’s typical for PhD students to lose motivation. It’s a normal, common feeling. But you need determination to keep going. Even I, at one point, felt like giving up. Not because there isn’t a deadline—there is, and there’s a price to pay for missing it. Maybe I need an accountability partner. We all do sometimes, to keep us on track. We’re human, with varied interests. For some reason, I feel like I’ve completed the work and that the remaining part is not a big deal. Maybe that’s why I’m procrastinating.
But how amazing would it be if I could just focus, finish editing, submit, and then get my defence over with? Then I could fully focus on coding. This seems like the right course of action. If I were advising myself, this is what I’d say. Reflecting on it, it’s not easy. Maybe I need some motivation.
Another ‘distraction’—not really a distraction—is the PGR researchers conference coming up soon. I need to present a paper there. I received an email on Monday, so now I have to prepare something to present. This way, I won’t just be going to collect the three-minute thesis award. Achieving two things and noting that a paper was presented at the University of Kent postgraduate researchers conference in June feels good. See, I’m not just wasting time on irrelevant things. I’m doing other important things, but my thesis is equally important. Lord help me.
I also have application writing to do, and there are more applications to submit. I’ve done one, but there are more to go. There’s a place for prayer in all of this. I wish God could just tell me which ones to apply for, so I wouldn’t have to submit so many and rely on luck. Lord help me. The scripture says, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” I’m casting, I’m casting, but it’s difficult. Lord help me.
Well, I’m not drawing any specific lessons from today’s blog because I’m just expressing myself. If there’s anything to take away, it’s that we all face difficult times. Sometimes we lose motivation. Sometimes we’re distracted by other interests. But we have to keep going. So, if you learn one thing today: Keep going. Keep going. Keep going.
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