Steve Tippins advises PhD candidates to write daily, even for just 15 minutes, and break work into tiny checkable tasks. Small wins reduce stress and momentum builds naturally. He warns against unrealistic time blocks like 12-hour writing sessions.
I'm a big proponent of writing lists. Break them down into small things. And I got this from a children's book called Frog and Toad. One of the things I sometimes do is I will write down on my list 2 or 3 things I've already accomplished so that I can check them off. Or if I'm feeling really in need of something, the first thing on my list is going to be make list. And then I check it off and I feel an accomplishment and the stress starts to diminish. In making your day and your goals doable, you know, I don't recommend saying, you know, I'm going to write for 12 hours. Hours today. Write for 25 minutes every day. You're not going to finish your dissertation. In fact, there's a book that says— titled How to Write Your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day. Well, you're not going to do it. You can't write just 15 minutes every day. But if you show up every day and start, some days that 15 minutes is going to turn into an hour. And that's how you're going to finish your dissertation. Just keep showing up. If you're looking for a community, join our free dissertation help group
