Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Carrots for writing
I'm listening to a new reissue from the Rudy Van Gelder series at Blue Note. I bought it with another album (reviews forthcoming) this past weekend to reward myself for completing a chapter draft for my dissertation. Sometimes I need carrots (or jazz CDs) to motivate myself to meet self-imposed deadlines.
Part of the reason I do this is because of some sound advice I got from Eviatar Zerubavel's The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations, and Books. Part of the challenge of writing a dissertation, he says, is that it seems like such a monumental and never-ending task. The satisfaction that comes from finishing something seems indefinitely deferred. So he recommends breaking the dissertation down into manageable chunks and celebrating when those smaller chunks are completed:
"Breaking down a single monumental task into a number of smaller and thus considerably less intimidating mini-tasks also enhances your sense of accomplishment. Instead of a single, delayed feeling of accomplishment you may get to experience only once every several months or even years upon completing an entire manuscript, you can have numerous such experiences while you are writing it. ... Such an experience will inevitably boost your confidence and further prevent you from breaking down at some point along the way and abandoning it altogether." (p. 39)
Plus, you have an ironclad excuse for indulging your jazz-buying-habit.
Part of the reason I do this is because of some sound advice I got from Eviatar Zerubavel's The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations, and Books. Part of the challenge of writing a dissertation, he says, is that it seems like such a monumental and never-ending task. The satisfaction that comes from finishing something seems indefinitely deferred. So he recommends breaking the dissertation down into manageable chunks and celebrating when those smaller chunks are completed:
"Breaking down a single monumental task into a number of smaller and thus considerably less intimidating mini-tasks also enhances your sense of accomplishment. Instead of a single, delayed feeling of accomplishment you may get to experience only once every several months or even years upon completing an entire manuscript, you can have numerous such experiences while you are writing it. ... Such an experience will inevitably boost your confidence and further prevent you from breaking down at some point along the way and abandoning it altogether." (p. 39)
Plus, you have an ironclad excuse for indulging your jazz-buying-habit.
Improvised @ 3:02 PM 
