Someone recently asked me what advice I would give to my younger writing self and I immediately thought of the challenges and discomfort I experienced while writing my dissertation. I did indeed come up with advice for Her, and I thought maybe I should share that here as well - kind of like all of you are my younger selves…
Of course my first reaction was:
Don't go to graduate school??? Or at least don't work with the woman I did.
I have found some common beliefs underlying what gets my coachees blocked and feeling like they will never get This Thing done. See if any of these feel familiar...
Belief 1. Dissertations need to be complex and brilliant: No, they need to be tidy and clear in addressing a meaningful, but manageable question. This is not your lifetime “magnum opus”, it’s your first large professional research project. That’s it.
I work with a UK distance graduate program as an advisor. The number one barrier for most of these students when they get to the thesis stage is to ...
So -- you're feeling fed-up and discouraged and you don't think you can ever finish This Thing called a dissertation.
While every dissertationer feels this way at some point for some length of time, it's not something specific to dissertation-writing or Ph.D.-getting.
It's a part of the process of creative work (and yes, research is creative work!) and, maybe even more importantly, it's part of the process of developing expertise -- expertise as a researcher, as a writer, expertise in your particular field, etc.
And the development of expertise fundamentally means developing and elaborating related networks in your brain. And networks grow and strengthen by way of use, specifically frequency and intensity of attention.
Translated -- that means working on your research frequently ("touch it daily" is the mantra of my group members) and for periods of intense focus. That focus doesn't have to be for hours and hours at a time -- and likely shouldn't be, for a number of reasons -- but it should be real Focus and not multi-tasking every 30 seconds to check email, reply to a text, make a cup of tea...
But that's not very inspirational, is it? Let me turn to a creative writer - Ira Glass - to say it much better :-) ...
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
(from a former Un-Dissertation Group member, now Dr. Victoria :-)
Sometimes when I feel like walking away from this doctoral thing, I think about a bit of dialogue from "A League of Their Own."
Dottie is leaving for Oregon with her husband who has just returned from the war. Jimmy, the coach, is challenging her about quitting the baseball league just when the World Series is beginning. This conversation ensues:
“Jimmy: [presses Dottie for how she can quit something she is so good at, and must love doing]
Dottie: It just got too hard, ok?
Jimmy: It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it and it wouldn’t be great.”
What might feel different if you thought about the dissertation as something you don't know how to do, are learning to do, and that has a fairly demanding bar for success?
You have already made it past the hard part -- you've been invited to learn to write one.
How's that feel?
Just a quick note to share a Scottish site that has a lovely collection of resources on Mindset.
There are audio-video presentations, teaching tools, and even cartoons demonstrating the principles of the different Mindsets — what more could ask one for? (Except a Book on Tape version of the original book by Dweck, of course ;-)
So here it is from the Centre for Confidence and Well-Being in Glasgow.
And here’s a 21 minute (ish) interview with Dr. Carol Dweck, the author of the Mindset book. This one is from the PsychJourney Audio Book Club (great idea — maybe we need a Brain Book Club?) and the interviewer is Dr. Lara Honos-Webb
They cover the general concepts, research related to school performance, parenting, and more. Worth a listen to see how it applies to your own life - dissertation or otherwise!
Many many years ago in a galaxy very close by, there used to be a lot of talk about something called the “Impostor Syndrome” — that lingering sense that you haven’t really done what you’ve done in the way that others seem to think you’ve done it.
And worse, that They will ultimately discover their mistake, unmasking you forever.One of the most helpful strategies for dissertation-writers is connecting with other dissertation-writers to create a support group.
But have you ever thought about what kind of support you need from these groups?
Or what kind of support you are giving?
Or even why it’s so darn helpful?
There is a phenomenon called “social contagion” or “emotional contagion” that may go a long way in helping to explain why we are so influenced by the people around us.
Because it’s Friday afternoon and I have a whack of things I have to finish and I have a client arriving in 8 minutes, I’m not going to discuss this phenomenon in detail right now.
But I am going to give you a link to a lovely little article by Margaret Greenberg and Senia Maymin that discusses social contagion from a business team perspective (Manage Your Team’s Energy, Not Just the Work) and leave you with a couple food-for-thought questions:
Love to hear your thoughts and comments on this one!
What is the smallest thing that you could do to make the biggest difference?
I loved this quote when I saw it …. a lot of the time when we feel “stuck”, it’s because we are looking to get a “lot” done or achieve a major milestone.
Remember the importance of focusing on small steps.
A lot of them, mind you, for a big project, but still….
Small steps, one after the other….
This is an article from the UK Centre for Applied Positive Psychology newsletter.
I like it because so often we are taught that others will feel worse if we are mkaing progress when they’re not or that they will be “jealous” of us if we don’t play down our accomplishments or that “misery loves company”.
But here’s another way we can support each other — and it feels good too ;-)
Most of us were raised not to brag about our achievements. Feeling good about a personal win, though, is certainly a different matter than putting yourself on a pedestal. It turns out that sharing the good news of a personal achievement or good fortune carries a number of benefits.
According to research by Shelly Gable, telling other people about positive events not only raises your happiness and satisfaction but also has a tendency to bring people closer together! Gable found that sharing positives with a close relationship - and being responded to constructively - increases intimacy. Rather than pride coming before the fall, these findings suggest that healthy doses of the emotion lead to more social engagement.
Try this out in your own life by sharing a recent good fortune with a spouse or close colleague. Pay particular attention to how they react, and let these insights help determine whether you would like to spend your time at the water cooler complaining…. or sharing!