You don’t need an
article, journal or tutorial to tell you that dissertation is the most
overwhelming, intimidating task you will ever come across. You will be, at
times, over-anxious, even thinking about throwing the computer out of the
window and join the circus. But you cannot match the joyful feeling of
completing a dissertation with anything. To experience the joyous feeling, first
you need to overcome few hurdles during the process of dissertation writing service. Scared
already? Hurdles and rejection are part of dissertation writing, but you can
avoid these obstacles tactfully if you adopt these following habits.
1.
Be
a good decision maker
Becoming 'victim'
of your own schedule is easy. Many students commit something before they start
the whole process. Some may create a schedule and pledge to stick to it no
matter what happens, but in the end, they mostly go against the schedule. The
reason is many students juggle family commitments, jobs and social activities
that consume their time profoundly. It might seem like you need to cut back the
hours of sleep and exercise in order to keep up with your schedule. Here you
need to make some crucial decisions that will help you meet your ambitious
deadline.
2.
Make
sure the goals are flexible
You should have
the courage and flexibility to adjust deadlines according to your recent requirement.
Like unexpected things happen often and when it happens, you should be prepared
for that. If you have already set deadline, you should be able to move things
around without scraping the entire schedule.
3.
Put
email and social media on diet
It is habitual
that you begin your day by checking and replying to emails and text messages.
You are actually prioritizing other’s work. Here’s what happens, when you reply
to a message or mail, you are likely to get a response from the recipient, and
eventually it will be more work for you. This is a simple prioritizing
technique. Make your dissertation writing a priority during the working days because emails and messages can
wait until you are done with the dissertation writing for the day.
4.
Ask
for feedback, early and often
The sooner you
get an assessment from your dissertation committee, the smoother your editing
process will go. Most students prefer getting feedback only after they start
writing a chapter, but it is important that you sit with your advisor with just
a rough draft of a chapter and find out if it works. Moreover, you can send a
separate chapter if someone is willing to read it. This will not only prevent
feelings of isolation as you write, but also help you stay connected with the dissertation
committee and other writers.
5.
Make
sure you handle feedback well
There are times
when you don’t actually need criticism, but someone encouraging who back your
ideas. The lowest moment while drafting is receiving negative feedback on a
chapter. You may roam and think that you are worthless. So you need to
determine whether you really need criticism, no matter how constructive it is.
Knowing the kinds of feedback you need is important on a project like this.
6.
Break
down long-term goals in short-term milestones
One of the
challenges that graduates counter is that their deadlines are 6 months or 9
months away, and they have little idea how they will allocate their time and be
right on the track of thesis writing. In fact, they feel so overwhelmed by the
magnitude of the task that they become uninterested in making any progress. As
the deadline approaches, they start working for unreasonable long hours that
mostly lead them to insomnia, depression and exhaustion. As a consequence, they
put up low-quality work in the end. With the supervisor’s help, break down the
work in smaller chunks that can be easily achievable within a few days and a
week. Use a timeline to determine whether you are on right on the track.
7.
Identify
three most important results that you would like to achieve each day
Once you have
short-term milestones, it is easier for you to decide which three accomplishments
you want would be most important to complete. The idea is to take one step at a
time and raise your confidence bar. Having a clear picture of your end result
before you even initiate the task will significantly boost your focus and keep you
motivated throughout the task. It is also important for you to remember that
you may not accomplish three tasks, but picturing yourself where you want to
reach at the end of the day will seemingly boost your chances of success.
8.
Find
out the expectations of the dissertation committee
Find out what the
writing committee expects from you. To do that, engage yourself in reading
dissertations completed by students. Ask the committee members often what kind
of expectations they have for your project, what kind of sources and footnotes
you should use, how they feel is the structure of the chapters, headings and
more. Knowing the expectations will help you in fulfilling them effectively.
9.
Create
a productivity cycle
To become more
productive, you need to structure your day so that you can find alignment with
your productivity cycle. When you plan your days, categorize your work in main
sections, major (writing the dissertation, researching on the dissertation
topic) minor (paying bills and scheduling appointment with the advisor). Most
of us are productive in the morning, so you should start your day by
accomplishing major tasks. If you like to be a night owl, get your minor work
done during the day and leave the important work for the night when your
creativity is at peak.
10.
Taking break is like breathing
Do not let writing a dissertation consume your life. You need to quit the guilty feeling when
you are not working on the thesis. Taking a break at intervals is important for
personal happiness. You need to take a break and recharge your batteries at
some point. There will be times when you require devoting your energy
elsewhere. It is important for you to understand taking breaks from
dissertation will happen, and you need to accept it naturally without feeling
guilty.
11.
Creativity does not come handy
Did you notice
most creative ideas come when you are not on the desk? Our brain functions very
peculiarly, it mostly turns on when it is not actively focused on the problem. It
becomes engaged when you are away from the problem. Suddenly you will see a new
perspective and insight that had never occurred to you. But one big mistake we
all make is to check messages and mail while not working. Unfortunately, this
brain function does not turn on when you are glued to the computer screen. If
you wish to give your creativity a chance, you need to take regular breaks even
for just 15 minutes.
12.
Stop making excuses
You have million
reasons not to start writing today like your back hurts, you have jobs to apply
to, your computer is acting funny, the stars are not in the right position, but
you surely have one good reason to start writing now. And you should go by it.
Sitting down to write when it seems it is most unlikely to you is the only way
to get things done within pre-planned schedule. But when it appears impossible
to you, you may need a break from it.
13.
Carry a pen and notebook
As the deadline
approaches, you will inevitably spend a large portion of the day for working
and thinking about it. So you always need to be ready to capture your creative
thoughts that will either strengthen your argument or help you find shortcuts
to finish your dissertation. Carry a notebook and pen with you especially when
you are not at the desk. You can also keep this notebook as you write to note
down any ideas that pop into your mind so you can attend them after finishing
writing it rather than feeling compelled to attend those right away.
14.
Negotiate requirements for graduation with
your advisor
Does you advisor
keep adding new requirements to your do-to-list, so no matter how hard you try,
it is always not enough. If you are feeling exhausted fulfilling the
never-ending list of demands, you should consider talking to your dissertation
committee members to clarify what exactly you need to do to fulfill the
requirements of dissertation writing. During the meeting, focus only on the problem,
do not let your emotions drive you.
15.
Celebrate accomplishment as you go
It is important
that you save time to appreciate the milestones as you go. Finish a page? Have
a cookie. Finish a chapter? Go get a beer. Working with tough data? Take the
rest of the night off. Find places to do something enjoyable.
16.
Nurture your mind and body conditionally
What about taking
care of yourself during the mundane days when you do make little or no progress
at times? If you take out 15 minutes of your routine for exercising, it will
boost your productivity and self-confidence immensely. In reality, you are
working full-time, have a family and writing a dissertation, you probably have
no spare time to invest in exercising. At the minimum, take a 20-minutes stroll
in your campus. Finally, when it comes to your mind, nurture it by surrounding
yourself by positive people. A supportive population (either formally through
your university dissertation committee or informally through friends or
classmates or professionally from online dissertation help services) can give needed emotional support that helps
you last through few weeks and months of dissertation writing.
17.
Know that you can do it
You need to make
yourself clear that you can do this. Staying positive is the key to completing
the degree. Remember, the overwhelming feeling after completing the task is
immense. You will do great after all.
To summarize,
remember that being productive does not define rearranging schedule whenever
you mess it up. You will be productive only when you manage your energy and
stay focused during your working hours. These are the most crucial components
of dissertation writing. Remember you are a human being, you will make mistakes
and take wrong decisions after all, but what is more significant is how you
make those wrong decisions into right ones.
