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 [...]
Archive for the ‘productivity’ Category
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 »
Store Your Dissertation in the Cloud
Posted in academic, dissertation writing, productivity, Smart Tips, time management, write more easily, writing, tagged academic, access to your files, cloud computing, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, DropBox, Smart Tips for Writers, Washington Post, writing on May 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Do you work on multiple computers? How are you dealing with the need to make optimum use of your time and to make headway on your dissertation no matter at which one of those multiple computers you find yourself? Have you heard of cloud computing? “Cloud computing isn’t merely on the way; it’s already [...]
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 [...]
Writers and Spring Break–Sail on, Silver Girl
Posted in academic, accountability, boot camp, boundaries, commitment, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, finishing the dissertation, momentum, productivity, start writing, strategies, structures, success, time management, write more easily, writing schedule, tagged discipline, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation coaching, self-care, solitude, Spring Break, structure, thesis, use fail-proof writing strategies, Weight Watchers, writer’s retreat, writing on March 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Are you one of the lucky ones with Spring Break in the offing? Have you been thinking and hoping and waiting for Spring Break? Finally, you say, I’ll make some headway on my dissertation or book. Visualize how it will work when you have none of the usual demands that take your time and distract you [...]
How Much Writing Did You Do Today? Track How You Are Spending Your Time
Posted in academic, accountability, boot camp, coaching, commitment, discipline, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, getting started, mental toughness, planning, productivity, resources, self-discipline, Smart Tips, take charge, take stock, time, time management, tagged accountability, Doctorate, spend time on writing, Thelma and Louise, thesis, Time, track your time, use small chunks of time to write your dissertation, write your dissertation in the time available, Writer, writing on January 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Perhaps what is true for one of my dissertation clients is also true for you. She says that sometimes a day will pass, and she hasn’t done any writing. How do you use your time? How are you spending your time? Do those two questions mean the same thing? It seems to me that we [...]
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 [...]
To increase motivation to write the dissertation, be curious
Posted in academic, accountability, curiosity, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, mental toughness, motivation, perseverance, productivity, self-discipline, using your strengths, writing, tagged be curious, curiosity and writing, curiosity increases motivation, manage curiosity, motivation to write dissertation, problem solving, using curiosity on September 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Curiosity and love of learning are powerful motivators Todd Kashdan, author of Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life, advocates bringing your strength of curiosity to your work. He says that the higher the level of curiosity, the greater the analytic ability and problem-solving skills. Most of my dissertation coaching clients have “love of learning” and “curiosity” as [...]
Getting Motivated
Posted in academic, coaching, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, finishing the dissertation, getting started, mental toughness, motivation, productivity, self-discipline, writing, tagged autonomy, Dan Pink, getting motivated, mastery, purpose on August 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Motivation is in short supply. We know that motivation is a force that causes us to move toward a goal we’ve set. Reason, physical urge, and self-discipline are part of that force. For many writers, motivation is difficult to find, to come by, to pin down. Recently I received an email about an upcoming teleconference— Ellen [...]
Is Writing Your Real Job?
Posted in coaching, commitment, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, procrastination, productivity, reasons for not writing, self-deception, self-sabotage, take charge, writing habit, writing schedule, writing, dissertation, tagged Ann Patchett, eliminating distractions, writing as a job on July 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
How would your productivity change if you looked at writing as if it were your real job? Ann Patchett, an award-winning author, has done her best to avoid writing. Her novel Bel Canto, has won both the PEN/Faulkner Award and England’s Orange Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She [...]
