Quote of the Day

'For the first time I realised that there was another option other than feeling like crap about myself [...]. When we dislike a situation we're in, or when we deem ourselves or other people to be wrong, it's nearly impossible to move forward and transform. Beating ourselves up or complaining about something or someone is like digging a hole deeper right under our feet to get us more entrenched in whatever situation, relationship, or personal struggle we're facing. [...] This is true any time we let ourselves stay entrenched in shame, whatever the issue may be. It can be a very paralyzing emotion.'   (Kate Northrupp, Money: A Love Story)


Very true, no?.... This might have been taken straight out of a book on how to do your PhD. In fact, this is from a book on personal finance. I can't help but notice that how you feel about writing a PhD, and how you feel about your financial situations (both things to do with giving and receiving value, and both bound up with feelings of personal worth) are very much linked.

And now I'm off to do some work.

'Stop agonizing over perfection'

Something nice which I came across the other day, and which I've been wanting to share on here: this is a suggestion on how to think about your writing.

"Stop agonizing over perfection. [...] Instead, focus [on] offering value to others. This change of attitude made a huge difference for me and my book. I put a post-it by my laptop as a reminder every day, “How can I be most helpful to my reader?"

I think this might just be the perfect note-to-self for the odd (agonizing, perfectionist) PhD student.

You can find the whole piece here: http://positivewriter.com/a-survivors-guide-to-writing/

Have a great day, everybody!...



CN