The decisions you make on a consistent basis, day after day, determine your long-term success.
But there’s often a mental disconnect between what you decide to do now, and how that affects your chances of graduating. So it’s easy to stay in bed, to put off work till tomorrow, to go check email, to take a longer lunch break, to do it tomorrow…
The solution? Think like an Olympic athlete.
When an Olympic rower’s alarm clock goes off at 4:30 am for a morning training session in the middle of winter, they don’t hit the snooze button. They know they have to take every opportunity to train, because if they don’t then their rivals will.
In that moment, when they have the choice of staying in the warmth of the bed or heading out into the cold, they make a decision based on that singular aim of winning gold.
Every decision they make is based on that aim.
Recognise the choices you’re making on a daily basis. Are you choosing success or failure?
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I also think that perhaps this idea inadvertently, and perhaps unintentionally draws attention to the large endgoal..i.e., the olympic medal or the bound thesis…rather than to the small steps along the way which should enrich our lives, inspire us, or at the very least, interest us along the way. In my own experience as a pretty competetive athlete I can tell you that simply thinking about a big race would not have been enough to motivate me. I loved the training, arguably as much or even more than the racing, and so I would argue that the key is to try to frame and engage in thesis writing with the same mindset. Even if one were to finish by remaining focussed simply on finishing, it does sound pretty miserable.
I think we need “Trainer” like athlete. Trainer who wake us up, command us, control us…. Because nobody (may be some) can do by themselves even the athlete… Good luck everyone! (including me… lol)
If I may jump in an highlight one thing James said here that I think *critical* to both the success of athletes (which I’m not) and successful dissertation writers (which I’m getting better at) is this:
“When an Olympic rower’s alarm clock goes off at 4:30 am for a morning training session in the middle of winter, they don’t hit the snooze button.”
In my experience, my best writing days (2 hrs max) depend on what I do when that alarm goes off: Do I roll over, look at my desk and think “ugh, I ‘need’ a day off”; Or do I roll over, look at my desk and think “ugh, I’ll get some coffee and keep my schedule.”
That said, my schedule is my best friend. I spent years in grad school trying to ‘find time to write’ while having no trouble following a class schedule, work schedule, accommodating a friend’s schedule… The other advantage to scheduling is I know when I’m done for the day; and for me, this helps with the anxiety that I should be writing all the time–at 1am, 3am, on train, etc.: Making a schedule (start small) has made a huge difference.
All that said, I love the Olympics so I have a framed 3×5 card on my desk(made it myself) with the Olympic Rings and the statement “Remember that today you are Faster Higher Stronger than you were yesterday”
You might also try using this for your alarm clock:
Olympic Fanfare and Theme http://youtu.be/EbHw8DBCXQ8
Happy, pleasurable writing!
Thanks James,
A helpful insight as always, thank you. One thing; this analogy is based fundamentally on competition, athlete’s train to beat other athlete’s, that’s the whole point. But, I find the idea of competition amongst my colleagues difficult to deal with. I wonder if you have any advice about how to deal with the added pressure of socialising, working, chatting, facebooking, going to conferences with etc etc other people in your department who are doing PhDs. Although sometimes the camaraderie can be helpful, on the whole I find it quite stifling. I often worry about other people working at the weekend when I’m not, publishing with their supervisors when I’m not, presenting at conferences when I am not. When I do these things I try to do them because I want to be a good academic, not because I have to compete with my colleagues, but I often feel increased pressure from other PhD students in my office. Any advice on how to focus on our own PhD and stop worrying about our future career rivals (often sat next to us?!). many thanks.
I had more the training in mind than the competition, but you make a good point. I think it’s worth a blog post in itself!
Sarah,
Think of it this way: When you land on the job market, you won’t be competing with the people who are right around you in grad school (probably) since they probably all study different topics. You won’t all apply for the same job. On the other hand, if you are competing over funding offered by your department or university, then you do need to think like an Olympic athlete. I did my PhD in 4 years and my MA in 4 semesters (roughly half average time to completion in those programs) because I was thinking just like that. Also, I was very conscious that I was pissing away some of the best years of my life in grad school – not earning enough, working too hard, feeling guilty all the time – and that I’d better get a move on if I wanted to get on with my life. So, keep your eyes on the prize, as they say.
There is a big difference here. Athletes know exactly what they have to do, to run faster, jump higher etc., Research it not like this, I rarely seem to know exactly what I have do and how it will turn out.
The only real similarity is that I know I need to work harder and harder, which knowing this in itself is exhausting.
I agree that we should always be checking how we are spending our time, but this also produces a level of guilt (like writing this!) that we should have been up at 04:00 ready to research.
I think the link is oversimplified somewhat.
Steve, I think maybe in the differences you highlight you are oversimplifying what athletes have to do. I think the point is to find some way of having the drive and determination to push on, even when it’s tough. For me, the getting out of bed thing would involve forcing myself out of bed because of the concious or subconscious realisation that it will help me get to the end of the Thesis. To help with the conscious realisation, I put an image on my phone (which is my alarm clock) of a bound thesis, or someone graduating. This makes me acutely aware of why I’m doing it and really helps to dig deeper and push through.
I think there’s a huge amount of unpredictability for athletes. They don’t know how fast the other athlete is going to run.
The point is the determination and focus, despite that unpredictability, to keep going and focus on what they need to do.
I don’t know. I think their unpredictability also comes from the fact that they are pushing the boundaries of their discipline and at the cutting edge it can be difficult to know exactly what steps to take and how to train to get the best results and to break records.
I suppose professional athletes have a large team of people to help them and to cope with this unpredictability. There are also people to give them massages after a training session which certainly doesn’t exist when you’re a PhD student. Maybe it would help relieve some of the tension.
OK I understand the idea and I agree- but *how* do you think like that if you don’t do so already and can you give an example of how that might work out on a practical basis when doing a PhD thesis?
Well it’s recognising those small decisions while you’re making them. You make 1000 decisions per day, most without conscious thought. If you want a how, then just pause for a moment, think about what you’re doing, and why. It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.