PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION All-But-Dissertation Survival Guide - May 21, 2006
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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—tuition discounts for grad students Subscribe to our other ezines: INTERESTED IN WORKING WITH A DISSERTATION
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE - May 21, 2006
3. Dispute Your Inner Critic by Gayle Scroggs, Ph.D.
4. Free June 6th workshop for ABDSG readers who are considering leaving their doctoral program
5. Free June 6th Teleconference Interview with Harvard’s Daniel Gilbert, PhD, author of Stumbling on Happiness
May 21, 2006
A Note from the Editor
Tracy Steen, Ph.D.
Have you been hearing voices lately? In this issue of the All-But-Dissertation Survival Guide, Dr. Gayle Scroggs will teach you how to shush your internal critic and give voice to your internal coach.
Dr. Scroggs' helpful suggestions can keep you busy and productive over the coming weeks. But if you’re still hungry for more strategies for navigating the ABD process, don’t forget to check the online archive of past ABDSG issues.
We are always looking for new topics and guest writers to inform, assist, and inspire our readers, so please send me an e-mail with your ideas or requests (tracy@mentorcoach.com). What would you like to hear more about in future issues? What could we do to make the Survival Guide more helpful? What do you like most/least about it? We would appreciate your suggestions.
We’re also interested in the lighter side your ABD process. Do you have any inspirational quotes taped to your computer? How about a dissertation theme song? (I know we have a very creative audience out there.) Please send me any quotes, songs, or mantras so that I can share them with your fellow ABDs.
Let me know in your message if I can give you credit for your contribution or if you would prefer to remain anonymous.
Looking forward to hearing from you--
Inspirational Quote
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind."
Disputing Your Inner Critic: From ABD to ABCD to Doctorate
by Gayle Scroggs, Ph.D.
It can happen at any stage in the doctoral process. While picking the topic, choosing the committee, doing the research, writing and editing the dissertation, or even while preparing to defend it...You stop progressing.
Instead, you’ve started to procrastinate and/or “perfectionize.” Perhaps you just don’t feel you can handle it “right now” because you lack motivation or time. Or you keep working/reworking the same method or page. Somehow you never start or you never finish what you started . . . and all because of the constant whisperings of an Inner Critic:
- “I should just admit that I don’t have what it takes for this level of work!”
- “ This whole process is going to take too long; I’ll never find the time.”
- “I can’t make heads or tails of these statistics—How will I ever write them up?”
- “The committee will never accept this crap. Who am I trying to fool?”
- “ I am so disorganized—I will never get it sorted out and finished!”
- “ So what if I do finish? A degree and a dollar won’t buy a cup of coffee much less a decent job anymore!”
Haven’t we all had the experience of an inner voice that suddenly makes us sag like a day-old helium balloon? Ideas vanish, and words stop flowing. We lose faith in our ability to choose carefully, think clearly, write articulately, and champion our work. Worst of all, we stop working on one of our most important goals!
Identifying the Inner Critic. The difference between those who finish and those who don’t is simple: The finishers know how to silence that inner negative chatter and keep the motivation strong. If you are going to finish, you need to do that too—every time it rears its ugly head. The minute you start listening to it, you ally yourself with your own worst enemy.
Let’s face it. At one time or another, everyone has been beset by insecurities that can be exacerbated by thoughtless remarks of others. But somehow the attacks from within are more insidious. Why? Because we harbor the fear that the inner voice really knows us, and that its pessimistic prediction of doom is truly our destiny.
Polliwogs! Balderdash!
The fact that the voice comes from “nowhere” does not accord it any special truth. To the contrary! See this Inner Critic for what it is--an internalized remix recording of external criticisms suffered early in life, before you knew better than to listen. So don’t be surprised if it knows your Achilles’ heel. However, if you listen objectively, you’ll be surprised at how wrong that Inner Critic is about you. It assails your worth, your talents, and your prospects, always by making overblown generalizations from limited information, claiming authority without citing sources, and adding ad hominem attacks--three things you learned not to do long ago in your work.
Building Optimism through Disputation. This internal heckler spins baseless pessimistic predictions and character assassinations, relishing the opportunity to exaggerate, to catastrophize, and ultimately, demoralize you. This adept adversary knows how to convert your molehills of mistakes and misgiving into mountains of disaster and doom.
However, do not surrender to these baseless or exaggerated accusations! My recommendation: Learn to suppress that Inner Critic with your potentially more powerful Inner Coach! You may be more familiar with your critic—but if you listen closely, you’ll hear that inner positive voice, the one that champions you, the one that knows your strengths and virtues. The secret is to turn up its volume and heed its wisdom, and turn off the other one. Let your Inner Coach be your guide on the road to doctor-dom!
How To Defeat Pessimism. One well-proven good way to defeat that negative internal voice comes from Dr. Martin Seligman in Learned Optimism. By replacing pessimistic thoughts with more optimistic, helpful beliefs, you’ll find the impetus for moving forward again. Seligman calls his approach the ABCDE model:
Adversity (something bad happens)
˜
Beliefs (pessimistic thoughts arise)
˜
Consequences (negative emotions result)
˜
Dispute (rebut pessimistic beliefs with optimistic ones)
˜
Energize! (regain hope and motivation)
How might you, as a doctoral student, use this model for your benefit? First, note that simply lingering in the ABD stage can provoke pessimistic beliefs. Thus, even if you cannot always identify A (the recent “adverse” moment), continue with the model by looking at B (your pessimistic beliefs), which can make you feel awful at C. Then identify the positive inner voice, your Inner Coach, the one that believes in you, the one who wants you to finish your degree. Turn the Inner Coach’s volume up as you move on to D (Dispute). The result? You reach E, energized by your new hopeful outlook. Let’s consider some concrete examples.
Look for Counterevidence. Perhaps your Inner Critic says that successful doctoral candidates must be brilliant, but you, alas, are only “mediocre,” or at best “above average” and thus unworthy, destined to fail. Dispute this with well-known counterevidence! We know for a fact that most doctoral dissertations are mundane, just “good enough,” far from genius contributions to the discipline. (Just take a good look at some of the dissertations in university libraries and you’ll feel energized in realizing that you are quite “above average,” even among doctoral candidates!) If you’ve gotten this far, you already have what it takes.
De-catastrophize the Critiques. Does that Inner Critic overreact to feedback from committee members? Suddenly a simple request that you beef up the literature review or the analysis—with limited implications—becomes grist for the Inner Critic’s mill: “You’re an idiot! You’ll never get this approved.” Instead of falling into unproductive despair or delay (socializing? Internet? TV?), enlist your Inner Coach to devise a more helpful interpretation of events: “I’m not an idiot—They didn’t throw me out, they just asked for a little more. They’ve already accepted my proposal, so I am on track. This part may not be fun, but it is doable.” Then focus on the steps needed to complete the task.
Where is your Inner Critic when obstacles loom? Chances are it is right there, anxious to magnify your burden and minimize your options! Instead of working out a plan for HOW to finish, you start to wonder IF you will finish. (Don’t even start down that path!) Of course there will be issues to be resolved, pages to rewrite, and so on. Give it to that heckler: “Hey, this is a marathon, not a sprint, and I’m going at the pace that works for me given my other obligations.” Your Inner Coach knows that real success involves real effort, and that a hopeful outlook is mandatory.
Look for Detours, Not Defeat. What can you do when you feel truly stymied? When your Inner Critic snipes that “it’s the end of the road,” quash it by announcing you are going to do some rerouting. Let your Inner Coach help you create or obtain new maps, perhaps by consulting your advisor, committee, or even an actual dissertation coach. Build a supportive network of other doctoral candidates for mutual support. Look for creative solutions to the time crunch and other common obstacles. Your Inner Coach helps you reframe an obstacle as a detour, not a defeat.
Finally, ask yourself, “Is listening to this Inner Critic helping me? Is there another way to look at the situation that gives me some hope?” Allow your Inner Coach to help you discover the outlook that renews your energy and hope! Then stick with that optimistic view through thick and thin.
Throw Da Bum Out. Remember, your Inner Critic is not your friend. It is an uninvited guest that wants you to fail. Would you let in a party-crasher whose goal was to ruin your event? Of course not! You are under NO obligation to defer to this invader! Give the seat of honor to your Inner Coach, who, as your staunch ally, is there to urge you onward, as the capable, deserving individual you are.
A final word of caution: Some Internal Critics can be pretty persistent.
Be prepared to dispute or dismiss whenever it may pop up. Before you know
it, when it pays you the next visit, it’ll have to address you as “Doctor!”
About Gayle Scroggs, Ph.D.
With over 25 years experience as a professor, trainer, mentor, and now coach, Dr. Gayle Scroggs helps others to recognize their inner gifts and realize their dreams using positive psychology. Additionally trained in Authentic Happiness Coaching, she understands from the inside out what it means to grow a life of pleasure, flow, and deep meaning. She finds it particularly rewarding to work with doctoral students and others who feel challenged by issues of motivation, communication (including writing), or organization en route to their goals. Contact her at gayle@essencecoaching.com or www.essencecoaching.com for information on coaching and phone-based workshops.
Fr ee Workshop
“Should I Stay or Should I Go?”
Leaving the Ph.D. program
Tuesday June 6, 2006, 1:00 PM EDT
Workshop leader: Donna Goodin
Just like the song says, “If I go there will be trouble, if I stay it will be double.” If you are reading this, you probably already know that whether you decide to complete your Ph.D. or leave, the road ahead is not an easy one. It is a decision with both personal and professional consequences that may impact your life for many years to come.
Whatever you decide to do, you can make peace with your experience and emerge whole and strong on the other side, with a clear vision of a bright and welcoming future!
The purpose of this workshop is to provide a safe, confidential environment where you can begin to explore whether departure is the right choice for you. Some of the issues we will address in this workshop include
• Contextualizing departure
•
Clarifying personal goals
•
Addressing real or perceived judgments of others regarding your departure
•
Factors to consider when planning your exit strategy
•
Developing a support network to help you through your decision-making process
TO REGISTER
Email your registration to Donna@studentsuccesscoaching.com.
Place the words “Should I Stay or Should I Go” in
the subject line.
Please include in the body of your email:
1. Your full name.
2. Your university and department
3. Your email address.
4. Your daytime & evening telephone numbers.
In response to your email, you will receive confirmation of your registration & the bridge number.
All registration and participation information is confidential and will not be shared.
ABOUT DONNA
Donna is an academic and career coach who works with university students at all levels as well as with individuals making career transitions. She holds Masters degrees in Spanish and counseling, and is ABD in Hispanic cultural studies. She has worked with Ph.D. departure issues on both a professional and personal level. As a counselor in a university counseling center, she has worked with many graduate students who were experiencing difficulties with their department or program. On a personal level, she has been where you are. And yes, there really is life after an unfinished Ph.D.!
Interview with Daniel Gilbert
DANIEL GILBERT is the Harvard College Professor of Psychology at Harvard
University and Director of Harvard’s Hedonic Psychology Laboratory.
He is generally considered the world's foremost authority in the fields
of affective forecasting and the fundamental attribution error. His new
book is Stumbling on Happiness.
Join us for this fr_ee teleconference interview on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 from 12:00 pm to 1:20 pm Eastern (New York time). For GMT/UTC add five hours.
Register here.