Lately I've noticed that as summer comes to an end, my ABD clients feel overwhelmed and down on themselves. There's a tendency for grad students to feel that they haven't accomplished enough on their dissertation at any time of year. It's particularly bad at the end of the summer.

I suggest you try making a list of all that you accomplished during the summer, big and small. This includes not only what you’ve written, but what you’ve researched, read, learned, figured out, realized, decided or changed. You might be surprised at what you’ve actually done!

The Chronicle of Higher Education published a great essay today by a former Cornell graduate student who successfully defended her dissertation in 2004. She likens the dissertation process to The Lord of the Rings trilogy:

He travels across a land called Middle-earth to throw a ring into the middle of a volcano called Mount Doom -- an action that, for doctoral students, is known as "filing the dissertation."

She goes on to point out that Gollum is the eternal ABD, destined never to finish, while Frodo's faithful companion Sam will be written about in the Acknowledgments.

I particularly like her translation of the scene where Frodo's mind is so damaged and his spirit is so broken from years of tortured, lonely journeying that he can't let go of the ring. I have seen this so many times with clients who can't let go of even one chapter. "The ring is mine!" Frodo proclaims.

The author, Susie J. Lee, ends the metaphor by describing how Frodo, still recovering, sails off with his mentor and other professors in a faraway land called tenure."

Is there one graduate student, past or present, who wouldn't relate to this tale as a beautiful metaphor of their experiences? If you have a subscription to the Chronicle (highly recommended for insight into academe and job information,) please read the article! {moscomment}

I'm going on vacation with my daughter. She's 24 and in graduate school, with a summer break. I'm already going through withdrawal thinking about the fact that I really shouldn't bring my laptop. No, I won't bring it. I'm sure I won't. It's too heavy. Sigh.

I've told all my clients that I would pay extra on the cruise to have Internet access so that they could write to me, and every one of them told me I was crazy. They told me that the point was for me to relax and forget about them. That's so hard to do!

It's easy to get caught up in thinking that there's never enough time, so this would be a great time to get something done. But my mind needs refreshing. I can tell when I'm starting to get bogged down. Perhaps you've had this experience? Have you ever gone on vacation and not realized until a few days into it how tired and run down you had become? I know that's happened to me.

That does it. I'm not bringing my laptop

And with any luck, I won't even miss it.

I believe that many of the fears that graduate students and professors have that hold them back stem from the fact that they don't trust themselves. Specifically, they don't trust themselves to be able to handle the outcome of the feared event, whether it's rejection by a journal, or negative comments about their dissertation.

For example, they may put off calling their dissertation advisor to arrange an appointment to get feedback on their last chapter. Or more often, they fear finishing the draft of the chapter because it means handing it in and getting feedback. I've known numerous postdocs and professors who have not published as much as they might have otherwise, for the same sorts of reasons.

But what's the big deal? ....

I had six appointments today with six coaching clients, including ABD graduate students, postdocs, and professors. What I found remarkable was that in five out of the six sessions, the person had had a conversation with a colleague or advisor, and then felt immensely better afterwards.

The irony is that many people avoid just such interactions. They dread showing their colleague what they have written as a contribution to a jointly-written chapter or paper. They are sure that their dissertation advisor will hate their latest draft. This causes them to procrastinate during the writing process, and avoid setting up the much-needed meeting.

Yet nine times out of ten, the imagined criticism either doesn't come or is just not that painful. I think that such people die a thousand deaths, yet actually they are strong enough to endure should they get negative feedback.

The moral of the story? Bite the bullet and schedule that meeting. You will feel more energized and eager to work afterwards.

I realized after writing the previous entry that I would love to get some advice for new ABD's from those of you who have been in the trenches. Whether you are currently a grad student, or a professor who advises graduate students, your words of wisdom would be appreciated.

What do you wish someone had told you?

What mistakes do you see people make, but either they won't heed your advice, or you feel it's not your place to say anything?

What advice would have made a difference in your finishing the dissertation sooner and with more ease? If you have any thoughts on this, big or small, please write them here or in the forum.

I just got my graphics tablet, which I purchased in order to put my own illustrations on this web site. It's an Intuos2 by Wacom. I'm surprised how easy it was to adjust to drawing on the tablet. Read on if you're interested in seeing my pictures -- they have nothing to do with academia, unless you're interested in graphics tablets.

I'm continually struck by the fact that ABD's who are struggling to finish their dissertation think that they are the only ones having this kind of problem. I'm writing this right now to tell you:

You are not alone!

Unfortunately, it appears that graduate students in the same program rarely talk to each other about the difficulty that they're having. In particular, they don't talk about how bad they feel about themselves. That's why people like to come to this site and find out that they're not alone. I find that I can never say it too often.

I've been receiving lots of great ideas and feedback from my feedback form/assessment called Web Site Features Survey. One of the most clear results so far is that people most would like help with their tendency to procrastinate.

It's not surprising: academia has it's advantages and disadvantages....

The response to my newsletter has been great -- I can't believe how many people have filled out my self assessment: "Do You Deserve a Ph.D.?" So many people feel insecure when they are working on their dissertation, despite a long history of scholastic success....

I'm starting to look into various kinds of software that are useful for doing footnotes, bibliographies, etc. I wondered if anyone had recommendations. Some people I've worked with have used Endnotes. I've noticed a few people who think that this particular software is too hard to learn, although they haven't really tackled it. A similar kind of software is called Citation.
There's another kind of formatting software called StyleEase, and a few others. I've noticed that some of the informal reviews on the web are out of date.
This is a plea -- if any of you out there has made use of this software, comment here and let me know what works and why you like it or don't like it.

{moscomment}

How do you channel the frustration and anger that you have towards an unresponsive advisor or less than helpful committee? How do you deal with the fact that one grad student seems to have the ear of your advisor and she won't return your phone calls?

Simple! To paraphrase that exclusive department store phrase: "Finishing is the Best Revenge." Get it done, get a great job and get out of there! No need to burn any bridges or go out in a blaze of glory. Just make the unpleasant situation a distant memory.

I've noticed that as grad students reach the end of the chapter they've been slaving on, or as professors are just getting over the hump in writing an article, they feel the most discouraged.

I'm not sure why that happens. Does that happen to you?

Perhaps it's the fact that you've been immersed in your writing so long that it ceases to have any meaning. The lack of perspective makes it look insipid and trite. People often say they feel like they're going in circles.

If you've done research, you know what it's like to be paranoid. It takes this form: "Right now, somebody is doing the exact same research or writing that I'm doing, only they're doing it better and faster."

You may have experienced this phenomenon when the newer graduate students copy some of your procedures, or tackle the same subject. Or somebody mentions that they think so-and-so is doing similar research. What follows is usually sleepless nights, hair-pulling days, and breathless investigation into the truth of the rumor.

I'm constantly amazed at the power of accountability to allow or even compel people to do the things they don't feel like doing. I see this in my own life -- when I'm expecting guests, it's a lot easier to straighten up those messy piles on my kitchen desk. When I commit to writing a certain number of reports to my own coach, I get them done as promised.

That's one reason that coaching groups work so well. People feel accountable not only to me, their coach, but to the rest of the group members. After all, they were witnesses to the promises made the week before.

I've been checking out websites that have information for people considering job hunting outside of academia. There's a site called Sellout (doesn't the name speak volumes about the attitude of those staying in academia?) that has resources for academics thinking of leaving the fold.

As an outsider myself, I find it a little amusing. I've seen this kind of attitude with some of the patients in my clinical practice who have worked for years in a large government agency (I could tell you which one, but then I'd have to shoot you.) When they contemplate leaving, you would think they were moving to Outer Mongolia. The peer pressure is enormous to stay.

My next newsletter will be about terrible dissertation advisor behavior. I'm thinking about titling it "When Good People Become Bad Advisors." I like that title because I don't believe that these are bad people. There must be something about the dissertation advising process that brings out strange behaviors in some people.

If you would like to send me any horror stories, I will happily post them here or write about them in my newsletter (see sign-up on upper left of this page). Please change unimportant details so that all people involved remain anonymous. I'd love to hear from you!

It is widely known that executives have coaches. Although they are successful, high-functioning people, they still hire coaches to help them become clear on their priorities, stick to their long-term goals, deal with difficult people and all the other problems of such a complex career.

Assistant professors have at least as difficult a career as high-level executives. They are really doing several jobs at the same time. As many of you who are reading this have experienced, the first year or two can be totally overwhelming. The time has come

My newsletter is coming out on Thursday with an article on how NOT to get tenure. I thought I'd mention a couple of thoughts on the professoriate.

In order to be a successful professor, you should have a passion for your subject and a gift for giving selflessly to others. The professoriate is a way of life; you are contributing to the greater good of society with your research, teaching and outreach to the community.

The first couple of years of being an assistant professor are so harried that it's hard to remember this viewpoint.

I just read an article in the Chronicle on a report about changing the tenure system to a more user-friendly state.   What I particularly like about it are the recommendations that will help female faculty who are mothers, such as: allowing more than seven years to earn tenure and allowing a certain amount of part-time work.  This not only supports women, it supports families.  If they finally take action on this, it will show that our institutions can support "family values" even though it might hurt them in the pocketbook.