THESIS: A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

 

 

For personal and professionals reasons, I’ve closely contacted with a very peculiar human challenge: to write a doctoral (or master) dissertation. In fact, a document that would be expected to result an eminently scientific exercise, finds in its elaboration intricate psychological nuances, a complex blend of ego obstacles and methodological weaknesses.

 

 

In one hand, the issue of the document itself: is the format "thesis" the most suitable for what you want? What's its purpose? Why is the process so typically lonely? What added value do we want to get from the exercise? Would there be a more agile and efficient format to achieve the same result, or even better?

 

 

On the other hand, I ask myself: are the universities providing the right conditions for investigators to get their optimal contribute, with proper quality and time? Do our Professors have the right and specialized skills to ease, coordinate and take to a good end all the work involved, such as an editorial partner, making the adventure of writing one of these documents an act of excellence in scientific agility?

 

 

Do the almost hermit act of overcoming oneself and psychological endurance intentionally makes part of the status of access to academic doctorate validation? As a kind of very hard initial recruitment of Marine candidates, so that the weakest give up? Is that an important and essential step for a successful future?

 

 

Honestly, since I haven’t written a thesis (yet), I couldn’t answer these questions, nor suggest that something is right or wrong. I just think it's relevant and beneficial to question, from time to time, the reasons behind traditional methods and formats, so we never lose sight of the core purpose of what we are doing, or we may go out of adjustment, without our awareness, of the objective's method. Believing that science, academy and innovation go hand to hand, also in this matter the coherent evolution is certainly the way.

 

 

Regardless of all these reflections, "write a thesis" is what it is, and as much as I can perceive it’s a frequent source of distress for many people. I dedicate to them the "TOOLKIT" that is attached to this article today, with my ideas about how some general personal productivity principles can be applied to a thesis in particular.

 

Aware that the tips on this subject abound, I hope you can find something useful for your personal collection.

 

 

Have a good writing!

 

 

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WARNING: the attachment was written specifically for those who have active interest about writing thesis. If this isn’t your situation, I fear you may find it unappealing…

 

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TOOLKIT "10 TRICKS TO WRITE THESIS"

 

 

1. WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF YOUR THESIS?

 

TRICK

Write in an A4 sheet the purpose of ending the thesis and why that is valuable – post that in front of your nose!

 

Tipical reasons:

- scientific contribute?

- accessing/maintaining a Professor status, with all that this implies in terms of personal and professional contexts? Specify the details

- to belong to “the ones that achieved” group? Or even more farfetched: to belong to “the ones that achieved and did a great job”?

- to be a better person: this stamp will make me eligible, without that I’m not a complete person

- to leave the black cloud above my head that always follows me everywhere behind (this reason is very valuable and, sometimes, neglected)

- what else...?

 

I recommend avoiding falling into identity order reasons: you are who you are, whether you complete or not your thesis. Having your ego in the process will only slow it down. In particular, the thought "I really am incompetent, I cannot even finish a thesis" is poisoned water you don’t want to drink. The implication: "if non-thesis, therefore I'm xx" doesn’t exist. It is a result of your imagination.

 

Think in practical things that are your real goal: career, money, lifestyle, scientific contribute, ability to teach, access challenges, interesting projects and opportunities, etc.

 

 

2. ACTION BLOCKS

 

Our brain blocks the tasks that have at least one of these ingredients:

 

a) task utility is doubtful (my time would be better used doing another thing);

b) task involves a lot of uncertainty about its success (will I be capable?) – dealing with that uncertainty is painful.

Thesis have this two ingredients. In massive doses.

 

TRICK

a) (utility: done, it’s the previous topic)

b1) list and post in front of your nose painful, hard and internally dangerous processes, of which you left victorious

b2) design partial victories in a daily basis and make sure that you can actively win: don’t be too optimistic about your goals, because that means failure and the blockage gets worse. Build self-efficacy expectancy above victories, even if they are small ones, not above guilt.

 

 

3. UNBLOCK THE WRITING ROBOT

 

Very famous among thousands of writers, this one seems less common between “thesists”… Each time you sit down to write, the first few phrases are meant to throw out – still, they have to be written! They help the pressing keys machine to heat up, like an athlete does before a game.

 

TRICK

Trying to begin writing, write some sentences to throw away, just to clean the channel “think -> write”.

 

Example: this paper began like this: ["There’s a good sentence to throw away, what do I want to write about? Oh, that’s it thesis and those blockages that can last years, ok, interesting theme, I think it will be useful to someone. Let’s go… How do I do it? A tricks list? To be complete, it may be to long…”] – Obviously, nothing remained of these first sentences…

 

 

4. UNDERSTAND PARKINSON LAW

 

“Task oriented motivation grows exponentially with the deadline proximity."

 

There’s not much you can do. This intern process has the positive intention of protecting you from discomfort – in this matter, to write the thesis. Don’t use blame to solve it. It can make sense to remember that it will be an insane stress near the deadline and that you have time to light that up if you start right now.

 

TRICK

Avoid self-blame because it lacks discipline. Still, don’t ignore that starting right now may worth many points in the future.

 

 

5. KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO SAY

 

TRICK

Before each chapter, or subchapter, or paragraph, summarize on the side what you want to say in a short sentence.

 

Example: in this paper it could be: “It’s easier to write a thesis if you understand and overstep some psychological mechanisms that blocks us.” In topic 5, in particular, it could be: “Keep in mind the key-message I want to pass makes it all easier, because it orients the text and gives it a purpose”.

 

 

6. DECIDE THE LEVEL OF PERFECCIONISM

 

It’s obvious it could be better! It can always be better. But… what would thar be for? I suggest to distinguish between the utility of each tangible improvement and an ego massage exercise. We project our identity in everything we do. When we associate to the exercise of “deliver, submit” an ego risked exposure to criticism, we will want to avoid finish it till it’s perfect (and it never is) – a trap to avoid.

 

TRICK

Make a difference between “critique of my work” and “critique of who I am”. Knowing what you want to say in each chapter will help to clarify the criteria of "good enough".

 

 

7. IT IS ONLY WORTHWHILE AFTER X TIME PASSED

 

We all know that. Working 2 hours a day during 5 days doesn’t pay out as much as working 10 hours in one day. Review your effort distribution on your calendar, knowing that every time you start you consume a remarkable “setup” time. Include control periods with your Professor, to count on extra motivation of having to comply to someone external.

 

TRICK

More consecutive hours without interruptions or distractions. (go off-line!)

 

 

8. COUNT THE NUMBER OF WORDS WRITTEN

 

When you’re on “writing the thesis” phase, the number of words/sheets is the only decent metric. Effort, time, pain or dedication aren’t the game’s goal. The goal is to get points. And one word written = 1 point. You read a lot but you didn’t write anything? Zero points! You had some ideias and they aren’t on a document? Zero points! You took a chance on going ahead writing a 50 words paragraph?Good, 50 points! To win the prize, you need to join 100.000 points, word after word.

 

TRICK

At the end of each work period, make some notes about the approximate number of words that went on the document.

 

If you’re in a previous stage and the “number of words” metric doesn’t apply to you, identify a similar objective metric, but it can’t be “time”. (number of read pages, number of data processed, number of analysis done, number of hypothesis tested… Validate frequently if there’s a relation between the metric you’re using and the global progress of the project.

 

 

9. WHICH IMPORTANT THINGS ARE YOU WILLING TO LET GO OF?

 

It doesn’t fit all, is an exchange. If doing what you’ve been doing isn’t working, which important things may jump off? While you don’t assume this relative and temporary loss, your brain will trap you in a bad way… It will reveal an unimaginable appeal for tasks that are pending for ages: cleaning, bricolage projects, take the car to the mechanic, citizen office and even go to the dentist! Productive? Certainly yes. But not for your thesis…

 

TRICK

List and post the important things you-re willing to let go (temporarily) to finish your thesis.

 

 

10. WRITING A THESIS IS BY NATURE UNCONFORTABLE

 

Trying to write your thesis avoiding discomfort is like doing omelets without eggs. Deciding to finish your thesis is to welcome the brutal dose of discomfort that the process evolves. Embrace it!

 

TRICK

If you feel discomfort, you’re probabily in the right way. And the opposite it’s also true.

 

Note: when I say discomfort it’s for instance feel fear while writing on your keyboard. It’s to feel confusion when seeing so many hypothesis. It’s to “hurt yourself” in the incongruent analysis of your results. It’s suddenly having to review all because you finally know what you want to say, and feel the regret of so many wasted time. It’s to feel the sharped knife of your Professor making destructive and frustrating comments. This discomfort I’m talking is almost physique, it hurts, you feel it in your skin. It’s in the field! It’s NOT the discomfort of feeling guilty on the couch while you’re eating chocolate and watching TV…

 

 

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Finally, finishing a thesis, like writing a book, it’s unique! It’s not for everyone. Decide if makes sense for you to be one of those people. One that changes a lot of free hours for something that seems intangible, hard and psychologically challenging. It may not be your situation. You won’t be a better or worse person because of that. But understand that desiring to be one of these people, without loosing anything, won’t work. Trying to achieve such a feat in the breaks between everything else, won’t work. Dedicate yourself seriously, exclusively for a while, assume the investment decision and you’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel!

 

 

Challenge: do you know an additional trick that you consider useful for those in the middle of the battle right now? Your ideas and comments are welcome!

 

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