Is there a writer who isn’t lured and waylaid by the distractions of the internet and email? Is there a writer who hasn’t written about those same distractions? How about you? How well did you do today? Did you stay on task and reach your writing goal for the day? Or did procrastination and Facebook [...]
Archive for the ‘accountability’ Category
Precommit to Write: The Nothing Alternative
Posted in accountability, boundaries, commitment, determination, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, finishing the dissertation, following through, getting started, mental toughness, motivation, perseverance, planning, productivity, resilience, restart writing, self-discipline, self-sabotage, showing up, using your strengths, writing schedule, tagged decision fatigue, dissertation coach, John Tierney, nothing alternative, plan for writing, precommitment, Roy Baumeister, schedule, setting boundaries on September 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
What could help you have an easier time starting to write and sticking with the writing? In the new book Willpower, psychologist Roy F. Baumeister and New York Times science writer John Tierney present research that willpower is limited, in part because you use the same resource for so many different things. Since you can’t [...]
What you need to finish your dissertation
Posted in accountability, determination, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, finishing the dissertation, following through, goals, mental toughness, motivation, perseverance, resilience, self-discipline, showing up, success, using your strengths, tagged dissertation, dissertation coaching, grit, Hailee Steinfeld, long-term goals, mental toughness, perseverance, resilience, True Grit on September 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
You have a long-term goal—say, writing a dissertation or a book. And the going gets tough. This is one huge project. It’s a long haul—it may mean months or years of coming back to that same project. It’s been going on for quite a while. Have you stuck with it? Have you kept coming back [...]
Trying to Write? Put a Door between You and Your Kids
Posted in academic, accountability, boundaries, children, determination, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, family, productivity, self-sabotage, writing, tagged assuming control, dissertation writing, juggling writing and children, producing text, productivity, setting boundaries on August 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In a recent blog, I sang the praises of writing whenever you are taking a plane somewhere. The quiet, distraction-free atmosphere makes flying perfect for writing, or so it seems to me. I heard from a dissenting reader. She said, “I’d love to be able to devote myself to writing while on a plane, but [...]
How Can a Dissertation Boot Camp Be like Flying?
Posted in accountability, boot camp, commitment, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, getting started, productivity, tagged accountability, dissertation boot camp, no distractions, producing text, productivity, unplugged on July 29, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Do you think if only I had nothing to distract me, nothing else to do but write, no choice but to write… then I’d write? How about flying somewhere? Whenever a dissertation coaching client tells me she’s flying somewhere—on a vacation or a business trip or to see her mom—I sit up a little straighter. [...]
Cut through writing in chaos
Posted in accountability, deadline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, focus, getting started, mental toughness, momentum, planning, productivity, realistic goals, take stock, tagged clear goals, concrete approach, dissertation coaching, make a plan, marker, thesis, track the argument, vacation, Writers Resources, writing, writing in chaos on June 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Dissertation writers tell me they often find themselves writing in chaos. It’s not clear to them where they’re headed or how long it’s going to take to get wherever it is they’re going. Occasionally a cultural ritual, like the summer vacation, is a marker that writers use to cut through the chaos. The vacation can [...]
Hard Choices: What finishing the dissertation requires of you and what it can give you
Posted in academic, accountability, advisor, choice, determination, dissertation advisors, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, family, finishing the dissertation, mental toughness, motivation, perseverance, resilience, self-discipline, setbacks, writing, tagged dissertation, dissertation advisor, dissertation coach, grit, hard choices, juggling dissertation with work and family, Memorial Day, mental toughness, writing on May 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I have coached many people who write dissertations while juggling the demands of family life. It’s difficult to juggle the daily demands, but to give up a holiday with one’s family is a particularly hard choice to make. As the Memorial Day holiday approaches here in the U.S., I am thinking back to a Memorial Day weekend [...]
Perfectionism be damned!
Posted in procrastination, academic, productivity, self-sabotage, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, getting started, commitment, mental toughness, accountability, reasons for not writing, finishing the dissertation, perfectionism, tagged procrastination, writing, dissertation, mental toughness, self-sabotage, fear, perfectionism, excuse for not writing on April 10, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Perfectionism gives you a perfect excuse never to write. Perfectionism not only slows productivity, but it also makes sure that your dissertation will never meet your expectations. Put up with the messiness of writing You have to go through the stage of writing “abominably repetitive, colloquial sentences,” as a dissertation client once described the [...]
