December 26, 2007
- Talk About the Value of Your Project – Part 3 of 3
In Part 1 of this series, we talked about the importance of writing down the value of your project. In Part 2 of this series, we talked about the importance of finding value in your topic or valuing your topic is to look at how your project is going to further the field or your area of expertise.
The third step is to combine these first two steps and write yourself a very compelling reason for finishing the dissertation.
December 22, 2007
- Talk About the Value of Your Project – Part 2 of 3
If you have been working on the dissertation for awhile, you might have forgotten about the value of your project; or if you’ve just started working on your dissertation, you might be concerned that the project has no value.
In Part 1 of this series, we talked about the importance of writing down the value of your project.
December 18, 2007
- Talk About the Value of Your Project – Part 1 of 3
If you ever feel disheartened or uninterested in your dissertation topic, one good quick technique that you can use to get yourself out of the doldrums is to talk about the value of your project.
If you have been working on the dissertation for awhile, you might have forgotten about the value of your project; or if you’ve just started working on your dissertation, you might be concerned that the project has no value.
December 10, 2007
- Beliefs, Part II
In the previous post, I asked you to think about whether you were speaking the language of courage or the language of fear. For many of you, the language is of fear.
So if your conversation is dominated by fear about the dissertation; if you feel worried about whether you’ll finish and you talk about this a lot; if you feel upset and you have this secret fear that you’re not really going to finish; all of those beliefs will directly impact the actions you take as I mentioned.
December 6, 2007
- Belief
In order to be successful at completing the dissertation, you need to first believe that you can do it. Belief is a really important component because it is the underlying foundation for all of the actions that you take. If you truly and honestly don’t believe that you can complete the dissertation, you probably, unfortunately, will be right.
October 25, 2007
- Suffering? Take a break and try again
Sometimes, no matter how you try, you just aren’t making progress. Maybe your schedule is overly full, so you don’t have the time or space to think; maybe your professional responsibilities are taking up every spare moment- or maybe just LIFE has gotten in the way of your dissertation progress. The best thing I can suggest in times like these is to try and keep making progress, but if you get stuck: take a break and try again.
There will be days that are frustrating and times when things don’t go as planned- that’s just how things are sometimes.
August 21, 2007
- You Can’t Create from Negativity
You can’t create from negativity. This means that if you’re feeling angry, sad, overwhelmed, lonely, bored, disappointed, or any other bad feeling, it is going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to create from this space of negativity.
Your thoughts will feel jumbled, your writing will be unclear, and critical thinking will be difficult.
August 18, 2007
- Making Yourself Sit Down to Work
If you’ve ever heard me speak about completing the dissertation, you will have probably heard me say, “The dissertation process doesn’t need to be painful to be meaningful.” What I mean by this is that suffering is neither a necessary or sufficient condition for making significant dissertation progress.
It is possible to complete your dissertation and feel happy while doing it.
July 25, 2007
- There is Always Hope!
I want to remind you that hope is an important element of the process. And that there is always hope. Even in the worst circumstances you can ever think of, there is hope. No matter what you fear about the dissertation process, take steps in faith. Move ahead as if you’ll be successful- no matter how difficult this may feel- and you will BE successful.
May 24, 2007
- How Quickly Things Change!
Change management requires being patient and recognizing that whatever it is today may not be exactly what is tomorrow.
And, of course, that can be a good or bad thing; depending on your whether or not you like what’s happening today. That said; let’s focus on a scenario in which you are not happy with the status quo.
February 5, 2007
- Maintaining Motivation to Finish
In the long, (perhaps arduous) process of writing the dissertation, it’s only natural that your motivation will, at times, wane. You may feel inspired and enthusiastic for the first few months of your dissertation process, but notice that, gradually, you start to lose focus and feel less interested.
January 29, 2007
- No more guilt. No more regret.
If I had $1 for everytime I heard a graduate student feeling guilty or regretting a past event, I’d be a multimillionaire by now. It seems that guilt (as in “I should be doing this, but I’m not” or “I want to do this, but I really should be doing that”) and regret (”I should have done this, I should have done that…”) are (unfortunately) all too common within the dissertation experience.
January 5, 2007
- Your Dissertation Process Mirrors Your Life
I believe that your life and your work are interconnected. Whatever is happening in your personal life will reflect in your work, and vice versa. If you are feeling scattered, unfocused, or unclear in some area of your personal life, you will likely struggle with similar feelings in your dissertation process.
It stands to reason, then, that if you are stuck in one part of your dissertation process, this might mirror some place of stuckness in your life as a whole.
November 27, 2006
- Balancing Feelings & Practicality
I was speaking with someone today about the necessity to balance emotionality (feelings) and practicality when working on the dissertation. Often, I see graduate students struggle with what they feel to be true and what they know they should focus on.
January 20, 2006
- Easy and done, easy and done…
Allow this to be as easy as possible. Doing a dissertation might not be painless, but try not to make it more painful than it needs to be. Like any other project in your life, it will get done if you work consistently towards it. I ask my clients to keep in mind the words, [...]
November 29, 2005
- Remember- feelings aren’t facts.
This week, I’ve been reminded of the saying, "feelings aren’t facts"- which, as I use it, means "your feelings are important, but they aren’t necessarily true". This is important to remember in the dissertation process (and in life) because, sometimes our feelings feel true. Why make the distinction? Because, during the dissertation process, you will [...]
September 1, 2005
- Building Your Resilience.
One of the most important qualities you can cultivate is that of being resilient. Resilience is the capacity to bounce back from hurts, disappointments or ‘failure’. While any of these feelings may have been precipitated by external factors, resilience is an inside-out job. It’s a capacity that we each must build, and, for the most [...]
August 9, 2005
- What are you rebelling against?
Have you ever felt like a DR (that’s dissertation-rebel, not Doctor (yet). A dissertation rebel is a graduate student who knows they *should* be working on the dissertation but finds hundreds of reasons to avoid doing so. This might be similar to procrastination, except in procrastination, you feel anxious and avoidant. In dissertation rebelliousness, you’re [...]
April 19, 2005
- Expect to feel strange when you reach a milestone.
In the past few days, I’ve had three clients schedule their dissertation defenses. This is, obviously, a time of high excitement (and high anxiety). It’s also a time of feeling strange, let down, and sometimes bereft. Anytime you reach a major dissertation milestone, you may experience feelings of being let down, having trouble letting go, [...]
March 16, 2005
- Don’t be upset by “failure”.
Over the past few days, I’ve been hearing some of my clients speak of "failing" to meet their goals and of "failing" to put the dissertation first and of "failing" to make good progress this past week. While it’s an innate ABD trait to be super-tough on yourself (at least it SEEMS innate)- you don’t [...]