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How would you like to make 20 percent more progress on your dissertation than you’re now making?

Bob Emmons, professor at the University of California, Davis, has found that having a grateful attitude can make that possible.

The author of Thanks!  How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, Prof. Emmons has made amazing research findings about living gratefully, but perhaps the most intriguing has to do with goal achievement.  He sees a positive relationship between gratitude and goal achievement.

In a study with participants equally divided between a gratitude condition and a non-gratitude condition, Prof. Emmons says that participants in the gratitude condition made 20 percent more progress toward their goals than did the other group.  In addition, the participants in the gratitude condition were more motivated to continue working than were the participants in the other group.

As writers, we look for ways to make our hard job easier.  We persevere.  We call on our courage.  We apply hints and strategies to increase our creativity and our motivation.  We take note of what works for us and try to repeat the pattern in order to get that momentum rolling.

Researchers have told us that if we can generate a somewhat happy frame of mind, starting our writing and sticking with it will be easier.  It makes sense, I think, that if we want to induce a relatively happy or calm frame of mind, we can choose to be grateful to someone for something.

This week two of my dissertation clients described the struggles they individually are having with their work.  One feels that her advisor has given discouraging feedback.  The other client procrastinates and resists writing.

Yet, in contrast to the mood each had when describing the struggles, they both had a hopeful confidence in their voices as they expressed the gratitude they feel toward their spouses.  The spouses read the dissertation drafts of my clients.

I don’t know if these two clients can make 20 percent more progress in their dissertation writing than they would have had their spouses not helped them.  But I was struck by the change in mood as they spoke of their gratitude.

I’m curious to hear what you think.  Would you be interested to hear more about Prof. Emmons’s studies in gratitude?  Would you be willing to try some gratitude interventions yourself?

Until next time,

Nancy
Your International Dissertation Coach
ancy @ nancywhichard.com

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1. What is the key to perseverance?
 Getting started is the key.
 The first step is the hardest.  Sit down and then stay there.

2. What is sending you right over the edge? 
 You are– Catastrophizing only raises your blood pressure.
 Who needs the drama?
 Remember: Catastrophizing is just another form of procrastination. 

3. Who could work at a desk stacked so high that you can’t see the computer screen?
 Decluttering is a terrific focusing mechanism.
 Just don’t get carried away with it—we’re talking desk top, one surface.

4. Even if you get going, something seems to stop you. 
 Ever hear of a momentum-breaker? 
 It’s usually something you do to yourself, when you’re at your self-sabotaging best.

5. How did creativity get to be #24 in your list of strengths? 
 Oops—time to try a new approach.  Give yourself a moment to let your mind wander—in the grocery  store line or driving to take care of an errand.  Turn the radio off and let your mind do what it loves to  do for a bit.

6. How can you write when you’re feeling so mean?
 So you didn’t have a great holiday.  Or you don’t want to go back to writing after having a great  holiday.  Meanness is uncalled for.  Time to practice gratitude and empty that mean-spiritedness before it really gets in your way.  What do you have to be grateful for? 

7.  Think how irritated you will be with yourself next week if you goof off all of this week. 

8.  Bonus Tip:  Go my website (www.nwcoaching.com) and sign up for my Smart Tips newsletter. I have  something you can use!

Until next time,
Nancy
www.nwcoaching.com

 P.S.  Get in touch with me–what would help you move into action?

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Have you given yourself until, say, tonight or tomorrow to write and then your plan is to take a break, send the thing off, go on a holiday? 

Time to take stock. 

Stop and breathe.

Where are you in the process?  You’ve put in time, you’ve written some, and you have a bit more to do. 

This isn’t the time to kick yourself for not having done more. 

This is the time to be grateful—grateful that you were able to do whatever amount of work you’ve done.  Grateful that you’re still at it, that you haven’t been derailed, that it hasn’t been as bad as it could have been. 

Don’t take for granted what you have accomplished. 

Being grateful—actually practicing gratitude– gives you courage and can make hope possible. 

Gratitude generates hope.

Did you ever see that movie Hope Floats?  No excuses from me for liking the film—I know it’s sappy and, yes, Sandra Bullock has a brief scene in which she wears a cheerleader’s costume and leads a cheer. 

Slip off that critical perch—no smirks now. I confess that I like the line that Sandra Bullock’s character says about hope:  “Just give hope a chance to float up. And it will.” 

Keep that gratitude going.  You might not recognize hope, but I’ll bet you it’s there, mixed in with the gratitude.  Lots of power in gratitude and hope that can fuel you to your deadline or planned stopping point.

Take a breath.  Add a smile for the heck of it…and jump back in.

Until next time,
Nancy
www.nwcoaching.com

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