07.26.10
How Did I Do It?
- Image via Wikipedia
When we decide what we will call ourselves, we decide what direction we’re going.
How did I manage to garner enough discipline to make the final-run of my dissertation process? For people who have endured this trial, they know all about the long nights, the constant mental strain—of chapter deadlines, appeasing the committee members, pondering the research topic and wondering when and if the entire drama will end. And if yours was a subject in the soft sciences, you probably had to continue working to finance your degree.
The stress of this type of lifestyle makes developing focus an almost impossible feat. I knew I had to do something. With so many irons in the fire, nothing would be completed. It wasn’t physically possible.
What I did was rememberred my story. My identity. How I saw myself.
I am an athlete. From a long time ago, beginning with gymnastics in grade school, and continuing with track and cross-country in both high school and college. Sports teaches us something important. It shows us structure, order, and direction. Things that get lost in the fray of the dissertation-writing process.
Once I reminded myself that I am an athlete, everything changed. I realized that I DO (already) have discipline. It had just been buried in the Pepsi-fueled long drives home from night classes. Hidden in the clanging of differing tasks and urgencies. Subdued in the mire of worry, panic, and other academic-related sensations.
But when I claimed that former identity, I collected all its helpful characteristics. Confidence that I could complete the monumentous task before me. Fearlessness about juggling time pressures and typing pressures. Hope that I could operate in a different, more effective way. Hope that told me I could finish the race.
What identity are YOU choosing for yourself today? And how does that determine your direction and your success?
