academic coach

Tuesday Tidbit

This week I began a new service to my e-newsletter readers: the Monday Motivator.  I send out a quote and a brief commentary on the message.  Based on the positive feedback I've been getting from folks, I thought I'd post the weekly quotes on my blog as well. 

"No task is a long one but the task on which one dare not start: It becomes a nightmare."

           --     Charles Baudelaire

The act of getting started on a project is one of the most common and difficult challenges I see among my coaching clients and doctoral students. Whether it is sitting down each day to begin work on your dissertation, or planning a new research project, in order to reach the end you have to begin. For some academics, the key to success is developing the habit of brief daily writing sessions. Even during those semesters when teaching, class preparation, and departmental meetings overwhelm you, the few scattered hours you carve out for your own research and writing can be the most important in furthering your career.

Even short work sessions build up over time. And if you are writing regularly, it will be much easier to avoid procrastination.

So get started today!

Academic AWOL

Well, I've been away from this blog for more than a week -- gone AWOL you might say.

I was visiting UVA to give presentations to faculty and graduate students.  It was great fun.  The university seeps historical significance and they put me up in the Colonnade Club - the oldest building on campus.  Staying there made me feel like a friend of Thomas Jefferson.

Before I went AWOL I published an Inside Higher Ed article about Academic AWOL, the self-destructive habit of avoiding advisers of colleagues when you are late with a manuscript draft.

Academic AWOL leads to a pernicious cycle: The longer you are out of touch with someone, the more difficult it feels to resume contact. The more you worry about resuming contact, the higher your standards become for the promised project.  The higher your standards become the more difficult it is to sit down and finish writing.  And the later it gets, the more guilt, avoidance and procrastination....

The article seemed to strike a chord with many readers.  It's the first time I've gotten thanks and uniformly positive comments rather than sprinkled snarks from the IHE trolls.  If you'll allow me to strut and preen a bit, I was especially flattered that Bitch PhD. wrote that "Every academic I know (including yours truly) should print this out and tape it up on the wall next to their desk."

In the article, I give many suggestions for doing an "About Face!" and returning from AWOL.  Do you have additional tips?  Or anecdotes about the condition?

Perfectionism

You know you're a perfectionist when....

You have more posts in "draft" form than you've "published."

Feel the Fear

I've been procrastinating today and it is because I'm scared.  I'm stuck because I'm trying to produce a "first" -- in this case, my first "product for sale." 

My delaying tactics today have included many net-escapes, including searches for quotes that summarize my terror.  I liked this quip:

"Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed."  - Michael Pritchard --speaker/educator

Well, the darkroom of my mind is particularly gloomy today.  I'm afraid to move forward.

Last spring I gave four workshops at the University of Michigan to hundreds of graduate students.  Here are the titles of the two hour presentations:

Get the Dissertation Done

Secrets of Successful Academics

Working with Advisors

Managing Time and Getting It Written

I've given these talks, or versions of these talks, many times before and was only somewhat nervous even when standing before more than 200 students.   Last spring, I audiotaped the presentations so that I could sell copies of the programs on my web site.  I've always gotten great feedback on the content of my talks and feel comfortable having universities pay me to give them.  Why then am I so nervous about asking a grad student to pay $15 to download and listen to the material?

I've had trouble getting myself to follow through at every step.  Right now, I can't get myself to write promotional blurbs for the programs.  "Just do it," I tell myself.  But I don't do it.  "People won't want to listen to this," I think.  "They'll feel 'ripped off.' They'll ask for their money back."

Fear.

I see this same factor all the time with the grad students and faculty members I coach.  Each time we venture into a new territory we feel fresh fears.  This fall I've been struck by how difficult it is for new faculty to send off their first solo article or their first book proposal.  Even when  the article or book is a repackaging of a dissertation which has received rave reviews, the professors I'm working with are terrified of rejection.

"Actually, even worse than the fear of rejection," one client told me, "is the fear that it will get published and then criticized."

New steps are so very difficult to take....

Temptation Blocker

"Ah, time for yet another post about procrastination," she said (putting off a more pressing priority to compose this post.)

Have you heard about "Temptation Blocker?"  It is free software developed by B. Adam Howell  a web professional and entrepreneur in North Carolina.  Here's how Howell describes his software:

"In a nutshell, Temptation Blocker is a piece of software that lets you choose certain programs you want to block from yourself for a set amount of time. So, if you just can’t stop playing that new PC game you bought, even though you have that deadline you have to meet, just block it for a couple hours using Temptation Blocker and get your work done despite yourself."

Temptation Blocker seems to get good reviews from the people who use it, based on the comments on Howell's blog.

I'm a bit too much of a technophobe to try it myself - but the idea seems great.  Please let me know whether you find it helpful if you decide to check it out.

procrastination elegy

Notes from the academogosphere:

When I set up the cancer fund for Mr. Badger I hadn't realized how many silver linings I would find in this tragic cloud.  One meaningful and gratifying aspect has been getting to know many of you better, and being introduced to many new bloggers when they commented that they'd contributed.

For example, thanks to her contribution to Badger's fund, I discovered the freshly launched blog of the Lonely Londoner  -  a dissertating expat living in, you guessed it, London.

Her eloquent musings about procrastination were among the compelling comments that caught my eye.  Here are her words describing what so many of us experience:

"[Procrastination is} a self-perpetuating, reflexive system. The more you do it, the more you're tempted to do it, and the bigger and scarier the fear becomes. The huger the workload becomes, the less I want to dive in and tackle it because I know I'll be swamped with regret at all the things I could have done with it if I'd just started it earlier and been more judicious in my time management. Innocent articles sitting by my bed become huge lurking goblins - or worse, chests full of treasure that I won't have left myself the time to appreciate. Unfinished stories lying dormant in the bowels of my computer moulder and crumble, their meaning lost, their plot lines decayed. Potential is being wasted with every moment I while away.

And here I am, writing this and procrastinating. It's all recursive. Surely there's a lesson in there somewhere?"

Well, Lonely Londoner, this narrative is not mouldering in the bowels of your computer.  Your moments writing this passage were not wasted.  We've been there.  We're with you.  Thanks for giving voice to the cycle that so many of us get stuck in.

During this busy beginning of the semester, I'm trying to remind myself that self-flagellation tends to be a rather ineffective means of stimulating productivity.

Procrastination is a wily beast and I think that we fight the critter better with mutual support than with self-condemnation.

Has everybody out there got a Tenure Track Buddy?

Blog-astination

Is blogging taking over your life? Or, has blogging already taken over your life? 

Do you berate yourself saying that you would have finished that article, dissertation chapter, etc., if you hadn't been tempted to read someone's wonderful post, responded to an inspiring or provocative post, or poured your own energy into a great post?

I know that as much as I am enjoying and learning from this new-to-me medium, it has sometimes snuck to the head of the line in front of more pressing (and anxiety provoking) activities.

Yet I really want to find a way to keep this new pastime in my life -- the possibilities for connecting with like-minded academics feels too good to miss.

Here are a few thoughts on managing blog reading time from a young computer maven, D. Keith Robinson who's trying, I belive, to get into the time management arena.  It is called: Productivity Tips for Avid Blog Readers.

Some of my own bloggin' time management tips are as follows:

1) Use reading, responding and posting as treats and breaks.  For example, I'll say to myself, "After I spend 20 minutes writing a rough draft of this week's newsletter, I'll take a peek at a few of my favorite blogs."

2) Use posting, and indulging in long sessions lost in the 'sphere, as an end-of-the-day pleasure.  After the children are in bed, my favorite pastime is to crawl into bed with a novel.  Now, I also enjoy a session of blogginating stimulation.  I have the sense that many of my favorite pseudonymous friends also use their blogs as a bit of end-of-the-day self-therapy and socialization. (This is not my impression, however, of most real identity academic bloggers - an interesting difference, don't you think?)

3) Declare blog-free days, especially when there are important, pressing, computer-based priorities to accomplish.  Sometimes I need to be completely abstinent to get other things done.  When I have a hard piece of writing to get started, this blog can become as insidious as a bag of cheetos in my kitchen cabinet: I can't even buy the treats (and regress to a junk-food-spiced childhood stupor) because I'll eat the whole bag. Every time.

Any one else struggle with blogination?

Any one else a recovering blogaholic who has some tips for managing the addiction?

Anyone else have suggestions for keeping blogging in check and avoid the need for a 12 step program?

I'm sure that reams have been written about this topic - so feel welcome to share helpful, related links.

Eating the Elephant One Bite at a Time

O.K., all you writing academics, here's a portion of a post by the Elephant Eater in which she gives such a good summary of some basic writing goals that I wanted to remind us all of these strategies:

Histgrad writes about her plan of attack on her mostly-done dissertation:

"1. Look over introduction, make a list of the sections and paragraphs that need work.
2. Break that down into do-able daily goals.
3. Break those daily goals down into even smaller goals. Today I worked paragraph by paragraph. After writing one paragraph, I could take a quick "break" to hang up laundry or empty the dishwasher, etc.
4. Just write! Go! Say something! I've learned that something is better than nothing, so I'm trying very hard just to put down sentences that vaguely resemble what I want to say. It makes the revising process more painful and makes it much more likely that I will grow quite tired of this before it is finished, but at least I've got something written. As a friend of mine says, "Black words on white paper. Black words on white paper. Black words on white paper."

So those are my four golden rules, and they seem to be working."

Histgrad, Go Girl!

Fight Depression - Everyone Deserves a Level Playing Field

A Math Teacher commented that my post  against depression had prompted him to seek treatment.  I wrote a response on his blog, and as my post grew longer and longer, I realized the strength of my views on the topic.  I'm pro-therapy, pro-medication, pro-anything-that-effectively-fights-the-disease-of-depression.

Here's a copy of my reply to "Vito":

Thank you for letting me know that my post about the physical dangers of depression may have be one of the reasons that you are seeking treatment.

Go for it.

I'm a clinical psychologist and committed to helping people fight depression. I think that "depression" is a simple word for a complex, multifacited condition that has many causes, symptoms, meanings, repercussions and cures. I don't think an antidepressant drug, or psychotherapy, or acupuncture, or good nutrition, or exercise, or ECT, or any other single elixir is the answer in all cases. However, I think that all of these current treatments, and many others, may help in some cases, some of the time. Many studies indicate that antidepressants in conjunction with good therapy give people the best chance of full recovery. Exercise, nutrition and social support are also shown to be helpful. My experience is that all forms of self-care and support from others are important.

The basic message is that the disease is worth fighting whatever it takes.
Trying to live a 'normal' life while suffering from depression is like trying to play soccer on an uphill field. You need to be talented, and constantly kick the ball, just to keep it from rolling backwards. It's really hard to score when you're kicking up a mountain slope.

Whatever the cause of your depression, the consequence is that you're not playing the game of life on a level playing field.

Frankly, I'm awed by how many people accomplish challenging tasks while suffering from crippling symptoms of depression -- there are so many courageous people struggling against this disease.

In my experience, antidepressants (like the classics - prozac, paxil and zoloft - or the newer, fashionable flavors, such as lexipro) level the playing field for some people. The drugs seem to tweak some people's biochemistries so that they have an equal shot at happiness, contentment, success and satisfaction. But drugs (including St. Johnswort, SAM-E or other "natural" chemicals) are certainly not a magic panacea. For some people they just don't work. For some, they have problematic side effects. For some, the psychic cost of feeling dependent on an outside substance is too high a price to pay for fewer symptoms.

Although I'm a psychologist rather than a psychiatrist, and thus never prescribe drugs, I do feel frustrated sometimes when people rigidly rule out medication even though other measures, including therapy, have not relieved their suffering. To those people who fear "dependence" on anti-depressants I say: "Do you think that diabetics who take insulin are weak-willed?"

There is no single way to fight depression. And for some people, unfortunately, the fight is never won. However, if you've been chronically depressed, and then are able to overcome the disease, your life is suddenly yours to enjoy rather than bemoan.

Go for it. Seek to be one of those people who win the fight against this disease. Try as  many methods as needed. Don't give up the quest to free yourself of the misery of depression. When you succeed it will be well worth the battle.

I wish you well in your quest to level your personal playing field.

                                                                  

PROCRASTINATOR'S CODE

How do we get into our guilt-ridden cycles of procrastination?

Here's a "Top Ten" list of the self-imposed rules that sabotage our productivity:

1) My work must be perfect.
2) It's safer to do nothing than to take a risk and fail.
3) If my work gets critical feedback I've failed.
4) I shouldn't stop until every sentence is just right.
5) I shouldn't start until I know exactly what I'm going to say.
6) If I expose my work, people will see that I am inadequate.
7) I need to do more research before I start writing.
8) I've already "blown it" by not producing more, so why bother starting.
9) If I make myself miserable enough maybe I'll begin working.
10) If I'm not working I should punish myself with guilt.

These rules are adapted from my favorite book about Procrastination by Burka and Yuen.

I resonate with the many complaints in blogs about the painful fears that lead to procrastination.  I liked the response of New Kid on the Hallway to a post by Academom on procrastination.  New Kid wrote:

"I procrastinate all the time, too, and I hate it. It was especially bad in the long boring never-ending middle of dissertation writing, when I had nothing but myself to keep me honest. I sometimes think, though, that 1) procrastination is endemic to academia (all us perfectionist types running around) and 2) that although we all procrastinate, a lot of the time it's in that "to create the MOST PERFECT prospectus/chapter/paper/whatever, I should have started 6 months ago, written for 3 hours every day, explored every source on the subject that exists, and have had meaningful conversations with great scholars on the subject. Since I didn't, I AM POND SCUM" kind of way - that is, we procrastinate in our own heads according to the high standards we have for ourselves, but we nonetheless manage to get everything done anyway. Which is at heart the most important thing.

I still wish I didn't procrastinate so much, though. "

I agree with New Kid that academics are especially prone to procrastination when they are trying to write a Magnum Opus instead of what I call a Marketable Career Builder.  It is also common for the grad students I work with to think that the longer their dissertation is taking them, the better it should be.  And it is hard to get rid of this pernicious myth -- no matter how often one hears the truth repeated: The best dissertation is a done dissertation.

Please, I tell struggling dissertators, remember the well-known joke:

"What do you call the author of the worse dissertation that has ever been defended in the history of your department?"

"DOCTOR!"