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Do you delay completing your writing because you seek
perfection? Do you postpone starting to write because you know what you write
won’t be perfect? Do you wait for just the right time, right environment, right
mood to write? Do you have to be inspired before you start writing?
Hogwash. Just write. Because perfectionism is not possible.
And if it were possible for you to write the complete and definitive work, what
would you do next? Switch topics for every manuscript you write because
each will be the definitive work on that topic? (I’m exhausted just thinking
about your writing life and academic career.)
Why are some of us perfectionists? (And when I say “us,” I
mean “me,” because my writing has been sabotaged, i.e., I sabotage my writing,
by my intention to write the perfect article or definitive book each time I sit
down to write.)
Our wanting to be perfect can come from
- …becoming
overly attached to the dissertation or writing project. It is a work of
scholarship; it is not your life. (It just feels like it.) A dissertation
is significant and has implications for successful and timely degree
completion, entry into post-doc and faculty roles, and the launching of a
body of work and reputation as a scholar. Yes, the dissertation may be the
most significant scholarship you will produce to this point. (And jeers to
the Columbia
faculty member who recently told his students, “Stay in graduate school as
long as you can and produce as much scholarship as possible while you’re
here, because it’s all downhill in our field after you finish your degree.
You won’t get a good job, you won’t have time to research and write, and
you’ll realize your doctoral program workload was easy compared to that of
a faculty member.”) But the dissertation or any other writing project is
not your life and does not define you. Professionally, perhaps. But life
is more than your dissertation and academic career. (Make sure there are
those in your life who will remind you of this. Regularly.) So don’t
become so attached to any one writing project that you can’t finish it…or
even start it.
- …not
being cognizant of how long it takes to complete the dissertation or write
multiple articles or books for tenure and promotion. Yes, you can take
three years to produce your first chapter or ten years to write a book.
But not while the time-to-degree clock is ticking or the tenure and
promotion countdown has begun. At times, it’s better to get it done and
get it out the door than persist in writing the definitive work or seeking
perfection.
- …inadequate
guidance from our advisor, mentor, or (for faculty) our department chair.
Identify the expectations. What is necessary to receive approval for the
dissertation proposal? To get your advisor’s sign-off on chapter four. To
meet the P&T (Promotion and Tenure) committee’s standards for
retention and advancement? Meet those expectations. Even exceed them. But
no one will ever tell you that your work must be perfect. (If they do, let
me know. I’m taking names.)
- …the
mistaken belief that if we wait for inspiration to write, the outcome can
indeed be perfect. Silvia (2007) describes this waiting-for-inspiration
excuse as a “most comical and irrational” barrier to actual and productive
writing. “If you believe that you should write only when you feel like
writing, ask yourself some simple questions: How has this strategy worked
so far? Are you happy with how much you write?” (p.23). “Successful
professional writers…are prolific because they write regularly, usually
every day. They reject the idea that they must be in the mood to write. As
Keyes (2003) put it, ‘Serious writers write, inspired or not. Over
time they discover that routine is a better friend to them than
inspiration’ (p.49).” (Silvia, 2007, p. 27).
Is Sternberg (1981) describing you with this? “The
myth of the perfect dissertation creates problems for graduate students. No
dissertation, or for that matter, no book, is ever ‘perfect,’ or absolutely
finished. All successful doctoral candidates and book writers can think of ten
important changes they would have liked to have made within days after a
project’s final defense or press date. But ten changes later, the
dissatisfactions would be renewed. I often suspect that after, say, two drafts
of a dissertation, further revisions don’t make a thesis better, merely
different. One is reminded of Camus’ character in The Plague, who spends
his life rewriting the first sentence of his novel – endless versions of horses
trotting down the Champ Elysees”(p. 160).
Now if perfectionism or any other struggle is seriously
delaying your writing progress and threatening to sabotage your degree
completion, I encourage you to make use of Columbia’s WorkBlock
Workshop for Graduate Students at CPS or to attend the Procrastination
101 workshop series, also offered by CPS. Both can be very helpful if you
are struggling with procrastination, writing, or completing your dissertation.
(http://www.health.columbia.edu/docs/services/workshops/index.html). (And you may want to read Sternberg’s chapter seven, “Down in the Dissertation
Dumps: How to Get Out,” which offers a “classification of dissertation
anxieties and depressions.” The author is a long-time faculty member – formerly
at NYU – and one of several dissertation therapists in New York City. I am not recommending you read
this chapter. I recommend you write. But if you would like to read this
chapter, stop by GSAS in 109 Low.)
There is another reason we may be a perfectionist that has
very little to do with making our writing perfect…and everything to do with
procrastination. Luey (2004) describes this when she addresses writer’s block:
“True writer's block... is mercifully rare. If you experience it you should
seek help from a psychologist. What most people call writer's block is a
variety of minor intellectual or procedural disturbances. One variety of this
is the inability to stop fussing about details. You cannot move forward because
there are so many little things wrong with what you have already written that
you feel compelled to clean them up. This isn’t writer's block but a form of
procrastination; it's much easier to fix what's written than to create
something new. Fight the temptation” (p. 137-138).
We’ll talk more about procrastination in the next posting,
which offers time management suggestions for writing. So if you have not
written yet today, get started.
Keyes, R. (2003). The writer’s book of hope. New York: Holt.
Luey, B. (2004). The ticking clock. In B. Luey (Ed.),
Revising your dissertation: Advice from leading editors (pp. 231-239). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Silva, P. (2007).How to write a lot: A practical guide to
productive academic writing. Washington,
DC: American Psychological
Association.
Sternberg, D. (1981). How to complete and survive a
doctoral dissertation. New York: St.
Martin’s Griffin.
Some of the information in the Break Writing postings is
drawn from previously published work, and I have tried to properly attribute
the ideas and work of others. If I have failed to do so, please let me know so
I can clarify and correct (ja2310@columbia.edu).
Continue to Break Writing #11 - One More on Time Management
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