A giant construction project disrupts the lives and the commute of many people who use the Washington DC (or Capital) Beltway and the business routes between the Beltway and the Dulles International Airport. This same construction project also raises hope among many travelers that one day they can take the metro the full 30 miles [...]
Posts Tagged ‘mental toughness’
Decision Fatigue: When It’s Finally Time to Write, What Have You Got?
Posted in commitment, demands, determination, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, finishing the dissertation, following through, getting started, mental toughness, motivation, perseverance, planning, productivity, re-start, resilience, self-discipline, self-sabotage, using your strengths, write more easily, tagged decision fatigue, dissertation, dissertation coaching, ego depletion, John Tierney, mental toughness, Roy F. Baumeister, self-discpline, willpower, writing on September 25, 2011 | 2 Comments »
When did you first hear of “decision fatigue”? Perhaps, like me, it was when the New York Times Magazine published an article on decision fatigue and you started getting emails from your friends and family with links to that article. In fact, you probably received many links, and maybe the term “decision fatigue” has even [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Caught up in Fearing Failure, Avoiding Risks, Watching Time Slip Away?
Posted in academic, coaching, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, perfectionism, procrastination, Smart Tips, writing, tagged dissertation, fear, fear of failure, mental toughness, perfectionism, perfectionist, procrastination as protection, self-sabotage, writing on September 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A dissertation client told me that that a couple of years ago her professor suggested they plan to publish together. But the graduate student could never get herself to devote even a day to work on this project. She kept putting it off. Now she feels like it will never happen. And why would the [...]
