One of the fastest avenues to dissertation derailment is found when ABD’s take a very long time- much too long- to complete tasks. This happens mostly when you’ve dived into a task and keep expecting the task to lead you to the ending point, but, instead, find that the more you work, the more there is to do. In a way, the whole dissertation process can feel like this, but the difference here is that, usually, the tasks are really simple, but they are taking you way too long. You know that it’s way too long because, after many hours, you can’t say that you’ve made significant AND MEANINGFUL progress. Sure, when you’re puzzling out an idea or thinking something through, you won’t produce much output. However, you will feel that you’ve made some significant progress. If you’re caught in the cycle of working a lot and never really getting anything done, here are some ideas: 1) Get clear on what you’re doing- where you’re starting from, and where you are trying to go. 2) Figure out how you’ll know when you reach where you want to go (1 page written, an idea pieced out, a sense of flow) 3) Figure out how long it might take you to get there. And here’s a hint: writing 1 page shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes of time. If you’ve read everything, outlined what you want to write about, and are just writing- you can write a page in about 20 minutes. If you’re taking too long to complete tasks, you’re setting yourself up for dissertation derailment. Start estimating how long specific tasks might take, and do your best to stick with your estimates- even if they aren’t 100% accurate, they give you a conscious way to stay on track with task and time parameters.
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