The Dissertation Warrior 扎心语录之一

• I was reminded of the importance of giving my first energy to those things that mattered most to me — because in the end, when my body was under ominous threat from a possible unnamed catastrophe, I realized time is quite short.
• Bravely, I sat down every day to write this thing...only to find myself playing Legend of Zelda for hours at a time. One day, I realized that if I never finished this thing, I could point to my gaming system, my phone, and a host of other seemingly unimportant time-drains in my life and say, “I gave up my doctorate to play video games.”
• Today, what are you giving up your doctorate for? Is it worth it? I met a guy today who is battling life-threatening cancer, but he said, “I will finish this dissertation if it’s the last thing I do.”
• You have time to read this book because getting your doctoral degree by finishing your dissertation is one of the chief callings of your life; you would not have entered this doctoral program if it were not already a calling within you.
• How I do in one thing, I do in all things. Who I am in one thing is who I am in all things.
• Your personal character is your strongest asset and, potentially, your most taxing liability.
• If you feel that your dissertation writing has not gone as planned, that you are not on the schedule that you desire, and that you have not received the results you expected, then it’s time to look at THE WAY you are approaching your dissertation writing IN LIFE.
• “Don’t make regrets.”
• Time is short, so get moving.”
• They’ll say that when you fail, you learn, but when you give up, you’ll regret.
• However, today you can take one step in that direction.
• Once-used items in our lives litter our physical and mental worlds like a collection of shiny new ships wrecked on a resort beach; the idea of doing things is far more attractive than the act of doing them.
• A long-term goal easily becomes simply a goal deferred.
• You are not a doctoral student because you are enrolled in continuation courses through your university, communicating with your chair every few weeks or so, or because you have an anticipated graduation date of year 20-whatever. You are a doctoral student when you actually are gliding your highlighter across a page, digging into your favorite research database, or clicking away at your keyboard. Ideas about when you’ll finish mean nothing.
• Without that daily practice, progress will NOT manifest.
• I’m still perplexed each time I hear a friend say to another, “I go to the gym,” leaving out the fact that he has not been to the gym in three weeks. After how long of not going to the gym are you no longer a gym-goer? By comparison, I often hear doctoral candidates say, “I’m in the process of writing my dissertation.” Still, after how long of not writing your dissertation are you still considered to be “a dissertation writer”?
• If a couple weeks go by and, not due to personal tragedy, you have not done any of the tasks that will help you bring a dissertation into the world, you are probably more of a dissertation hobbyist than a dissertation writer.

White, Guy E.. The Dissertation Warrior: The Ultimate Guide to Being the Kind of Person Who Finishes a Doctoral Dissertation or Thesis. Triumphant Heart International, Inc.. Kindle Edition.