Is it normal to hate your dissertation and pray for it to be over?
I’ll be happy when I’ve finished my literature review.
I’ll be happy when I’ve handed in my dissertation.
I’ll be happy when I’ve finished my degree.
Have you said anything like this recently?
If so, you are not alone.
In this blogpost, I’m going to tell you why this “I’ll be happy when…” malarkey is stopping you from doing your best work and what you can do right now, today to overcome that.
Yes, this one is all about mindset, because the way you think and feel about your dissertation and the way you talk to yourself about it, is absolutely fundamental in shaping the quality of your work.
We’ll be covering the following things:
Gap or gain?
How to get out of the gap
Top tip for living in the gain
Gap or gain?
I recently read a really good book called The Gap and The Gain, by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy.
It is so, so relevant for dissertation students.
In a nutshell, this book argues that we need measure success backwards rather than forwards.
What the hell does that mean? Let me explain…
It means that if we’re constantly looking to the future, to this thing that we want to achieve - but haven’t yet achieved - we tend to constantly live in deficit.
We focus on what we haven’t got, what we haven’t finished, what we haven’t accomplished.
We are living in the gap. The gap between what we have and what we want.
We’ll be happy when we get there.
However, we’re not there now.
If this is the way we look at things, it is clearly going to make us feel pretty crappy about our present situation, right?
However, the alternative way of looking at things is living in the gain, focusing on what we have already accomplished. We look backwards at how much we’ve achieved in the last day, the last week, the last year. As such, we measure our success backwards.
Now, think about what you’ve said about your dissertation recently.
What was the last conversation you had with someone about it and was it all gap or all gain?
How’s your dissertation going?
How are you feeling about your dissertation?
Notice what you just thought, or said out loud. Exactly what words did you use?
How to get out of the gap
Now, if you said something gappy in response to that question, here’s how you can turn that around.
If your answer was, “I’m not as far ahead as I’d like to be, I wanted to have written 6,000 words by now and I’ve written 3,000. I’m really annoyed with myself”, here’s how you can reframe that. You can say, “This time four months ago, I had zero words written for my dissertation. Now, I have written 3,000 words. I’ve come a really long way. Yes, there’s work I still need to do, but I’m on my way.”.
If your answer was, “My literature review is a total mess, the structure is all over the place”. Instead you might say, “This time three months ago, I hadn’t even started my literature review, I’d read literally nothing. Now, I’ve done a fair amount of reading and I’ve made notes on what I’ve read. I’ve even started putting that into my literature review chapter and right now, I’m focused on tidying that up”.
If your answer was, “I have literally done NOTHING on my dissertation”, that’s not actually true, is it? Try this instead. “Today, I read a blog about dissertation mindset it made me realise how important it is to focus on what I have achieved so far. Earlier, I was in a really negative place about it, but now, I’m starting to feel better and ready to get started”.
See? Simply by reframing how you look at things, you will start to feel better about your dissertation, and that is going to be massively helpful for you in moving forwards.
Top tip for living in the gain
One thing you can do from this point onwards, is to set a reminder on your phone once a week, or a couple of times a week if you like. When that reminder goes off, you’re going to stop what you’re doing and identify three gains you’ve made since the last time you checked in with yourself.
It doesn’t have to be anything huge, like “I drafted my entire literature review”, but if you did, definitely put that on there! However, think about the smaller gains:
“I learned how to reference a journal article properly.”
“I had a meeting with my supervisor.”
“I spoke to a professor I like about my ideas.”
“I spent half an hour brainstorming about my methodology chapter.”
“I got my notes organised so they’re not in 12 different places”.
If you make this a habit, you will start to shift your mindset about your dissertation. By focusing on what you’re doing, and celebrating the little victories, you will be so motivated by the successes that you already have that you’ll find the negative thinking starts to fall away.
How you think about your dissertation affects what you do about it, and that in turn impacts on your more generally. There’s a quote that I’ve seen pinging around the internet for several years now, which sums this up wonderfully:
Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny. (Lao Tzu, Chinese Philosopher)
Further reading on all things mindset
The Gap and the Gain: The High Achievers' Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success, by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy.
Stop Thinking, Start Living: Discover Lifelong Happiness, by Richard Carlson.
Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life, by Wayne Dyer.
Next steps
If you’re ready to get more organised with your dissertation, check out my Dissertation Planner Shop for PDF planners, worksheets and cheat sheets!
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