How inspired are you by watching the Winter Olympics? What a thrill to see the moguls skiers come down the slope so fast it seems as if the screen must be on fast-forward. Smoking fast, the commentator says. We figured, without hearing the commentator say it, that these skiers are “on the edge of out of [...]
Archive for the ‘courage’ Category
Be Inspired: Execute a Smoking-Hot Dissertation Boot Camp
Posted in acting as if, boot camp, coaching, commitment, courage, determination, discipline, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, focus, goals, mental toughness, motivation, perseverance, showing up, using your strengths, tagged being in the zone, focusing, inspired by Winter Olympics, smoking-hot and smoking-fast athletes, smoking-hot Dissertation Boot Camp on February 15, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Boldness and Hope Will Rescue Your Dissertation
Posted in academic, brave, coaching, courage, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, fears, finishing the dissertation, hope, mental toughness, perseverance, reflection, resilience, resources, support, take charge, top strengths, urgency, using your strengths, tagged boldness, character strengths, Elizabeth Strout, Finishing your dissertation, hire a dissertation coach, hope, perseverance, support, the reading life, using your strengths on January 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Writing a dissertation is full of black holes that can swallow you up. Boldness allows you to embrace hope and can make the impossible seem possible. In the short story “Incoming Tide,” Pulitzer Prize winning writer Elizabeth Strout captures the essence of what might result from the interplay of boldness, hope, and perseverance. “Incoming Tide,” [...]
What do I need in order to be a successful writer?
Posted in academic, advisor, beliefs, boundaries, courage, determination, discipline, dissertation advisors, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, finishing the dissertation, goals, Happier, happiness, mental toughness, perseverance, positive psychology, realistic goals, self-sabotage, strategies, top strengths, using your strengths, writing, writing, dissertation, tagged boldness, character strengths, invest in hiring a dissertation coach, optimism, perseverance, successful writing on January 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
If your goal is to finish your dissertation during this new year of 2010, be bold, be optimistic, and persevere. Positive psychologists for several years have said that the strengths most important for happiness are curiosity, optimism, gratitude, zest, and loving and being loved. My experience as a dissertation and writing coach tells me that [...]
Writing: Choosing the uncertain act of baking French canelés or choosing to go down a cul-de-sac
Posted in courage, curiosity, determination, dissertation coach, reflection, start writing, writing, You Tube, tagged connection between reading and writing, courage to write, the reading life, the urge to write, the writing life on December 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
What calls us to write? Feeling moved by an activity, an idea, a sentence, a word, a sunset, a dessert, and feeling compelled to explore it more deeply by writing about it? Writing is like baking or eating a French dessert, a rich, consuming experience, a bit treacherous, full of uncertainty. A friend had made [...]
Writing the Dissertation: Learning how to do something you didn’t know how to do, Part 2
Posted in academic, acting as if, brave, courage, creativity, discourse, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, higher education, practice writing, resilience, teaching writing, top strengths, trusting yourself, underprepared students, using your strengths, tagged bluff, dissertation coach, Learning how to do something you didn’t know how to do, learning to write a dissertation, learning to write an argument, rhetorical conventions, self-taught writer, writing as if you know what you’re doing, writing instruction on September 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Dissertation writers are largely self-taught academic writers, and the learning process can be a bold and daring adventure. Over the years many of my dissertation coaching clients talk about the challenges in writing academic discourse. Academic writing is its own special discourse, with its own particular conventions. My dissertation coaching clients largely learn this discourse [...]
Re-group and Take a Big Step Forward on Your Dissertation: Re-establish Contact with Your Dissertation Advisor
Posted in academic, advisor, brave, coaching, courage, discipline, dissertation advisors, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, finishing the dissertation, following through, getting started, re-group, re-start, regrouping, resilience, restart writing, restarting, self-sabotage, Smart Tips, start writing, writing, writing, dissertation, tagged contact your dissertation advisor, dissertation coach, get on with your dissertation, maintain self-respect, re-group on September 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Have you ignored your dissertation and your dissertation advisor for some time? Entertaining the idea of restarting the project and of contacting your advisor may cause more than a few fears to surface. Are you afraid what the lapse in time may say about you? The truth is that it doesn’t say much of anything, [...]
Mental Toughness, Discipline, and Planning—Essentials for Taking on a Beastly Dissertation
Posted in academic, anxiety, brave, courage, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, getting started, mental toughness, planning, procrastination, re-group, re-start, self-deception, self-sabotage, writing, tagged academics self-sabotage, catastrophizing adds anxiety, dissertation coach, mental toughness takes a plan, use past successes as motivation, work ethic on August 17, 2009 | 2 Comments »
The people I coach are terrific, bright, accomplished. Each is writing a book, a dissertation, or a thesis. Many are published writers. Many have won awards for their college-level teaching. Their intellect and accomplishments amaze me. But . . . (yes, there’s a “but” here) . . . they are struggling with their dissertation. With [...]
Low on Motivation? Feeling Down? Is Your Dissertation Going Nowhere Fast?
Posted in beliefs, courage, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, exercise, finishing the dissertation, getting started, inertia, mental toughness, motivation, procrastination, productivity, reasons for not writing, self-sabotage, start writing, struggling, time management, write more easily, writing, tagged beliefs, bits of time, blocks of time, breakthrough, dissertation coach, lifting weights, moody, rigid, running, sabotaged, shake things up on August 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Is your dissertation making you moody instead of motivated? It’s possible that you’re too set in your ways. Do you believe that things have to be a certain way before you start to write? What time of day have you been telling yourself is the only time you can write? How do you think you have [...]
For Successful Dissertation Writing, Spring Break or a Reasonable Facsimile Gives You the Distance You Need
Posted in academic, brave, coaching, courage, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, foxes, perseverance, productivity, restart writing, self-care, teaching writing on March 19, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Are you one of the many overworked, stressed people trying to write a dissertation at the same time that you’re holding down a demanding job? Is each day more complicated than the day before? If you’ve been teaching as well as trying to find time to write, this week may be what you’ve been waiting [...]
To Finish Your Dissertation, Choose Mental Toughness
Posted in courage, discipline, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, focus, getting started, mental toughness, start writing, strategies, tagged mental toughness takes strategic planning on January 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Do you procrastinate or even deceive yourself about whether you’re procrastinating instead of getting started on your writing? Do you yield to the urge to flee from your writing every time you feel a little scared? Mental toughness is what you need, but it doesn’t occur by accident. 1. It’s a question of priority 2. [...]
