Posts Tagged ‘productivity’
Friendship Boosts Productivity
Posted in academic, alliances, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, isolated, isolation, motivation, positive psychology, reasons for not writing, resilience, top strengths, using your strengths, write more easily, tagged dissertation, dissertation coaching, isolation, positive psychology, productivity, relationships, strengths, writing on August 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
When you’re writing a dissertation, it’s likely that you’ll feel isolated. Many dissertators say how much they long to be back at the university where they could talk with their peers about their ideas and their writing.
Too often the isolated dissertation writer feels less than excited about the writing. And productivity suffers.
Talking with others helps you to bounce back when you’re feeling down. But sometimes you think that only others who are in the same situation can empathize with you.
You may avoid the people with whom you could have contact because you think they wouldn’t want to talk about your writing. You may be right. But you may have other things in common.
- Someone with whom you enjoy sharing lunch or talking to about the kids or the football game or the 3K race coming up Sunday
- Someone with whom you can compare prices and benefits of one gym over another
- Someone to whom you can reveal your less-than-complete knowledge or understanding of a product or the way your car works
Positive Psychology researchers contend that one of the most important ways to improve one’s job satisfaction is by having a friend at work. Similarly, when you’re struggling with a dissertation, having a friend to chat with can give you a boost and improve the way you look at your job as a writer.
Having a friend helps to bring out the best in you. If you feel that someone recognizes your worth as a person and also shares some of your values, you will probably feel more confident in exercising your strengths and talents.
The more you can use your strengths, the more likely it is that you will feel more resilient about your writing. And resilience brings greater productivity.
When you’re feeling alone or perhaps that the world is against you, look around for a friend. Aristotle said, “The antidote for 50 enemies is one friend.”
I’m curious whether you think it would be worth your time to cultivate a friend. I’d love to hear what you think.
Nancy
Nancy Whichard, Ph.D., PCC
Your International Dissertation Coach and Academic Career Coach
http://www.dissertationbootcamp.net
nancy @ nancywhichard.com
Trying to Write? Put a Door between You and Your Kids
Posted in academic, accountability, boundaries, children, determination, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, family, productivity, self-sabotage, writing, tagged assuming control, dissertation writing, juggling writing and children, producing text, productivity, setting boundaries on August 5, 2011 | 1 Comment »
In a recent blog, I sang the praises of writing whenever you are taking a plane somewhere. The quiet, distraction-free atmosphere makes flying perfect for writing, or so it seems to me.
I heard from a dissenting reader.
She said, “I’d love to be able to devote myself to writing while on a plane, but unfortunately I travel with a little sidekick who demands a lot of attention.”
Unfortunately, when you have kids, travel (and most everything else) is all about the kids.
And summer vacation presents such a situation. For many people, having the kids on vacation from school is a great time for the family to be together and to do fun things. But if you have to make headway on your writing, summer vacation presents specific challenges.
If you have to keep on track with a writing project, particularly meeting deadlines for your dissertation, it’s time to look for places where you have control. You must make time to write, and to make that time, you will have to draw boundaries.
1.You can’t always be on-call.
If you tell your kids that if they need you, to just call, they will call you, even if they don’t need you. Funny story: one child of a client yelled for her mom because the dog chewed up a Kleenex—that was the emergency.
2.Have a door between you and your kids.
One client says that she sits in the main room of her house and wears earplugs to quiet the din while she reads. But the consensus among my clients is that boundaries should be visible, but you should not be.
3.Invest in help.
If you’re always slightly uneasy, not knowing what your children are doing on the other side of the door, hire someone—young or old—to sit with the kids, watch them, play a game with them, prepare a snack for them. Two solid hours of help could equal a good chunk of concentrated writing for you.
4.Get the heck out of the house.
The answer to how can you write at home is … more than likely you can’t, at least not all of the time. An hour or two each afternoon, or two hours 3 afternoons a week, you need to go, leave, vamoose. You will very likely have to go to the library on a routine basis, and you will have to hire a sitter or take your kids to someone else’s house. Make a plan!
5.Use daycare.
Many writers use daycare for their kids during the school vacations, and as far as I know, the writers haven’t been struck dead for doing that, nor have they noticed that their children’s growth has been stunted. When my kids were in school, I enrolled them in a Summer Fun project at their local school. It wasn’t a full school day—just a few hours each day– but even so, my kids complained that they didn’t want to spend time at school. It was their vacation.
As I recall, I may have pulled back a bit on the amount of time they spent there, but I didn’t cave completely. I felt guilty—that goes with the territory—but I had to have time to write.
If you don’t honor your need to write and the need to make it possible for you to write, who will? I hope your partner or spouse supports your need to mark boundaries or to use daycare or to hire a sitter, but it’s up to you to say what you need and to make the changes necessary for you to write.
I’d love to hear not only what your challenges are around finding time to write, but also what you have put in place that has been of help to you.
Happy writing,
Nancy
Nancy Whichard, Ph.D., PCC
Your International Dissertation Coach and Academic Career Coach
www.smarttipsforwriters.com
http://www.dissertationbootcamp.net
http://www.nancywhichard.com
nancy @ nancywhichard.com
How Can a Dissertation Boot Camp Be like Flying?
Posted in accountability, boot camp, commitment, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, getting started, productivity, tagged accountability, dissertation boot camp, no distractions, producing text, productivity, unplugged on July 29, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Do you think if only I had nothing to distract me, nothing else to do but write, no choice but to write… then I’d write?
How about flying somewhere?
Whenever a dissertation coaching client tells me she’s flying somewhere—on a vacation or a business trip or to see her mom—I sit up a little straighter.
This is great, I say to myself.
While I wonder about the destination, my burning question is, “What will you do on the plane?”
The part leading up to flying isn’t fun. I’ll give you that, but flying gives you the opportunity to unplug, to see only what is immediately in front of you, and to feel almost invisible.
You have the great opportunity of bringing onboard only what you can work with for a specific amount of time.
It’s unlikely that anyone will bother you. You plan for no distractions.
You really could get something done in this nice chunk of time, when there’s nothing else to do but write.
Sort of like Dissertation Boot Camp? Or not?
Increasingly, universities are offering boot camps for graduate students to write their dissertations. Does the boot camp at your university give you the invisibility, no-distraction feel of a 4-hour flight?
In the past I’ve praised on-campus boot camps which have presentations or speakers, but I’ve been told by my clients that often the presentations aren’t all that helpful, even a waste of time.
I’ve heard about less than scintillating presentations or advertised programs being scuttled with last-minute stand-ins offering off-the-cuff remarks.
If a boot camp or a dissertation workshop has become a place where there’s a speaker who talks vaguely about writing rather than a place for writing, the organizers may want to re-think what they’re offering.
The dissertators that I talk with would like to add some input: Could boot camps advertise who will be speaking and the topic and length of the talk? Could ABD’s be asked in advance for questions on a topic so that the speaker will gear the talk toward what the audience needs?
Most of all, dissertators crave a place where they can write without interruption, a super-controlled environment: No chatting, no rustling about, no crackly bags or candy wrappers, no noise from a hallway or a bad AC. A place for writers to write that allows them to let go of internal obstacles and the myriad distractions in their usual writing settings.
I pattern the virtual Boot Camp that I offer on the features my clients tell me that they most appreciate about the workshops/boot camps they’ve attended. When they register for my Dissertation Boot Camp, dissertators know they are committing to do serious, sustained daily writing and that they will be accountable for doing what they say they will do.
The dissertator provides commitment, and I provide accountability. For example, I ask the boot camp client for a daily email after each writing session, outlining how the day’s goal was met and specifics on the next day’s goal.
Commitment/Accountability at some on-campus boot camps involve a charge of some kind or at least a deposit (like the one you give at a rental house to cover property damage). At some boot camps, the deposit check is shredded if the dissertator attends each writing session. Showing up is essential, and shredding a deposit check certainly underscores the importance of showing up.
A boot camp or dissertation workshop at its best provides an unplugged, quiet setting, conducive to a dissertator’s producing text. And the option of attending presentations that are worth the dissertator’s time.
What has been your experience with boot camps? What would make a boot camp really worth your while?
Here’s to producing text!
Nancy
Nancy Whichard, Ph.D., PCC
Your International Dissertation Coach and Academic Career Coach
www.smarttipsforwriters.com
http://www.dissertationbootcamp.net
http://www.nancywhichard.com
nancy @ nancywhichard.com
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 important parts of the academic’s identity. The plan is that once summer comes, the writing takes priority.
But no matter how carefully and hopefully they have planned, more than one of my dissertation and writing clients say said that once summer comes, they lose their work identity.
It’s difficult to deal with the reality of summer. You go into summer with those unspoken hopes and expectations that you’ll make significant progress toward your writing goals. Then before long you realize that it isn’t going to be the way you think it’s supposed to be.
You had thought that with no papers to grade or classes to prepare for that you’d have long, quiet afternoons, or at least a couple of hours a day with no interruptions, when you could read and, more importantly, write.
And the writing is not happening.
It’s emotionally stressful, enough so that you may find yourself waking in the night and having trouble turning off your mind and getting back to sleep.
And even though you want to be writing, you get such comments from other parents as, “Oh, you’re not working this summer?” Grrr…if only I could work, you think.
You need to write, and not only during those 15 minutes when you can hide in the bathroom or duck downstairs to the basement.
For years, I juggled teaching during the school year with being at home during the summer.
My fantasy was to have a summer cottage in Maine where I could go to write in the summer. 
I was never going to have a real cottage for writing, but I needed to make a space for writing—a cottage, if you will—inside my house.
My kids were old enough to be on their own in the house for an hour or two, and so I put a sign on my office door that read “Mom is in Maine.”
My kids thought it was great, or at least some of the time they thought it was o.k. And my “Mom is in Maine” sign wasn’t as forbidding as the “Keep Out” sign that they occasionally used on their bedroom doors.
For the most part, my sign worked. I had to keep an ear open for any sort of hubbub, or alternately, when it was too quiet. But I made sure that my kids knew that this was not a one-time event, and that I expected everybody to work with me on this.
At least my daughter gave me her stamp of approval, including drawing
pictures of light houses for me.
It wasn’t a solution, but it helped.
A client told me that she, too, had to be creative in order to write at home. The door to her home office is framed in clear glass. Her preschool-aged children would routinely outrun the family au pair and bolt for the office door, where they would peer through the glass in an attempt to see their mother. To block their view, their mother put black curtains over the glass. Kids are smart, and so they weren’t completely deceived. Occasionally, she would still hear their little voices, outside her door, saying, “I think she’s in there.”
All of these attempts to find a space and time to write remind me of a client’s great a-ha moment: “I found I could not write my dissertation at the dining room table.”
Have you decided that you can’t write your dissertation at the dining room table? Where do you go? How do you juggle writing and taking care of your kids?
I’d love to hear from you.
Nancy
Nancy Whichard, Ph.D., PCC
Your International Dissertation Coach and Academic Career Coach
nancy @ nancywhichard.com
Gain priceless productivity with a 20-minute nap
Posted in academic, boot camp, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, focus, productivity, self-care, writing, writing breaks, tagged BBC World News, dissertation, focus, nap, National Sleep Foundation, productivity, self-care, self-discipline, sleep, writing on June 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Getting more sleep is high on the Wish List, if not the To-Do list, of most dissertation writers.
And so it is with me.
I always mean to go to bed earlier than I do, and I have all sorts of reasons for what keeps me up, some good, others not so much.
As I argued in “Sleep on It,” a tired brain doesn’t give you your best ideas, so why not go to bed and let your brain expand, develop, play with what you have given it? Your writing process needs that down time so that your brain can add its unique perspective to what you’ve just written.
I may watch BBC World News at midnight, and I may make some notes to think about in the morning, but I don’t trust my critical thinking and judgment after a certain hour.
To supplement my nightly sleep I would love to take a short nap at 4 pm, but the late afternoon time isn’t my own.
However, maybe I should take back that time.
The National Sleep Foundation advocates a 20- minute nap in the mid-morning or mid- afternoon to sharpen focus and productivity. And it’s important to limit the nap to 20 to 30 minutes.
And if you need additional reasons to nap, a mid-day nap also helps your metabolism (did I hear “slim”?).
If you receive the wonderful and free daily INSIDE HIGHER ED and/or TOMORROW’S PROFESSOR newsletter, you saw “Turn Your Zzz’s Into A’s.”
In that article, Allie Grasgreen writes about The University of California at Davis’s systematic endeavor to encourage students to nap. The school sells packets with earplugs and an eye mask and offers a “nap map” for good places to nap.
I swear by my five- minute nap, which I can take just about anywhere (except when I’m driving or talking on the phone, of course), but a 20-minute nap does sound appealing, don’t you think?
Could you fit in a short mid-afternoon nap to improve your focus and productivity? There are all sorts of barriers we could bring up, but really, how hard would it be? And what’s 20 minutes versus improved focus and productivity. Aren’t they priceless?
My best to you,
Nancy
Nancy Whichard, Ph.D., PCC
Your International Dissertation Coach and Academic Career Coach
http://www.smarttipsforwriters.com
http://www.dissertationbootcamp.net
nancy @ nancywhichard.com
A Timer Can Sharpen Your Focus and Increase Writing Productivity
Posted in discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, focus, getting started, planning, productivity, restart writing, restarting, self-sabotage, Smart Tips, structures, time management, write more easily, writing breaks, tagged efficient writing, make time to write, productivity, scheduling breaks, sharpen focus, time management, timers, writing tools on February 11, 2010 | 6 Comments »
Several of my dissertation coaching clients use timers on their computers to help them get started with a writing session, to stay focused, and to stick with their work.
It also helps them to stop at a pre-determined time. In that way, they don’t stay at the writing too long and yet they stay long enough to get a good chunk of work done.
One client says that her Taskmaster—her time-tracking widget — helps her with time management and with keeping track of how much time she spends on a task.
Another client uses a free online timer called Instant Boss. The “Boss” alerts him at a thirty-minute mark—the amount of time for a writing session that my client has decided works best for him He’s noticed that if he stays at it longer, his productivity goes down.
Not only does the Boss tell him when to take a break, but it also helps him keep his breaks to five or ten minutes.
If he decides to take a short walk during his break, he sets the timer on his cell phone.
Using a timer protects you from sabotaging yourself. You decide before you start the writing session how long you will work and how long your break will be.
It’s a handy writing tool, giving you some freedom while it eliminates the need to keep track of time yourself. And a timer helps you stay focused, allowing for an efficient and productive writing session.
Have you been thinking about trying a timer? Why not give it a whirl?
If you use a timer, I’d love to hear how it is working for you.
Until next time,
Nancy
Nancy Whichard, Ph.D., PCC
Your International Dissertation Coach and Academic Career Coach
nancy@nancywhichard.com
www.nancywhichard.com
www.dissertationbootcamp.net
www.usingyourstrengths.com
Dissertation Coaching Can Help in Critical Ways
Posted in accountability, coaching, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, finishing the dissertation, planning, productivity, showing up, Smart Tips, time management, tagged daily writing habit, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coaching, finished dissertation, productivity, strategic approaches on September 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Have you wondered how a dissertation coach could be of help to you?
A week ago, I received an email from a person who had almost given up on her dissertation. She said, “There is so much baggage that arises whenever I even think about finishing (I’m stupid, my massive debts, fear of the future . . . ) that the notion itself magnetically repels me into a state of serial procrastination.”
I frequently receive email of this kind. Many ABD’s who contact me feel isolated and have started to catastrophize.
Based on my experience, Dissertation Boot Camp and Dissertation Coaching give strategically focused approaches that lead to finished dissertations.
To people who are stuck and not working on their dissertations, I say: “As awful as you feel and as dreadful as I feel for you, I know that writing each day for a two-week period will go a long way toward your establishing a writing habit. And regular coaching will be of critical help.”
• Dissertation Boot Camp and Dissertation Coaching are the quickest and most effective ways of helping you form a daily writing habit.
• Forming a daily writing habit is essential to your success.
• Dissertation Boot Camp and Dissertation Coaching will help you to establish daily, manageable goals for your writing sessions.
• After establishing daily goals, take the next step and break your goals into daily plans with specifics. Having a plan with specifics will make showing up and actually writing something each day easier than it has ever been before for you.
• To continue to solidify your writing habit, set a specific time for when you will start your writing session.
• Write into your plan how long your writing session will be, how long your breaks will be, and when you will take a day off. Plan to take time off to relax and to be with other people.
• If you have committed to the Dissertation Boot Camp approach, you will be accountable for each writing session. Did you do what you said you would do? What worked? What didn’t work? What needs fixing?
• Put in writing what you will work on during the next writing session. Be specific– give yourself key words or bullet points to work from.
•If you, too, want to find a way into your dissertation, consider dissertation coaching.
All good wishes,
Nancy
Nancy Whichard, Ph.D., PCC
Your International Dissertation Coach and Academic Career Coach
nancy@nancywhichard.com
www.nancywhichard.com
www.dissertationbootcamp.net
www.smarttipsforwriters.com
The Most Important Thing Is to Keep the Writing Going
Posted in academic, coaching, determination, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, gremlin, momentum, perseverance, productivity, re-group, re-start, restart writing, self-criticism, self-sabotage, using your strengths, tagged critic, dissertation, moving ahead, perservering, productivity, realistic, revision, self-criticism, starting a new chapter, writing on February 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Many authors and dissertation writers question themselves. That snitty little voice in the back of your head encourages you to question each word, each page, each chapter. Self-assessment can be a good thing, but what’s even better is to keep the writing going.
1. Tell yourself that the writing is just for now—keep repeating, “It’s good enough.” Everything is fixable, and the fixing can come later.
2. Talk with someone about your writing and the plans that you have for the dissertation. Warm to your topic. Remind yourself of the interest that drew you to this topic.
3. Exchange chapters with someone who is currently writing a dissertation. As well as getting some comments on your work, you’ll also get a peak at the writing-in-progress of someone else. The early writing of most people is not ready for a refereed journal or the pages of The New Yorker. That’s good to know.
4. When you finish a chapter, move on. Sometimes you have to let things sit before you start tinkering. Push on to the next chapter.
5. Remind yourself that you may make some shifts as you write. Knowing that you will rewrite gives you not only some distance but also power. The writing is yours to mold. You’re in control
The most powerful thing you can do is to keep moving. Keep the writing going.
4 Tips to Increase Writing Productivity
Posted in academic, coaching, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, exercise, goals, journal, momentum, planning, productivity, Smart Tips, structures, time, writing, writing breaks, writing, dissertation, tagged dissertation, planning, productivity, writing on February 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
One of my dissertation clients wanted greater daily productivity as she wrote toward a deadline. To achieve greater productivity, she knew she had some tightening to do.
I asked her on a scale of 1 to 10, how would she rate her current productivity. 7.0, she said.
When I asked what changes would raise the bar to 7.5, she immediately said that she would pay closer attention to the time she spent on breaks.
As we talked about what her daily schedule could look like, a plan emerged.
Here is the plan she put in place:
1. Maximize the morning by writing early.
2. Watch the length of breaks. She was aware that she was not being vigilant at controlling the length of her breaks. At times, she was letting them stretch toward an hour long. She was determined to make a change. Her plan was to carefully regulate the start and stop time of her breaks.
3. Go to the gym at the end of each day. She wanted something to look forward to, and she also wanted exercise to be a marker of the boundary between the regular work day and the evening when she would plan her next day of writing.
4. Journal and plan the next day. In the evening, she would journal about what she had done that day, and then she would plot her course for the next day, writing down the daily goals and schedule.
At week’s end, she had met her goal. She was pleased at what she had accomplished.
She said that she stuck to her plan, “got into a good groove,” and built momentum.
And she had gained at least an hour of work time each day by more carefully monitoring her breaks.
But there was an added bonus.
Stay tuned, and I’ll tell you next time what surprised her.
In the meantime, here’s a bonus for you. As a bonus for signing up for my Smart Tips e-newsletter, I will give you 30 minutes of my time for us to talk about your productivity. Go to my website (www.nwcoaching.com) and sign up for my Smart Tips e-newsletter.
Until next time,
Nancy
Your Dissertation Coach
nancy@mentorcoach.com
