My journey as a PhD is ending soon, and I thought I could do a tribute to the 5 things I've learned writing my thesis. Each "lesson" will be uploaded separately in June 2023, so if you're a PhD candidate and need guidance in writing your thesis-or a general sense that you're not going through this alone-buckle up. It's going to be a long, honest ride. I hope you find this useful.
In my experience, discipline has a negative connotation to it. When we think about discipline, we think of soldiers, or robots. Someone who will do the work regardless of personal preferences or current emotions. Of course, it doesn't help when discipline is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as "training that makes people more willing to obey or more able to control themselves, often in the form of rules, and punishments if these are broken, or the behavior produced by this training."
This definition might be true in the army, I suppose, but PhD candidates are not the army. One could discipline with a system that rewards desirable habits/behaviors, instead of punishing the undesirable ones. And so another definition is also this: "the ability to make yourself do something, even if it is difficult, so that you can achieve a goal."
Much better.
Discipline could be a tool. If used correctly, it is probably the only tool someone needs to finish their PhD, and indeed any big project for that matter. It makes me wonder, how does one accomplish anything without discipline?
It took me approximately 8 months to write my thesis, but this was just my experience. In the beginning it was difficult. I didn't want to write. I resisted. But I pushed through. I think there comes a point in your PhD when you know it just has to be done, and there is no other way around it. The work has to be done, and you're the only person who can/should/must do the work. And thus, on days when I didn't want to write, I did it anyway.
However, I do think that tracking my progress helped a lot. I found it useful to keep vigorous notes on a day to day basis. From which articles I read that day to which folder I used to save what. I also tracked how I felt on that particular day. Reflecting on my PhD and staying in touch with my feelings was very important to me. I knew when I had to take a step back and give myself some time to rest and when it was okay to push myself. Of course, this might not work for everyone, so you'll have to figure out what works for you, probably through trial and error.
It wasn't easy, but pushing through day in and day out was the best thing I could ever do for my PhD. I would never have been able to write 370 pages in a one-month writing binge. It took discipline and it took patience, and on some days it was even painful (in my head, I mean, my brain hurt from all the PhDing). But once I gained momentum, working on my thesis was more of a state of flow. So much so that when I finished drafting I would get up at 6:30 in the morning to write and would spend the first moments confused and perplexed that there was no more writing to do, only bureaucracy.
Below I lay the progress of writing my thesis. These images only show which days I worked on thesis-related tasks specifically, although not how many hours, or how difficult the task was on each day. Not every day is the same, and that's okay.
If you're struggling with motivation, just know that your feelings are valid. I see you. Just remember, you don't need motivation to do the work. Treat it like a job with a deadline. It won't be like this forever. Disciplining during working hours gives you time off in the evenings, in the weekends, or whenever you prefer to take that time off. The more discipline you have, the closer you'll get to your goal.
Comments