Steve Tippins identifies six reasons smart doctoral students stall on dissertations: loss of structure, perfectionism, treating it as one massive task, emotional reactions to feedback, life imbalance, and isolation. He recommends breaking work into specific actions, drafting early for feedback, and finding external accountability.
Why smart doctoral students get stuck on their dissertation. Hi, I'm Steve Tippins from Beyond PhD Coaching, and I've been in academia for over 30 years and worked with hundreds of doctoral students, both as chair and as coach, to help them cross the finish line. And finishing your dissertation Is really what you want to do. So why is it that smart people in dissertation programs get stuck on their dissertation? It's not because people are not intelligent. Working on a dissertation is entirely different than working on coursework. I've seen some amazingly intelligent people just get stuck in dissertation. And for many, it is because it's different than coursework. But here's a number of reasons why people get stuck and what they can do to get unstuck. First is what I'll call lack of structure. You know how to do courses. You've done undergraduate degrees and graduate courses, and you've gotten a syllabus, and you can check the syllabus ahead of time and get due dates and get reminded in class and turn everything in, and you're happy, and that gives you structure. But once you get to the dissertation phase, many times structure has gone away. It is Hey, get me something. When you get me something, I'll have something to review. So you get lots of time to just wander around without that structure that you're so used to in classes. I want you to replace statements like, or to-do lists like, work on my dissertation. That's pretty broad and amorphous. How about, look at pages 12 through 18 for references. Or add 10 more references, or something specific that gives you a structure to move forward with. Now, the second thing, and this plagues many people, is perfectionism. I've talked to way too many people over the years who say something like, well, I want to get this to my chair or to my committee, but first I want to make it perfect so that I get fewer comments back. And, you know, I admire that, and you want some product that's good, but perfection is tough when you aren't the keeper of perfection. It's your chair and your committee who decide what's good enough. In fact, I've told a number of people, put up a sign in your work area that says, good enough is good enough. Another phrase I like is, you cannot edit a blank page. Get something down, get a draft, and then turn it in To your chair, to your committee, so you can know what they're looking for. You can work towards perfection once you've gotten their input. But without their input, you're just wandering around in the dark. Writing a dissertation is a huge thing, and it becomes enormous. Well, now I have to write my dissertation. Well, you don't write a dissertation in one sitting. So now I have to work on chapter 1, let's say, and I need an introduction, and then maybe I need a little bit on my theory theoretical framework, or maybe I need something on my problem statement and my purpose, my research questions. So even just saying Chapter 1 is too broad and too big. Break it down into smaller pieces because you don't run a marathon and just want walking out the door to run a marathon. You get ready for it. You don't complete a dissertation unless you do the small pieces. When we're working on a dissertation, it is a long and lonely journey. And when we turn something in, to our chair or our committee, it can be like it's part of me, and we become attached to what we've written. So if there are comments that come back, that can be emotionally draining. Oh, I gave them everything I could. What am I supposed to do now? Well, pause. This is your first time ever writing a dissertation. Take their input as constructive criticism because they want you to finish. So pause and breathe and come back to it. Sometimes I like to get comments, look at them, and then put it down and come back the next day so that I can have a little better perspective about, you know, what they're looking for and what I need to do. So try to get the emotion out of this. When you are writing a dissertation or any part of your doctoral program, life just doesn't stop. You may have a job, family, Responsibilities in the community, you have to be able to continue those in some way so that you can be healthy and come out the other end of the dissertation and still have all the relationships that you went into the dissertation with. So remember, balance is going to be important in this process. And finally, the 6th part of this is isolation. This is a long and lonely journey, like I said, and writing your dissertation Just makes it more lonely because now it's just you. Sometimes you need help, support, accountability from someone who's been through this before. Don't be afraid to reach out for help instead of just sitting around not knowing what to do and really ending up wasting months of time. Getting some support and guidance can help you move forward much faster. At Beyond PhD Coaching, our goal is to help you finish your dissertation. That's it. We will help you with accountability, support, and many other things. So feel free to click the link below and explore what we have to offer and book an appointment with us. And finally, I want to say, don't ask, how am I going to finish my dissertation? You want to ask, what is the next specific action I should be taking? In order to move down the path towards finishing my dissertation. Good luck with your journey.
