“Writing goals” have never worked for how I write. I’ve spent two months reading and reading and thinking through my next dissertation chapter without writing at all.

Then, in the shower today my opening/argument hit me. I got out of the shower and wrote six pages in 40 minutes.

My point is that there are methods for getting work done that may work for you but not others. Conversely, there are methods that might work for other people but not for you. And that’s ok! Stick to what makes you feel empowered and encourage others to seek their empowerment.

I wrote the first chapter of my dissertation in 4 days. I worked from 6am to 12pm every day for four days and knocked out a polished 60 pages. But I was sitting with the material and deeply working through it for 3 months. Writing everyday would have hindered *my* process.

That said, I have plenty of colleagues who have to write every day and keep that flow. And that’s how they do the brilliant, masterful work they do. You got to do what works for you. No process is superior to another, they are just different.

Relatedly: I think programs that encourage PhD candidates to cross the finish line should set up their programs with options for accountability that fit the learning style of the scholar as opposed to imposing word/page count minimums every few days the scholar has to adhere to.

There are many programs for PhD candidates that define accountability exclusively as scholars writing x-amount of pages every y-amount of days. While this might look good for grants as it yields a quantifiable statistic, it doesn’t help every/might even hinder some scholar(s).