Celebrating Completion

Yesterday, a dear colleague presented his dissertation before a group of faculty and graduate students. This was the person whose enthusiasm for Carnegie Mellon, for Pittsburgh, and for our program convinced me that CMU was where I should do my graduate studies. Throughout my coursework and exams he provided advice and moral support, lent me books and notes, and schooled me on some of the finer points of postwar urban historiography. 

Watching him present the culmination of his research was inspiring and humbling. We went on a research trip to Ann Arbor three years ago--he to the University of Michigan archive, and I to Zingerman's Deli--and I recall that he was stabbing around for sufficient sources, and was unsure what to make of what he was finding. And now he has written a cohesive, coherent, engaging and historically significant dissertation. It gives me hope that with enough time and perseverance, I too will someday have answers to my questions. 

I have several close colleagues defending this spring and summer, and I look forward to celebrating all of their achievements and calling them Doctor!

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At Zingerman's 

Victories

My book arrived from the off-site facility.

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Beginning in August, the graduate students in my department will receive a significant cost-of-living increase to our stipends.

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AND I WON A RESEARCH GRANT!

Standstill

I have been waiting for a book to arrive from Carnegie Mellon's offsite facility for 10 days now, and I just can't get any more done until it arrives. I'm trying not to get irritated, because I'm just trying to get a book across a river and most of my friends are struggling to get microfilm sent across state lines via Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Regardless, it's frustrating that the ONE source I have available to me here at home in Pittsburgh is more difficult to acquire than the archival materials I travel to New York to use!

One visit to Circulation and two phone calls later, and it seems that the book will be delivered tomorrow or Thursday. I will believe it when I see it!

The Writing Checklist: A First Draft

Inspired by Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto (which I wrote about a few weeks ago), I have lately been thinking about all of the points where breakdowns occur in my writing workflow. It's become clear to me that there are two major failings in that process:

1. I know what I should do to ensure a successful writing session, but I don't do it.

2. When I feel overwhelmed, I redirect myself to another activity. I fear that frustration with any single part could build, counterproductively, into resentment towards the entire dissertation. 

These are pretty common issues for most professionals, regardless of field, and there are endless Lifehacks to address them. I've used a lot of them, in fact: web blockers, the Pomodoro technique,  and task managers to organize larger projects. These all work excellently, if I use them. So my checklist is an attempt to commit to the process. Just as surgical or flight checklists ensure that doctors or pilots don't forget a routine (but vital!) step in their process, my new checklist is just a reminder not to forget the obvious and essential...

Like Gawande recommended, I kept the checklist succinct. Rather than enumerating the various ways I must eliminate distraction before beginning to work--namely, disabling the WiFi--the checklist nudges me to address my environment and not cavalierly believe that I will resist the pull of the web. Likewise, I didn't specify what made a goal reasonable or meaningful, because that is contingent from day to day. I just need to remember the importance of setting goals and meeting them, and not be delusional about what it's possible to accomplish. 

I will pilot the checklist this week and report back on my experience!

I Spoke Too Soon

Right after applauding my resilience on Monday, I came down with a nasty cold. I may have emotionally weathered the weekend with aplomb, but apparently it was a physical bomb. My immune system could not handle all of the stress, I guess.

Needless to say, I made little progress this week on my dissertation. I will just write it off as a loss and begin again in earnest on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

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