- Hey, it's Dr. Guy, author
of The Dissertation Warrior,
and founder of The Dissertation
Mentor Accelerator Program.
And I'm just so excited
to be here with you
on a Saturday morning, taking,
well, I guess afternoon,
taking your questions live.
You know, a lot is happening
in the world right now
and I just simply want to be
a voice of reason and sanity in your life,
a voice of calm to say
that really right now,
above all things, I want you to understand
the unprecedented
opportunity that you have
to use this season as a
place of bolstered work
for your dissertation, your thesis,
your working in your doctoral program,
and hopefully, making gains
that are gonna help you finish
your doctoral work, and most specifically,
finish your doctoral
dissertation and your research.
If you're at home right now,
if you are someone that is
gonna be working remotely,
you above all people,
I mean, are gonna have a huge opportunity
to make massive progress
in your dissertation work
because all those times that are spent
typically with people
popping into your office,
you having to go to meetings
that traditionally could run longer,
all that time you spend on the road,
those are moments that
you're gonna get to reclaim
and use for your doctoral
dissertation work.
So I want to be the voice
that points that out,
and says that there is an
opportunity for you here
that I hope that you'll take advantage of.
So a lot of people are reaching out to me
especially in the last week,
and they're asking what can I do right now
to take advantage of this time,
this time that is filled
with a lot of uncertainty?
And for myself, when I feel uncertainty,
I ask myself why is the mission
that I'm working towards?
And my hope is that you'll join me
in having a mission focus
over the coming weeks ahead
in getting your doctoral work done.
So what is a mission focus look like?
Well, a mission focus is where you say
above all things, there
are certain actions
that I must take to be
a dissertation writer.
There are certain actions that I must take
to be a researcher in one's doctoral work
that's looking to finish.
And so there are a few things
I'm hoping you're doing every day.
Number one, I hope that every single day
you're saying how can I
make some time for reading
that will allow me to read
about half of an article
or entire article a day?
Can I read just one article a day?
And as I'm reading, can I put
annotations in the margins?
If you're a user of paper.
How can I take notes
about this important piece
of work that I'm reading?
And most specifically, are
there any quotes in this work
that are something that I can take,
and use in my future dissertation?
And setting those aside.
So that's number one,
is that you're making time for reading.
Number two, what I want you to remember
is that pages written is not progress.
Pages are not progress.
Pages that are written
that are halfway done
that are not up to snuff,
don't do you much good.
So instead, my hope is that
you're taking the notes
that are required, and
you're organizing the quotes
and the notes that you're
gathering from your reading
and that you're putting
them together in such a way
that you can start seeing the
patterns that are emerging
in your reading that you're doing.
And that's, I think, number three.
The number three things that you can do
and this is the lowest energy thing.
A lot of people right now are
experiencing lots of anxiety,
and so a question is what can I do
that potentially when
I'm having a hard time,
that I'm just sitting there
maybe drinking a glass of tea
or a glass of wine, I should say,
what can I do if I'm not really able
to fully read an article during the day?
Well, one thing that you can absolutely do
is go log into ProQuest,
go log into EBSCOhost, go log into Ethos,
and just download articles,
get some articles downloaded,
and set yourself up for
success in the coming days.
So those are three things
that I hope you will do
in the coming weeks as you
find yourself perhaps at home
or you and your business,
perhaps, are experiencing a lull,
and I think that if you
keep this mission focus,
keep the idea that regardless
of what's happening in the world,
you still have a mission to fulfill,
and that mission is to
finish this dissertation.
No matter what is happening
outside right now,
remember that you already
have something that's taking up your time,
and that's the finish this work.
If you're in data collection
and you're moving on into the final weeks,
hopefully, in the final weeks
of your dissertation journey,
you above all people, I want you to know
that your aim is to get
your data collected,
get everything into your hands,
so that way you can move on
and get done with this show.
The number one thing that I've learned
in working with thousands
and thousands of dissertation writers
is you cannot walk into a new era of life
while you're chained to the old one.
And for those of you
that are not yet finished
with this journey, you are still
chained to this era of life
where you're working on this dissertation.
If you want to move on,
you're gonna have to finish
this thing, and finish well.
So why not take this opportunity
as a chance for you to get more work done
than ever before?
I want you to know that
I am here to assist you,
gosh, for the many of
you, nearly thousands,
not quite, but nearly thousands of people
that have reached out to me
over the course of the last week or so,
I want you to know that
this is the time to focus,
and I want you to continue
to reach out to me
and tell me how I can support you.
If there is a challenge that you're facing
that you cannot face alone,
I want you to know that I'm here to help.
If you have a question
about your dissertation,
if you have a question about your thesis,
if there's a section that is
just really racking your mind,
if there's a request from
your advisor or chair
with which I can help, reach out.
I will help you in the best
way that I possibly can.
For those who that want to jump in with me
into my Dissertation
Mentor Accelerator Program,
come on in, we're ready for you.
Things happening in this
program are changing lives.
And on top of that too,
for those of you that are
working with me one to one,
or want to work with me one to one,
there's that opportunity
right now in this season.
I am opening up more sessions
for candidates than I've ever done before
to meet your needs during
this time of massive progress
that so many of you are gonna manifest
over the coming weeks.
So my advice to you, number one,
is I want you to go down
to the comments down here
and I want you to ask me a question,
ask me about something,
tell me about something
that I can serve you in
over the course of the next week or so,
Number two, I want you to know
that if you have a friend,
or colleague, a peer that is struggling
in their dissertation,
I want you to join them and join me
in making progress like
you've never made before.
And number three, what
I want you to remember
above all things, is that
when times get tough,
when your eyes are on the mission,
you are gonna feel like
you have a purpose.
So when you feel like oh, man,
what's happening right now?
What am I gonna do right now?
I want you to remember that mission
to which you are already called.
You are called to a mission
to finish this dissertation.
So I want you to go and finish this thing,
and I want you to help me
be a part of that process.
Team, leave me a question, let
me know how I can help you.
Have a great night.
