Many readers of Successful Writing Tips are looking for help with motivation. And they also are interested in what mental toughness has to do with motivation. As a dissertation writer, you may often find yourself in chaos, frustrated, with no easy way out. You’re not alone. Many other writers find themselves in a similar predicament. A [...]
Archive for the ‘mental toughness’ Category
What’s mental toughness got to do with it?
Posted in basketball, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, fears, mental toughness, motivation, perseverance, self-discipline, Steve Nash, take charge, zest, tagged dissertation, motivation, National Basketball Association, self-control, writing on July 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
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 [...]
Full time job? And trying to write a dissertation, too?
Posted in academic, boundaries, commitment, determination, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, family, mental toughness, motivation, planning, restart writing, self-sabotage, time management, writing, writing schedule, tagged dissertation, dissertation coach, full-time jobs, juggling dissertation with work and family, scheduling dissertation time, writing on May 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A few months ago a person who had finished her course work for her Ph.D., but had not done much toward her dissertation, wrote to say that as someone who worked full-time away from home, she couldn’t fathom how she could add writing her dissertation to the mix of not only working full-time, but also being [...]
Be inspired to write
Posted in brave, courage, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, mental toughness, motivation, tagged bravery, courage to write, dissertation coaching, dissertation writing, inspired to write, motivation to write dissertation, Special Olympics, using quotations, writing on April 25, 2011 | 1 Comment »
What inspires you to action? What inspires you to believe? Are you inspired by random quotations? Does the unfamiliar or even familiar quotation give you the evidence you need to trust a writer? Or does it cause you to wonder? Successful writers know that a quotation doesn’t speak for itself. If you’re using a [...]
Perfectionism be damned!
Posted in academic, accountability, commitment, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, finishing the dissertation, getting started, mental toughness, perfectionism, procrastination, productivity, reasons for not writing, self-sabotage, tagged dissertation, excuse for not writing, fear, mental toughness, perfectionism, procrastination, self-sabotage, 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 [...]
Manage your fears and write
Posted in academic, anxiety, basketball, beliefs, determination, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, fears, getting started, goals, gremlin, mental toughness, perseverance, self-discipline, student athletes, tagged Butler University, dissertation coach, Doctorate, high-stakes writing, manage your fears, manage your goals, performance, recurring nightmare, writing on April 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Most people I know speak of a recurring nightmare: –Having to take a test you haven’t studied for –Having to give a talk, but being unprepared –Not being able to get to the location where your talk or test is to be given –Feeling under great tension and wearing yourself out trying to accomplish something [...]
Writers Taking it to the Rim
Posted in academic, basketball, determination, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, mental toughness, perseverance, student athletes, tagged basketball, dissertation coaching, NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, writing on March 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
This is the season when many Americans go crazy over their favorite college’s standing in the national basketball tournament, and my family is no exception. As of this afternoon, we’re represented variously by the teams from three schools. Our schools have made it to the Sweet 16. Or at least the teams did. I watch [...]
The Linchpin and location, location, location
Posted in commitment, courage, determination, discipline, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, finishing the dissertation, following through, mental toughness, momentum, re-group, writing, tagged discipline, Holding it all together, Linchpin, location, structure, thesis, writing on February 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Do you feel that you’re like that woman in online advertisements who seems to be turning in one direction, but then all of a sudden, even while you are looking at her, has turned and is now going in an opposite direction? Do you need something holding you and your intentions together? You need a [...]
Typing with two fingers takes true grit
Posted in academic, acting as if, beliefs, brave, courage, determination, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, Lizard Brain, mental toughness, perseverance, resilience, self-discipline, self-sabotage, using your strengths, writing, writing, dissertation, tagged Catastrophize, grit, internal obstacles to writing, Lizard Brain, mental toughness, persevere, thesis, writing, Writing and Editing, writing is scary on February 1, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Writing is not for the weak of heart. Writing is often a dangerous act, requiring all of the mental toughness and grit you can muster. And no one knows that more than my clients—those writing dissertations and those who are now pushing on with writing their books or writing grant applications or articles. Some of [...]
