Relaxation as a research methodology

Research means stress to your ‘mental muscles’. Stretch, and you avoid cramps. Don’t stretch, and you quickly find walking down the next hill more painful than it would have to be.

Consequently, consider maintaining the well-being and health of your mind as part of your challenge. Remember that it’s your mind that is doing all the work on this journey. You will, in the past, have had a range of experiences of your mind working at lowest and up to its peak performance. Since you will be interested in conducting your final academic project as efficiently as possible, your best bet will be to try to make your mind perform at its best.

Research, to a degree, also means helping your mind to develop and deliver a great performance. Taking breaks and finding ways to take your mind off the project is key to refreshing and refocusing on those bits of your project you have stared at for too long. To see the forest for the trees again, have a nap at the lake.

(This is a preview section. The full chapter on this topic continues with the sections “Rough coordinates”, “Train of thought”, “In essence”, “To reflect”, “Two travellers’ tales”, “Devil’s advocate”, and “How to tackle”.)