phd thesis motivation

The “15-minute rule” is one of my favorite motivation and productivity strategies. Bolker (1998) recommended that students begin by writing for an absolute minimum of 10 minutes everyday and then expand to 15 minutes and then to longer periods of time. Bolker suggested that students make a commitment that no matter what, they will absolutely write for 10 minutes a day. Bolker said, “anyone can write for 10 minutes a day, particularly if one is freewriting” (p. 41). I usually recommend that students work for a minimum of 15 minutes but the number is somewhat arbitrary so long as it is enough time to help you get warmed up to working on your dissertation. Making the transition on a daily basis from not being engaged in dissertation work to actually sitting down and putting words on a page, analyzing data, reading, etc. can be very tough. Many people find that committing to dissertation work for a relatively short amount of time such as 15 minutes makes it easier to make the transition to a meaningful work session. The 15-minute rule means that you commit every day (at least the days you plan to work) to work for at least 15 minutes no matter what. Here is how it works. You commit to working on any relevant part of your dissertation for an absolute minimum of 15 minutes. I recommend setting a timer if possible. Some of my clients actually buy an egg timer at the supermarket or use a sports watch as their 15-minute rule dissertation timer. You set the timer and then start working. If you are writing, write with abandon, letting go of concerns about sentence structure, flow, spelling, or grammar. You just write your ideas as they come out of your head. If negative critical voices pop in your head you can write down what they have to say. If you extraneous thoughts pop into your head, write them down too with the aim of getting back to your dissertation and staying on.
This post is by Inez Von Weitershausen, a PhD student at the London School of Economics who blogs on people, thoughts, experiences, feelings on the Epiphany blog. Inez first came to my attention when she wrote an interesting article in the Guardian about PhD survival strategies, so I was happy when she sent me this [ ] Karenmca reminds us to celebrate along the way – if nothing else it helps you stay sane!.
Evolution of Your Thesis: The Last Fifteen Minutes I went to middle school and high school in New York City and one of my favorite places to visit was (and still is) the Museum of Natural History (by the way the movie,  “Night at the Museum” does not do its magnificent exhibits any justice). A very memorable exhibit is the “Evolutionary Clock” which compresses the evolution of the Earth into a 24-hour day. The evolution of my thesis (and I believe of many other students) followed a similar exponential development with a lighting-speed sprint before the finish line. During the first five and a half years, I completed coursework, learned the basics of my field and figured out 1001 ways to set up my experiment so I would not get reproducible results.  Five months before graduation my methods were finalized, and I had produced publication-quality data three months before the thesis deadline. My thesis committee then gave me the green-light to graduate, and scheduled my defense less than 3 weeks later.  Twenty days to be exact. Twenty days is less than 1% of a six year doctoral program (about 15 minutes on a 24-hour clock), but I have more vivid memories of those twenty days than the rest of my years in the program put together. I had twenty days to put together a 50 slide presentation and write my thesis. How did I pull through? Here are the top five strategies that kept me going: 1. Summarize your dissertation in one sentence. This is called the thesis statement. For example, “The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of XYZ mutation on the development of tumors  (result) in order to gain a better understanding of the causes of cancer (purpose)” Write this sentence somewhere where you can see it all day. You will become more focused when you repeat it to yourself several times a day. 2.    Keep writing, even if you are out of ideas. As you write, ideas will.