Inspiration for finishing the last 5%

I just read an article on The Thesis Whisperer a brilliant blog that always seems to have one of the best responses to my frequent Google searches on how this whole academic pathway works. I was looking up working hours for academics (the articles is: Why do academics work so much?) as I'm currently working on a Sunday evening on a project because I want to get it published but it's related to my paid research assistant role and being new to this field it feels odd to me to be doing work I won't get paid for.

I really like the term used in this article 'landing planes' which is described as finishing off the last 5% of a project; all the fiddly details like organising references, polishing the text and submitting to journals. This is where I'm at in the project I'm working on at the moment. I've just finished writing the body of the text and am about to proof it, edit it and then write up the conclusions, recommendations and methodology section. I love reading posts on The Thesis Whisperer because they help me to realise that behaviour that I have always thought made me odd is very common in this field: the idea of being able to be hyper-focused and then not being able to focus at all; and having a very specific order for the way I like to approach tasks.

I actually attend RMIT University in Melbourne where Dr Inger Mewburn, the editor of The Thesis Whisperer, worked until recently. The reason I am now working as a research assistant is partly because of an amazing research strategies class I had with Professor Pavla Miller in 2011 which, although this sounds rather dramatic, has change the trajectory of my life. She is one of the best teachers I have ever had and I know that if I continue in this career path I will often think back to things that she said. The reason this class came into my mind is that it was during this experience that I had this profound feeling of belonging and recognition. Pavla invited me to attend a research conference and I loved it. There were all of these other people who were strange in the same way as me.

I feel this post is getting a bit jumbled and I might sound like a bit of a 'Pollyanna' (I really don't agree with the term Pollyanna as a criticism - there is a good view on this expressed in a book called '365 Thank Yous' by John Kralik) however, I find it nice to have this space to focus on the fact that I am loving doing what I am doing - because even though I'm loving it - I'm also finding it very hard in some ways.

It'd be interesting to hear your experiences of what attracted you to do research or who has inspired you so far?