The foundational and admittedly most difficult value I coach is honesty. To put it bluntly: Stop making shit up and tell the truth. Without that core commitment, your productivity journey will end in quicksand and tears. (Admittedly, there are tears in honesty, but they are more manageable when you are not sinking into quagmire of feeling like a failure!)
How do you start being honest? First, tell the truth about your current reality. Not what you think it should be, not what your advisor or chair or colleague tells you it should be, not what you wish it would be. But what it really is in THIS moment. Warts all. That’s some hard emotional work, right there. Expect some grief.
In the meantime, let’s talk about what being honest means in practice. If you were in one of my groups, I would challenge you to base your writing goals on the resources you have when you start working. Side note: I coach resource-based goals because I want your writing to be a positive experience, which increases motivation to return to it. But I digress.
Most of us who have overreached time and again (read: not been honest) have little or no clue what is realistic for US! Which is why, in UNSTUCK, I push the whole SMART goals* thing. I want you to practice planning something that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound, not only so you can check something off and feel successful, but so you can learn what realistic looks like for YOU. SMART goals help you get there.
What you are aiming for when you sit down to write is goal, effort, success, hurray!
Note that "goal" comes first. If you start goal that is not based on realistic expectations, chances are your effort is going to feel inadequate. And rather than tell the truth - “That was unrealistic” - you’ll double down with the “I haven't done enough” lie.
The honest truth is you did what you were capable of in that moment, which is all you can expect! So make that your goal!
If you can't quite sort out what a SMART goal is for your writing, you can reverse engineer the process. Set your timer. Do something on your project for 15 minutes. Write down what you did. Do it again. And again. Every time you sit down to write.
After you have collected enough data to feel somewhat confident that you know what is realistic for you to do in 15 minutes, make a guess at what you can do (a SMART goal!). Then do it. When the timer goes off, compare your guess and the outcome. Every time you come back to your work, do the same thing: Plan for 15 minutes. Do it. Assess. Adjust. Repeat.
Can you see the connection to honesty?
When you pay attention to what your expectations are and what you are capable of and adjust accordingly, you are starting to tell the truth. You are looking at your resources in the moment and planning to meet the task at hand with those resources rather than doing what you imagined was realistic at some point prior to sitting.
tl;dr: Use that big PhD brain of yours to do the data collection, analysis and planning required to BE HONEST about your writing expectations.
Think of your project like a building. And like a building, it does not sit alone. This workshop helps you find its place, answering the key questions you MUST answer in order to move on to conceptualizing your project. Where does your project sit in the landscape? What else is nearby? What do you need to do to "fit" in the place you have decided to build? Kel will walk you through the steps to find all the answers you need to be part of the neighborhood you've chosen.
As with all of the How To... workshops, this workshop is effective for scholars at every level, whether you are working on a dissertation, an article, a grant, or a book.
Seven years and A LOT of changes in the world later, we have updated
The Art of the Cover Letter,
the Professor is In's step-by-step, self-paced program for developing, organizing, and writing an academic cover letter that showcases your record
and helps you stand out on the job market.
All new videos with an updated hairstyle and advice for these times. ;)
We've made it less expensive and easier to join A Bit of Motivation and Writing
Each 60-minute group session combines coaching and writing with Kel
to help move your work along with supported ease!
Sessions are held M,T,W,TH
2 times a day!
With the Productivity Passport,
you can bundled 8 sessions and save! $76.80
($96 Value)
