We are now at the end of week 11, and it is a good time to
take a step back and evaluate how well your quarter plan worked. Did you meet
your goals? If not, then let's take a moment to think about it. Why do you
think that you were not able to meet them? Did you overestimate what you could
get done? Did you have a lot of work or personal issues that took precedence?
Or did you simply procrastinate and not work on it as you planned in the
beginning of the quarter? Each reason needs to be evaluated as you consider how
to address the fall quarter.
If you overestimated what you could get done, then give
yourself more of a time cushion next quarter, it is always better to
underestimate than overestimate. If other things claimed your time, then you
need to make some decisions- was this is a one-time event or an ongoing one? If
it was a one-time event or one that been resolved (e.g., children back in
school), no problem. However, if it an ongoing issue, such as a medical issue
for you or a family member, then you should give this some deep thought. Is it
time to consider a leave of absence? If you really want to continue, talk to
your chair and work out a plan.
If you found yourself procrastinating and not writing, I
strongly advise you to think about what you really want and why you are in
school right now. Do you have enough motivation to finish this dissertation? Do
you need to rethink your topic? Consider changing chairs? Maybe you need to
take a quarter leave of absence and decide what you really want to be doing.
You are wasting a great deal of money being in a program that you are doing
nothing in, plus, you are taking up the space in your chair's class for someone
that is motivated. It can be a scary thought to leave your doctoral program,
with student loans hanging over your head. However, if the alternative is to
continue and not get anything done on your dissertation, leaving may be the smartest
choice.
Next time I will talk about life after get your PhD. Do you
have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post?
Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas!
leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu
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