Making Progress

My recommitment to the dissertation progress is going well this week. As planned I got up at 4:00 am and wrote for an hour. It really feels good starting the day having finished an hour's work on my dissertation. It's very motivating for coming back to spend an hour in the evening.

So this morning, I finished the section on Aum Shinkiyo. I've included it below for those who are interested. This evening, I began working on a definition of religious apocalypticism. I'll be sharing segments of that work as it comes together.

So, tomorrow my goal is another two hours of work, one in the morning and one in the evening. I will continue to build the definition of religious apocalypticism.

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Aum Shinkiyo and its leader, Shoko Asahara, gained the attention of the world in March 1995 when they released sarin gas into several Tokyo subway trains. According to Lifton (2003) Aum Shinrkiyo was a relatively small cultic group that acting upon its “vision of cosmic purification” (p. 57). The attack was not “apocalyptic” in its scope, killing only 12 persons. This limited loss of life occurred because Aum Shinkiyo knew Japanese authorities were closing in on the group, which caused the rushed execution of the attack. “The group’s plan had been to release enormous amounts of sarin later that year in order to create a major disaster and set in motion a series of catastrophic events and so fulfill its guru’s world-ending prophecies” (pp. 57, 58).

The cult was an eclectic mix of religious belief and practice. Its religious roots were Buddhist, but heavily influence by strains of early Tibetan Buddhism closely tied to Hinduism. In fact, Asahara, claimed Shiva, the Hindu world-destroying and restoring Hindu deity, as his personal god. Nevertheless, Asahara grounded his apocalyptic vision in the Christian concept of Armageddon. In addition, the group practiced high states of mystical experience often associated with New Age spirituality (pp 65, 66). Aum Shinkiyo’s aim was to be the sole survivors of an apocalyptic end of the world, who would “respiritualize a cleansed and vacant world” (p. 71).

Reference

Lifton, R. J. (2003). Superpower syndrome : America's apocalyptic confrontation with the world. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press/Nation Books.

On Target with WR Time Tracker

I accomplished my writing goals for today. I was able to put in 5 hours of work on my dissertation. This allowed me to write about 4 pages of material, which is the most progress that I've made in several weeks.

I used WR Time Tracker, a free web-based project management application, to keep track of my progress through the day. You can have as many activities pertaining to your dissertation as you like and keep track of how much time you spend on those activities. A very nice feature is that it gives you a pie chart so you have a visual representation of how much time you spend on each activity (see screen shot to the left).

In addition, I detailed a proposed outline for finishing this section of my literature review. Here it is:

(1) Fukuyama review
(2) Define apocalypticism (2 branches)
(3) Pervasiveness of both branches
(4) Apocalyptic terror brings these branches together (first time in modern history to face this kind of threat - Kurth)
(5) Summary of sub-section
(6) Summary of section

Actually, I finished the Fukuyama review today. May goals for tomorrow are:

1) on hour of writing before work tomorrow. This means I'm up at 4:00 am.
2) in that our I will define the two branches of apocalypticism
3) tomorrow evening, I will spend on hour revising and planning my writing for the following day.

Perceptions of Apocalypticism in Contemporary Culture

This third sub-section of the first major topic in my literature review. It defines the concept of apocalypticism in contemporary culture through an exploration of the scholarly study of apocalypticism. It is this stream of scholarship that identifies (a) the historical and geo-cultural scope of apocalypticism and (b) the evidences of apocalypticism in contemporary culture. This section concludes with a discussion of the implications of apocalypticism in contemporary culture.

The following paragraph is the last paragraph I wrote in this section.

The American Interest magazine in 2006 assembled a diverse group of analysts, practitioners, policymakers and unconventional thinkers to consider why the future is so difficult to predict and how societies and governments might avoid the surprise of low probably, yet high impact events. One of the products of the conference is a collection of essays and discussions titled Blindside: How to Anticipate Forcing Events and Wild cards in Global Politics (Fukuyama, 2007).

The following comments state what I plan to work on tomorrow. I plan to spend at least 5 hrs on my dissertation tomorrow.

Here I want to talk about catastrophe and suffering and apocalypticsm found in Posner’s essay and then the possibility of moving toward uptopia in Easterbrook’s comments. This source is found in Ebrary.

I need another non-religious book here. There should be some discussion of the co-existence of the secular and religious apocalypticism. See quotes from Blumenberg in Apocalyptic Time and Peter Berger article in the online version of the American Interest. The books on political and religious terrorism also illustrate this. Then I can offer a working definition. Then proceed to a discussion of the pervasiveness of apocalypticism in contemporary culture.

Tune in tomorrow to for a report on what actually happened

If You Keep Doing What You've Been Doing, You'll Keep Getting what You've Been Getting

It's been a long time since I made a post to this blog. That's because I've really been struggling with this dissertation. Even though I've been making steady progress, it has been extremely slow progress. So slow in fact, that it appears almost impossible that I will reach my goal of graduating in May.

In coaching teams, I have often use the phrase that titles this blog entry: If you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting. It is truly insane to think that if you are not happy with the results you are getting in a certain project that you can get different results by continuing to do what you've been doing - or worse yet - by doing more of what you've been doing!

So, over the course of the past month I've been trying to change the way I do things in regard to this dissertation project. So, what did I change?

Well, I know that my mind is quicker and fresher in the morning, but I've been working on my dissertation in the evenings after work when I'm already spent. So, I changed the time I work on my dissertation. I get up two hours earlier in the morning and work on my dissertation before I go to work. The advantage is that by time I go to work, I know I've already made progress on the dissertation and that feels very good! I also go to bed two hours earlier in the evening.

However, it has not been enough. Even though, I was putting the time in first thing in the morning, which for me was a major step in the right direction - progress was still slow. Thankfully, yesterday I read one of the RSS feeds on this blog, What to do if you are not making the progress that you want. This article talks about setting reasonable goals and rewarding yourself for making those goals.

So, yesterday, I set the goal of writing at least 200 words daily - 6 days a week. This may not sound like much but the cumulative effect is astounding. If you calculate that 200 words is about 1 double spaced page of typed text then in about 6 months you have a 200 page dissertation, which is about the page range I expect for my work. Of course, this assumes everything you write is usable, which I am not naive enough to think that! However, if you look at it over the course of a year, writing 200 words 6 days a week, would give you double the amount of material you need for a 200 page dissertation. So, in that scenario you only need a 50% usability rate!

I tried it yesterday, and I felt like a made more progress in that one day, than I had in the past week. Of course, I wrote more than 200 words. However, I rewarded myself after the 200 the first two hundred words with a break to play my baroque recorder. After the second set of 200, I rewarded myself by doing some personal internet browsing.

I just finished my first 200 words for today, and my reward is spending some time posting to this blog - which I wanted to do for some time, but felt guilty for taking the time away from the dissertation that I was not making much progress on.

Feel like your not making progress? Read some of the RSS feeds on this page for some ideas on things you can change about how you are approaching the process. Ask yourself what can I change today? Then just do it - and keep changing as often as necessary!

Gearing up to write . . . again!

It has been awhile since I've done some serious work on my dissertation. The holiday's came and then I had an illness. All of this taken together through off most of what I had hoped to accomplish during the holidays. So, there is nothing left to do but regroup.

Once again MindManager had been a useful tool. I had to devise a plan for finishing my literature review. It was as simple as adding due dates to the branches of my literature outline map. Here's the map with the plan.

Patience Required

I was on a roll. Last week I finally finished reading Ricoeur's Interpretation Theory. Over the weekend, I wrote about 8 pages on the philosophical basis of my methodological approach. Then I hit a road block. I realized that before I could continue further, I had to have a good understanding of the first three chapters of Ricoeur's Time and Narrative (Vol. 1).

This was discouraging, I thought I had enough conceptual knowledge to complete the methodology section of the introduction. However, when it came down to it I needed a bridge between Ricoeur's theory of interpretation and my application of it to John's Apocalypse. That bridge is in Ricoeur's understanding of mimesis as the mediator between time and narrative.

So, I have spent the last three evening working through one and a half chapters. Patience. I have to remember that "reading is writing" in the sense that it is what I read that produces what I write. Perhaps the drive to keep getting words to page is a good thing. I hope it makes me read faster . . . it certainly makes me want to read faster!

The first chapter of Time and Narrative (Vol. 1) explores St. Augustine's concept of time from his Confessions (Book XI). I have found it intriguing how St. Augustine combines intellectual inquiry with communion with God. Indeed, his learning is expressed in a conversational (prayerful) interaction with God. Here's an example:

I would hear and understand, how “In the Beginning Thou madest the heaven and earth.” Moses wrote this, wrote and departed, passed hence from Thee to Thee; nor is he now before me. For if he were, I would hold him and ask him, and beseech him by Thee to open these things unto me, and would lay the ears of my body to the sounds bursting out of his mouth. And should he speak Hebrew, in vain will it strike on my senses, nor would aught of it touch my mind; but if Latin, I should know what he said. But whence should I know, whether he spake truth? Yea, and if I knew this also, should I know it from him? Truly within me, within, in the chamber of my thoughts, Truth, neither Hebrew, nor Greek, nor Latin, nor barbarian, without organs of voice or tongue, or sound of syllables, would say, “It is truth,” and I forthwith should say confidently to that man of Thine, “thou sayest truly.” Whereas then I cannot enquire of him, Thee, Thee I beseech, O Truth, full of Whom he spake truth, Thee, my God, I beseech, forgive my sins; and Thou, who gavest him Thy servant to speak these things, give to me also to understand them. (Book XI, Chapter III)

As a matter of a spiritual experiment, I want to try applying this approach in my own intellectual inquiry concerning this dissertation.

Catching Up

Well, I am supposed to be posting something on a daily basis to help me verify my progress to myself. As you can see, it has been several weeks since my last post. Thankfully, that does not mean that I have not been working on my dissertation! It does mean that I've been very busy doing my dissertation and other things.

Two weeks ago, I traveled to Vancouver to present a paper at the International Leadership Association's annual conference. I was able to meet with my dissertation chair at the conference. Since I am doing my dissertation away from campus, it was a delight to have the opportunity to speak with him face to face. He was encouraging and I needed some encouragement at this stage in the process! Looks like I'm still on target for a May graduation!

Writing the introduction has been painfully slow. I have had to spend a great deal of time learning Ricoeur's interpretation theory before I could write about it. I am happy to say that I've gotten about 15 pages done on the methodology section of the introduction. I am beginning to see light at the end of the introduction tunnel!

So, what have I learned in the past few weeks about the dissertation process?

1. Keep plugging away at it - a paragraph here and there eventually turns into a page, a page here and there eventually becomes a section, a section here and there eventually becomes a chapter.
2. Maintaining other academic projects in addition to the dissertation provides for variety and increases your doctoral skills. The paper I presented at the ILA conference was totally different research from my dissertation topic. I also have another research project going that will hopefully lead to a conference presentation at an international conference in July. It is good to note these are not projects that I started during my dissertation, but research that began (in both cases) about two years prior to beginning my dissertation.
   
3. Take advantages of opportunities to meet with your dissertation chair face to face. Although, we have been communicating via phone and email during the writing process, it was really good to have the face to face time.
   

What to do when it all falls apart?

Well, the past two weeks have been almost a complete loss as far as my dissertation progress is concerned. Work has been overwhelming. The time I would have spend working on my dissertation in the evenings and on the weekends has been devoted to meeting deadlines for work.

Consequently, I am very off target on all of my self-imposed deadlines for my dissertation. So what to do?

1) Remember to trust the process. Their are forces at work that I cannot see. Personally, I believe the hand of God is directing my path. So, I need to have faith that what seem to be diversions "from the straight and narrow path" are, in fact, God's way of taking me on a better route.
2) Get back in the saddle and keep doing the right things. Today, I spent all day reading.
3) Remember that reading is writing. One cannot write until one reads and reflects. It is difficult because I want to see text flowing on my computer screen. However, the reading and reflecting that I am doing will eventually give way to the flow.

Some progress - gone for the weekend

I got some work done on the purpose statement tonight. However, I spent most of the evening getting ready to go camping with my sons Stephen and Mark over the weekend. Tomorrow morning, I plan to do some work on the research question before I leave with the boys after lunch.

Plan for today

Just to keep me on track, I want to state my plan for today. This evening I plan to work on the subsections of the Research problem: (1) the purpose of the study and (2) the research question.

60 days to write my Proposal

I have revised my timeline. I want to defend my proposal in October. So, I want to submit it by October 1. That gives me exactly 60 days. Three chapters in 60 days! That's 20 days a chapter. So here are my targets:

• Chapter 1: Aug 22
• Chapter 2: Sep 11
• Chapter 3: Oct 1

I expect each chapter to average 40 pages that equals 120 pages. So, I need to write 2 pages of usable material a day. So, I am going to set myself a goal of writing 4 pages a day, with the expectation that 2 pages of that content will be usable somewhere in the work.

Goals for Tomorrw - and beyond

OK this is my last post for today. Bloker says you should have reasonable daily goals. What's my goal for tomorrow. Factor: Stephen and Ruth are coming home, and we have Mark's birthday party so, time will be really limited. Also, I have to get to work tomorrow before 7:30.

So, I can stop working at 4:00 on BL stuff and work on my dissertation stuff at least until 5:00

So tomorrow I will:
a) manually revise my timeline
b) read Continental Philosophy (Critchely, 2001) and make some notes.
c) make a post on my progress

Beyond:
download MS Project on my home computer
make changes to my timeline
get more literature on organizational meaning and leadership meaning