How Trying to Be the Perfect PhD Student Made Me Fail

Break The Proposal Trap Workshop: https://qualscholars.kit.com/a846c7f948 Your dissertation writing plan looks great on Sunday. By Wednesday, life has happened, you’re behind, and you’re wondering if you have what it takes to finish. I know that feeling. During my first semester in a PhD program, I tried to become the perfect doctoral student overnight. By Thanksgiving, I was burned out. By winter break, I was on academic probation. The next semester, I earned a 4.0. What changed was the support I built around the work. In this episode, I share the small changes that helped me show up consistently and how you can use them to build a dissertation writing routine that works with your actual life. We’ll talk about the difference between giving yourself rules and making those rules easier to follow, why doing the bare minimum can help you rebuild trust in yourself, and a seven-day writing challenge you can start today: one “shitty paragraph” a day. Trying the paragraph challenge? Come tell me on YouTube where you’ll write your four sentences each day.