Links for the Organized, Balanced Academic

• A cool interactive mission statement tool from Franklin Covey 
• Another mission statement article with good information, despite the annoying ads
• Vision Statement Basics from About.com
• Free, downloadable, planner pages from Franklin Covey
• Free Calendars: www.printfree.com 

There are many “how to get it done” books out there.  Several are very good.  I particularly recommend: 

• Bolker (1998). Writing your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day
• Fiore (2007). The Now Habit: A Strategic program for overcoming procrastination and enjoying guilt-free play
• Darley, Zanna & Roediger (2003). The Compleat Academic: A Career Guide
• Silvia (2007). How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing
• Boice (1990). Professors as Writers: A Self-Help Guide to Productive Writing

Every day new webpages appear about or by dissertators working through the process.  Be mindful that blogs by dissertators can become a distraction and an opportunity to dwell in the bad stuff rather than a motivating force for getting things done.  Here are a few that I recommend:

• How to Be a Good Graduate Student offers helpful ideas particularly useful for pre-dissertation graduate students including how to pick a masters thesis topic and solid ideas for how to become a part of your research community.  
• Academic Ladder offers great material on writing and managing your academic career
• The ABD Survival Guide offers a free web-newsletter with motivating tips and a rotating list of guest authors (mostly dissertation coaches).
• Phinished is a discussion and support group for people working on their dissertation.

There are quite a few web resources on finding balance between graduate school and the rest of your life.

• Sharing Homework Time with Your Kids
• Time Management for Academics
• The Balancing Act
• An Academic Life Out of Sync
• Balancing Your Life: Work, Family, and School
• Words from the Wise: Strategies for Juggling Gradate School and Personal LifeQuick Tips for Work and School
• Balancing It All
  

Information for post-docs is relatively sparse.  I’ve pulled together the best of a limited pool here:

• The Post-Doc’s Plight in Johns Hopkins Magazine (Feb, 1999)
• Post-Doctoral Life at PhD.org - a list of resources
• Get active at the National Postdoctoral Association
• Thinking of yourself as an Intellectual Entrepreneur

Every day new webpages appear about or by dissertators working through the process.  Here are a few that I recommend:

• PhD Comics is indispensable

For more information on dissertation coaching, please contact me today for a free initial assessment.