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Posts Tagged ‘momentum’

Share Some Kind Words with Your Dissertating Siblings and Friends: Support Is Critical

Posted in advisor, Blogs, coaching, dissertation advisors, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, hope, positive psychology, Smart Tips, using your strengths, tagged , , , , , , on September 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Georgetown University Professor Deborah Tannen writes about the supportive relationship she has with her two sisters.

In the Sept. 6, 2009 Washington Post, Tannen says that she sends them her manuscripts for their comments and once a book is published, she waits eagerly, yet nervously, for their response.

After reading a draft and sending Deborah Tannen some comments, one of her sisters also followed up with an email saying, “Stop reading this, and go back to writing your book.  Love, Mim.”

Professor Tannen says that she has posted that email over her writing desk, and the words continue to support her and help keep her on task.
 
I’ve always missed having a sister, but I know there are many other ways to have that same kind of support.

A client told me recently how anxious she had been about sending a draft to her advisor, but the kind, encouraging words as well as the constructive comments that accompanied the draft when the advisor sent it back buoyed my client and gave her the will to jump back into her work.

My dissertation coaching convinces me of the support writers need.  Often, in coaching I ask my clients to talk through what they are going to write when they get off of the phone with me.  Rehearsing the writing clarifies my client’s ideas and also engages my clients, reminding them of why they wanted to write about this particular idea and reassuring them that they do know what they will do next.

Frequently, clients also give me something in return.  After asking questions that helped a client become enthusiastic and self-confident about the immediate task ahead, she said, “I’m so glad I work with you.” 

I may not have a sister who sends me emails that I can post on my coaching table, but I did write down that comment and I put it where I can see it every day.

A blog post entitled “Instant mood lifter:  thank someone for a job well done”  (June 24, 2009) by the very successful Escape from Cubicle Nation blogger Pamela Slim revealed that she was moved to tears by receiving kind, thoughtful praise via a tweet.  Just goes to show you, doesn’t it? 

She said, “Kindness is not a little thing.  It is not fluffy, unicorn and rainbow coachy stuff.  Kindness heals.”

Have you told anyone recently that you appreciate their help or sent someone hard at work on a big and stressful project a supportive email?  It’s a wonderful thing to do. 

Have a great week.

All good wishes,

Nancy

P.S. I appreciate your reading my blog.  It means a great deal to me.  And I always appreciate your comments.

P.S.S.  Smart Tips for Writers, my online newsletter, goes out this week.  Register today at my website:  www.nancywhichard.com.

Nancy Whichard, Ph.D., PCC
Your International Dissertation Coach and Academic Career Coach

www.nancywhichard.com
www.dissertationbootcamp.net
www.smarttipsforwriters.com

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Road Blocks to Finishing Your Dissertation: Slacking off, Celebrating too Soon, Determined to be Perfect

Posted in academic, advisor, coaching, discipline, dissertation advisors, dissertation boot camp, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, distractions, finishing the dissertation, following through, getting started, mental toughness, perseverance, productivity, reasons for not writing, resilience, restart writing, self-deception, self-sabotage, setbacks, using your strengths, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »

When the end of your dissertation is in sight, what will you do?

If you’re struggling just to get started on your dissertation, the question “What will you do when the end is in sight” must sound rhetorical at best and silly at worst.

Nevertheless, I’ve learned from my clients that minefields await writers when the work nears an end.

Slacking off. When the work is going well and you’re on schedule to wrap it up soon, do you decide to take the day off?  Or cut back on the amount of time you put into your daily writing sessions?  Some writers tell me that they fight the tendency to coast toward the end, giving rise to their bad habits of sloughing off and taking far too long to wrap up the final chapter or even the last few bits.

Celebrating too soon.  Did you play in music contests or recitals when you were young?  Did you play well through the difficult sections, but somehow always messed up just before the end?  Had you become so impressed by your performance that your overconfidence allowed you to hit a sour note?  Were you rushing to finish and not paying attention?  You never know what might happen to your project if you don’t stay focused.  Hold off on the celebrations until you’ve got the work out the door.

Determined to be perfect.  If your signature strength is Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, do you put yourself through hell until you think your work is perfect?  Is it very difficult for you to say and to accept that a chapter or a page is good enough and move on to the next section? Are you sometimes nearly paralyzed by your perfectionism, particularly when a project nears its end? Striving for excellence is commendable, except when it keeps you from finishing a project.

Perfectionism not only slows down your productivity, but it can continue to disable you with the possibility of fairly dire consequences.  A Canadian study of senior citizens found that more perfectionists died during the study than people “with more reasonable self-expectations” (http://www.miller-mccune.com/news/perfectionism-linked-to-early-death-1229).

People who coast at the end of a project or those who become overconfident throw unnecessary roadblocks in their own way.  However, with a resurgence of self-knowledge and mental toughness, they can make the necessary corrections and follow through with the dissertation to its completion.

Perfectionists, on the other hand, may be unable to crank out the last chapter or it may be so difficult for them that they slow almost to a halt.  If this sounds like you, ask yourself how many people will ever read your dissertation.  Besides your committee, maybe two other people?

If you’re a perfectionist, your dissertation will probably never rise to your expectations.  It’s not worth putting yourself through all of this pain. Hold your nose and email your dissertation to your advisor.

Time to move on!

All the best,

Nancy

P.S. Are you trying to wrap up your writing in the next month or six weeks?  What would make it easer to get this done?  I’d like to hear from you.  For more tips, check out my website at www.nancywhichard.com.

Nancy Whichard, Ph.D., PCC
Your International Dissertation and Academic Career Coach

www.nancywhichard.com
www.dissertationbootcamp.net

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The Top 7 Tips to Help You Re- Start Writing Your Dissertation

Posted in academic, choice, creativity, decluttering, discipline, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, focus, following through, getting started, grateful, gratitude, mental toughness, momentum, perseverance, procrastination, re-group, re-start, regret, regrouping, restart writing, restarting, self-sabotage, Smart Tips, top strengths, writing, writing breaks, writing, dissertation, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on December 28, 2007| 2 Comments »

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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“Nothing motivates like a hard deadline. . .”

Posted in academic, choice, coaching, commitment, deadline, determination, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, following through, goals, momentum, motivation, start writing, writing, dissertation, tagged , , , , , , on December 18, 2007| 1 Comment »

Maybe you have received ads, as I have, proclaiming that “this is your final courtesy reminder about tomorrow night’s teleconference.”  Final reminder?  Wow!  I take note of that, even if I hadn’t thought about going to the teleconference at all.

One client who had set this Saturday night before her family’s Christmas as a deadline for sending off a chapter to her advisor said, “It’s always interesting how deadlines like this one that I’ve set are effective.  Only some deadlines are like that, like ‘ultimate deadlines.’”

If you celebrate Christmas, you probably feel some of that firmness, the “hard deadline” aspect that surrounds the holiday. 

Choosing and wrapping gifts, buying food, planning the celebration all are all focused on a deadline—a very specific point in time. 

If you have imposed a deadline on yourself that you will have produced a certain amount of text by, say, Dec. 22, the demarcation between the time for working to produce the text and the holiday that follows is clear-cut.

It is a natural for boosting your motivation and helping you shift into high-level momentum.

You still have time to set up you own goals to produce text or to finish some other specific work before the holidays.  Join in!  You aren’t alone—all over the world, people are writing tonight.

I’d love to hear what you have set for your deadline.

Also, I have a great gift for you– go my website (www.nwcoaching.com)
and sign up for my newsletter.  I have something you can use!
 
Until next time,
Nancy
www.nwcoaching.com

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