Not too long ago, when my adult son mentioned how busy his work and life have become, my husband was reminded of an annual planning session he had attended at which a facilitator presented a workshop on how to organize your time. As my husband drew a diagram from that workshop, I realized that he [...]
Archive for the ‘choice’ Category
How to Meet Your Writing Goals
Posted in academic, accountability, advisor, children, choice, deadline, demands, dissertation advisors, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, email, exercise, family, finishing the dissertation, focus, getting started, goals, grading, habit, perfectionism, perseverance, planning, productivity, reasons for not writing, relationships, research, restart writing, restarting, self-care, showing up, strategies, success, take charge, time management, time theft, writing schedule, writing to a deadline, writing, dissertation, tagged dissertation coach, dissertation writing, make time to write, meeting a deadline, meeting goals, planning to write, planning writing session, protect your time, schedule, showing up, Stephen Covey, time management, what's important in your writing life on April 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Mom’s in Maine – Marking Boundaries for Space to Write
Posted in boundaries, children, choice, commitment, determination, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, family, perseverance, planning, reasons for not writing, strategies, time management, writing, writing schedule, tagged assuming control, dissertation writing, juggling writing and children, Maine, making space for writing, producing text, productivity, setting boundaries, summer writing, work identity on July 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Are your children home on vacation from school? And you’re trying to keep an eye on your children, as well as make headway on your writing project? How’s that working for you? During the school year, most academics teach and try to write. Both teaching and writing are critical for an academic’s success and are [...]
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 [...]
Found Time—Use it or lose it
Posted in choice, coaching, commitment, dissertation writing, hope, take stock, time, time management, writing schedule, tagged dissertation coaching, finding time to write, schedule writing, time management, writing on March 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Recently a dissertation coaching client said she had made a choice which would give her more time. That choice reminded me of Found Money. You know what Found Money is, right? Here’s an example: I bought a pack of those special money envelopes that are in the card racks [...]
Recording TV shows is a hazard to your writing
Posted in academic, accountability, anxiety, choice, coaching, determination, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, email, habit, Internet, mental toughness, momentum, perseverance, productivity, self-care, self-deception, self-discipline, self-sabotage, strategies, television, time management, time theft, write more easily, writing models, writing, dissertation, tagged digital stress, recording tv shows, tv torpor, watching tv instead of writing on November 2, 2010 | 1 Comment »
A dissertation coaching client said that she stopped watching TV and picked up her writing pace in order to meet a deadline. Now that she has met the deadline, she worries that she will be sucked into watching all of the TV shows that she recorded during her heavy-duty period of writing. Do you record TV shows? It’s [...]
Make the paradigm shift: See yourself as a writer
Posted in academic, accountability, choice, commitment, determination, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, following through, habit, mental toughness, perseverance, productivity, self-discipline, showing up, take charge, time management, writing schedule, writing, dissertation, tagged do what you say you’re going to do, finding time to do dissertation, seeing yourself as a writer, Teaching, writing on September 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Are you one of the millions of instructors or professors back in the classroom this September? Are you also trying to meet a writing goal? So how are you doing? Keeping all of the balls in the air? Maybe you’re like some of my coaching clients who have returned to their fall teaching jobs [...]
Assess Your Dissertation Writing Habits and Make Some Changes: Time for Spring Cleaning
Posted in academic, accountability, choice, cleaning, coaching, courage, determination, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, finishing the dissertation, following through, getting started, habit, housecleaning, mental toughness, perseverance, practice writing, productivity, re-group, re-start, regrouping, restart writing, restarting, self-deception, self-sabotage, showing up, start writing, take charge, take stock, time, time management, time theft, write more easily, writing, writing schedule, tagged change writing process, develop a writing habit, distractions, find time to write, make time to write, mentally tough, self-sabotage, take control, time management, write daily on dissertation on March 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Change is happening in the Washington DC area, not just in Congress, but here in my backyard. Spring is here. Tulips are pushing their way above ground. The trees are dropping all sorts of little colored pellets on my deck and front walk. The first days of Spring are a great time to assess your [...]
I quit! or, changing the way you look at writing the dissertation
Posted in academic, advisor, choice, criticism, dissertation advisors, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, finishing the dissertation, re-group, resilience, take stock, top strengths, trusting yourself, using your strengths, tagged change the way you look at writing the dissertation, character strengths and dissertation process, dissertation process, learning to trust your expertise as you write the dissertation, self-confidence as you write, using strengths as you write dissertation on November 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
How often have you felt close to giving up completely on your dissertation? I hear that statement most frequently among my dissertation coaching clients who are practically within a stone’s throw of finishing. What could make it so hard to keep going? The outsider might think that during the long process of writing a dissertation, [...]
