Many of my dissertation authoring-clients reach out to me for editing and coaching when they have hit a wall. You might know this wall; I sure do. It’s the “it’s okay now, but it has to be perfect” wall. I understand the sentiment; I have lived under its burden for many years. But the search for perfection–be it in our scholarly life or our personal life–is a search that postpones life and career instead of letting us enjoy them.
What do I mean? Wanting to write the perfect dissertation or the perfect monograph or to find the perfect partner and create a perfect life together or whatever else you find yourself striving to be perfect at–is a mental trap that can harm your projects, your partner, and yourself.
So I talk with my clients about finding the “sweet spot” between obtaining committee approval and being personally happy with the dissertation. I share that this “sweet spot” will likely be fleeting. Even if the committee is happy with the dissertation, that often they, as authors, might start to pick apart the document even before it is submitted. The voice of perfectionism could be “But if I rewrote this one section it would be better” or “I just saw a few new sources that I should probably cite” or a thousand other thoughts. I’ve found that the voice usually gets louder the closer the manuscript is to actually being done.
What I have found, is that perfectionism is my fear speaking, rather than my expertise, creativity, or originality. It could be my fear of what others might think, or the fear of being just categorically wrong about my analysis, or the fear of being embarrassed by not seeing an analytical error that others will see right away. Or…………the list could go on and on.
So I have to fight constantly against perfectionism and have found a few things that can work for me and have worked for my clients:
-Name the fear for what it is. It’s not perfectionism, but the fact that once I tweet out a column, even if I made a colossal error–I can’t get the tweet back. It’s on the Internet, forever. Or it’s that feeling of “what if no one buys the book once it is published?” It’s shame, or worry “about future embarrassment,” and so on. Naming whatever is behind your perfectionism can take away some of its power over you.
-Then I come up with a counterexample. “Even if I made a mistake, it won’t be as bad as….” Fill in the blank of whichever mathematical/scientific/analytical or spelling/grammar error you are aware of!
-Then I try to find one new thought in my manuscript –even if I made a mistake elsewhere, that would be an original contribution. This helps me to realize that not every word has to be “perfect” to still be academically useful.
-If none of those work, I try this: “Really, how many people are going to read this, anyway? Don’t be so full of yourself.” Honesty–brutal honesty–usually helps me to get over the fear and procrastination. It isn’t always easy, but it can work.
-If I have not already sent out the manuscript to a friend or colleague for comment, I might do that now. Even one person’s positive thoughts (who is not my husband/First Reader) can be enough to get me over this perfectionist “hump.” The danger with this tip–at least for me–is I could focus more on negative feedback than any positives they gave.
-Don’t laugh: another trick I try to deal with my procrastination about a manuscript, is to switch to one about which I feel even worse! That way, comparatively, the first one seems better, without even changing a word! Try it–it works! Try to have at least two manuscripts always in process. They could be different chapters of the dissertation or monograph or completely different writing projects.
-Another way that I can break through procrastination and that ‘cutting’ internal voice is to work on references. Pulling out the APA or ASA style manual and being sure that each citation is in the correct style is mind-numbing. But it quiets that inner voice (maybe it gets bored?) and keeps it away for quite a while. And that’s success. I can shift back to writing in a few hours and be creative again.
-I know others who name their inner critic as well as their inner cheerleader and they talk to them, helping them to understand the other “side” of you and your writing and learn how to control or manage each one.
-Journaling can be a similar way to meet your inner critic, take it seriously–to a point–and then to turn down its voice’s volume. If you journal with both your inner critic and inner cheerleader, you might try using two ink colors or font colors if you journal online. Notice which color/voice is getting more of your attention and work to creating more parity between them. Perhaps even in the beginning of a writing project, have much more cheerleader than critic, but as you shift into self-editing or listening to outside reviewers, the critic voice might have some useful ideas. Don’t always assume it’s working against you and your writing project. Sometimes it’s ideas are wonderful–but causing fear of failure.
So if you ever procrastinate, do you know why? Is it fear? If so, of what? How do you manage to work though it and make progress on your work? Let’s share ideas in the comments.
Please visit the Pedagogical Thoughts website to contact me about dissertation editing or faculty editing of manuscripts (final edits or developmental editing of your document) or coaching about writing.
Pedagogical Thoughts 