Will I Ever Finish Writing My Dissertation? I was already in my 6th year of grad school, but my dissertation was not even on my mind. I was sitting on my faded burgundy couch staring at skyline in Boston on the other side of the Charles River. That was it…just staring and watching my breath. […]
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I Was Stressed and Burned Out…but, this is How I Finished My Thesis by Working Fewer Hours
“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey Why did I have to reduce my work hours to finish my thesis? I cut down on the number of hours I worked in the beginning of my sixth (and last) year of graduate school. I […]
The Follow-Through System for Graduate School and Beyond
Why do People Fail to Follow Through on Their Plans? Less than 8% of people keep their New Year’s Resolutions. One of the reasons that so many New Year’s Resolutions fall through is that changing a habit requires more willpower than your brain was designed to handle. However, the failure to follow through on plans or […]
3 Surprisingly Easy Ways to Clear Up Thesis Overwhelm
I felt my throat constricting as I read the email from my thesis supervisor. I know I should have felt honored, but all I could feel was the anxiety building up in my body. I had just finished a series of experiments and my thesis committee meeting was in a week. I thought that […]
5 Myths That Push Students to Drop Out of Grad School
Miriam’s dilemma was something many grad students face: just when you’re ready to buckle down and finish your thesis, life happens—again. She was ABD (all but dissertation), but it had been stop-and-go thesis writing for the past two years. She had looked forward to the thesis writing process throughout her courses, and passed her exams […]
How to Finish Your Doctoral Dissertation and Get Past the Academic Blues For Good
“So, what do you do?” I asked the young blond woman sitting next to me at dinner at a networking event. “I am a researcher at a biotech startup in Cambridge. I have been working there for 2 years and I love it. I started after I got my Masters.” “I decided not to get […]