Before I started grad school, someone said to me, "The thing I remember about graduate school is always thinking, 'What am I going to blow off today so something else can get done?'"
I am struggling with prioritizing my academic responsibilities right now, and Franklin/Covey, in all its highly effectiveness, is not helping much with this one. I warned you in my first post that I often rant about this problem, so it is only fitting that I address it here. I have these lists--you know the ones--and I have to read the 100 items on these lists by a certain date so that I can take my prelim exams. And it has been emphasized ad nauseam that the reading lists are not intended to be directly tied to the dissertation--the dissertation should be considered a completely seperate project. And by the way, you have to submit the dissertation proposal on the day of the written portion of the exams.
So now I have these great lists, and they are great, but I have come to the inevitable conclusion that most of the primary works I will address in my dissertation are not on the lists. And I don't even have enough books on my lists to propose the dissertation. So now I have to find and read books to cite in my dissertation proposal as primary works. Now, it has been emphasized that the proposal submitted with the prelim exams is a "draft." But I have also heard several faculty members comment that the weakest part of the prelim exams is the proposal, which indicates to me a standard that I should strive for in my own proposal, "draft" or not.
I wish that I could compartmentalize these two major projects--finish the list, take the test, and then a month later propose a dissertation. And before anyone suggests that I simply set my own deadline for preparing for the exams to allow an extra month to commit to the proposal--stop and think about that. I'm going to stop thinking about the exams before I take them? Yeah. Right.
My solution last week was to set aside the next two weeks to commit to the diss and not even try to check anything off the lists. Already failed in that endeavor. And I'm also revising a paper for (hopeful) publication--that's where Jessica Benjamin comes in. If it sounds like I'm just whining, I am.
So what am I going to blow off today so something else can get done?
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1 comment:
To avoid blowing off something else to get some dissertation work done, it would be a good idea to manage your time properly. That way, you can balance working with your PhD dissertation and other things that you want to in your life. Even just 4 hours of writing everyday can make a difference.
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