Funny Hats and Dissertations

October 6th is National Mad Hatter Day. What better way for a dissertation student to celebrate than to get ready to be fitted for your own funny hat?…

One the great rites of passage for students at all levels is commencement. Pomp & Circumstance, hopeful speeches, and… of course, the silly hats.

My favorite picture in my office is of me and my son at my Ph.D. commencement. He was 8 months old at the time. The ceremony was just over; we were at the reception. I was wearing my doctoral hood and gown, holding him. He was wearing my doctoral tam!

It’s a really cute picture. But, that’s not why it’s my favorite. I have much cuter pictures of my kids — like all the ones I’m not in. 🙂 It’s my favorite because it symbolizes so much about my doctoral experience, before and after graduation.

My son was my motivation for getting my dissertation done. My wife and I experienced several false starts when we decided to have children. I like to say that my son was born five years overdue! As I was finishing my doctoral coursework we discovered that we were pregnant…again. But, this time as the weeks went by, nothing happened, that is to say nothing went wrong. Mom and baby both grew, and one day it hit me that my life was about to change big time!

His rapidly approaching arrival became a deadline of sorts for my dissertation. He inspired me to focus more, to work harder, to dig deeper. Less than four months later I defended my dissertation.

But that picture represents even more. My commencement was four months later, when my son was nearly eight months old. My wife, brother, and I drove nearly a thousand miles across the country with my new son to attend commencement.

Of course, commencement was a special occasion, but my new doctoral degree gave me the freedom to do things like this with my family whenever we chose. I had begun teaching online, and I had the flexibility to work whenever I wanted, morning, noon, or night.

Teaching eventually led to me creating Dissertation Done and helping the most inspired doctoral students on the planet to get their dissertations done.

When you picture your own commencement, your own silly-hat moment, what does it look like? How will it change your life? What will you do?

Keep that picture in your mind as to struggle through the dissertation process. That great day should steel your resolve. And, your vision for your life after graduation should motivate you to keep working each and every day.

Of course, motivation alone won’t get you there, but it’s a good start!