|
THE ALL-BUT-DISSERTATION SURVIVAL GUIDE™ The All-But-Dissertation Survival Guide™ focuses on ways to help its readers more readily overcome the roadblocks that often seem to stand in the way of completing the dissertation. It is read throughout the world. Want to become a coach?New MentorCoach Training Programs launching. Subscribe to our other no-cost ezines: Visit Ben Dean's Live Coaching Workshops in Dallas, Austin, St Louis & Detroit. INTERESTED IN WORKING WITH A DISSERTATION
COACH? Email: ben16-76471@autocontractor.com. You will receive an email outlining the application process. Simply follow the instructions and submit the form. Your application will then be forwarded to potential coaches so that you might arrange a free initial consultation. Various fee plans are available. A FAVOR ARCHIVE |
Devoted to providing practical strategies for completing
your Doctoral Dissertation.™
Be sure to place us on the white list or approved
list for your incoming email. To subscribe, go to www.abdsurvivalguide.com.
To unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this email. Please
forward this newsletter to your friends!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE - April 14, 2009
2. An Invitation for ABDSG Reader Questions and Answers
April 14, 2009
A Note from the Editor
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Tracy Steen, Ph.D.
Spring
has arrived! And for many of us that seasonal change means it's time to plant
a garden. It doesn't have to be a big garden. A few well-tended pots on the
back patio or window ledge will suffice to satisfy the impulse to create and
get things growing. But in order for a would-be gardener to qualify as such,
he or she must tend the garden with passion, and in so doing the gardener
and the ABD find common ground:
Gardening is an insatiable passion, like everything else to which a man gives his heart. -Karel Capek
Stay with me here--I haven't taken on a twin assignment as editor of a gardening website (I would never qualify!), but I do recognize passion as the essential ingredient in all successful human endeavors. Could you substitute the words "working toward my Ph.D." for the word "gardening" in the above quote? If not, it may be time to renew the passion.
Passion releases our energy and the will to succeed. It was passion that got you going as you began the long journey toward the doctorate. Without passion, your possibilities are significantly diminished, and even your successes are less joyful. So if your passion is flagging a bit, let the renewal begin!
As the garden grows, so does the gardener. -unknown
Renewal begins with a realistic assessment of what you have done and where you are going. It's easy to lose sight of the fact that in the ABD's world, success is a series of small accomplishments, day by day. Celebrate them! The huge reward you are working toward is far down the road; it's the small feats that will get you there. They are your ticket punches for the big show--you cannot get in without them. Appreciate your day-to-day efforts for the important accomplishments they are.
Equally important as remembering your accomplishments is forgetting your
missteps. The ABD process is long, and it is inevitable that you will make
some mistakes. (Even when you don't know of one, your chair will likely find
one for you!) When it happens, learn from your mistake and move on. Never
let it discourage you. Everyone--and I do mean everyone--makes mistakes
along the way.
.
And there is another important impetus to passion renewal:
One of the most delightful things about a garden is
the anticipation it provides.
W. E. Johns, The Passing Show
Ah, yes…anticipation. Gardeners probably drool over colorful seed catalogs. We never did get a similar kick from colorless course syllabi, but if you find yourself day dreaming about the day you walk across the stage to receive your doctoral diploma, or perhaps a different day when someone respectfully addresses you as "Doctor," don't stop dreaming! Dreams fuel passion. They get us going and keep us going, as long as we back them up with action.
Henry David Thoreau noted that building castles in the air
is a good thing as long as we put foundations under them. Well, that is what
you have been doing, and it's a great combination: Keep the dream alive to
fuel the passion, but keep up the hard work as well, building a firm, well-grounded
foundation.
Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade. -Rudyard Kipling
Every garden is a chore sometimes, but no real garden
is nothing but a chore.
-Nancy Grasby
I chose the second quote above because I think the gardener's thought reflects what many of us feel when our passion wanes a bit. We haven't totally lost the passion at such times, but we definitely feel a lack of enthusiasm. Sitting down to work at the computer can then seem like a chore, yet it can't be "nothing but a chore" because you have chosen to do it and would never relinquish your opportunity to advance your own objectives. As a person of passion, you choose to pursue the goal even when wearied by the pursuit.
There is no magic formula for making light of demanding work, but when you put in the needed hours and make progress, you begin to feel more relaxed and confident. Making dreams a reality requires a certain amount of drudgery, unfortunately, and that's why it's important to indulge yourself in dreaming those dreams, even as you do the heavy foundation work.
As you already know--if getting a Ph.D. were easy, everyone would have one.
And one more thing about renewing your passion--
"You may go into the field or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden." -(Peter Rabbit's mother) Beatrix Potter
Peter Rabbit's mother gave good advice. If you know the story (and I hope you do--it's my childhood favorite), you know that Peter would have done well to hang out somewhere other than McGregor's place.
The point here is that other people do make a difference in our lives, some in a positive way and others not so. If you have personal associations that in any way diminish your aspirations or cause you to doubt yourself, try to limit that exposure. Making dreams a reality requires a steady sense of purpose, and anything that thwarts that purpose threatens the dream. Keeping that in mind, take care to protect as well as renew the passion.
"To everything there is a season…a time to plant, and a time
to pluck up what is planted." -Ecclesiastes 3
If only you could rush those seasons of life! This current season of writing/rewriting would be over and you could get on with a more agreeable season, right? Doesn't "pluck up what is planted" suggest picking up a diploma?
Your doctoral diploma will indeed be an example of reaping a reward for efforts sown; however, you have earned much more than that during your season as an ABD. You didn't intend to enroll for the hard lessons of self discipline, but you are learning them. And you probably didn't think you would be learning how to pick yourself up after stumbling over so many obstacles, but you are rising to overcome challenges. And you doubtless didn't foresee having to work so hard to recharge your passion (because you probably never thought there would be so many discouraging times when you might lose it), but when the hard times come, you can overcome them and keep charging (recharged!) ahead.
It is mastery over these things you didn't plan on--the tough things you didn't enroll in at the outset of your Ph.D. journey--that enable you to grow in ways that will serve you well throughout your lifetime. An old Spanish proverb wisely sums it up:
More grows in the garden than the gardener sows.
An Invitation To ABDSG Readers
Looking for a reflective, constructive study break? The ABDSG would like to hear from you! Please e-mail your responses to any or all of the questions below to steen_t@mail.trc.upenn.edu
• What is the best advice you have received so far on your dissertation journey?
• What is the worst advice you have received?
• What have been your three biggest challenges in the dissertation process?
• Have any books about writing or the dissertation process been useful to you? (We would love to share a brief book/resource review with other ABDSG readers.)
Looking forward to your feedback! Please indicate in your response whether we have your permission to use your name or whether you wish to remain anonymous.
Inspirational Quotes
William Shakespeare, Henry IV
"Now 'tis spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted;
Suffer them now and they'll o'ergrow the garden."
Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that
cannot fly.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders
and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow
is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be
encumbered with your old nonsense.
Vincent Van Gogh
Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought
together.
Thomas A. Bennett
Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of
tedium and distaste. The gain in self confidence of having accomplished a
tiresome labor is immense.