The Dissertation Diaries

I am writing this from a coffee shop while sipping a latte and eating a delicious breakfast. It is a slow winter morning, the kind that invites thinking instead of rushing. It feels like exactly the right place to reflect on a decision I made for myself this February.

I also want to name something upfront. I did not make New Year’s resolutions this year. I definitely have a word of the year, but I’m not fighting the winter. I’m not wishing time away.

Instead, I am choosing to live in sync with the seasons rather than the calendar year. It is still winter, and I am treating it as such. Winter is not a season for constant output or reinvention. It is a season for reflection, tending, and steady care. That mindset shaped how I am approaching my work and my dissertation right now.

February is usually the month where momentum starts to wobble. The new year energy has faded, the calendar fills up fast, and everything feels just a little louder. This year, instead of pushing harder, I decided to do something quieter and more intentional.

I am taking off every Monday in February.

Not to catch up on errands. Not to get ahead for other people. But to work on myself and my dissertation with focus, care, and space to think.

Mondays as a Set-Up for Success

Mondays shape the entire week. When they are filled with meetings, emails, and urgency, the rest of the week often follows that same pace. By intentionally taking Mondays off, I am setting myself up for success before the week even begins.

Knowing that Mondays are protected time has also made me a better planner. I plan my work differently because I know I will be off. Deadlines are clearer. Tasks are more intentional. I am not falling behind. I am planning ahead.

This time also allows me to enjoy my weekends without filling them with unnecessary work.

Reclaiming Time for Deep Work

These Mondays are for deep, uninterrupted work. Reading, writing, revising, and sitting with ideas long enough for them to sharpen. Dissertation work does not thrive in short gaps squeezed between meetings. It needs sustained attention and mental quiet.

To support that focus, I have taken all social media off my phone. Instead of constant checking, I give myself one designated day to catch up on what I missed. Almost every time, it turns out I have not missed much at all.

The work still gets done. The world keeps moving. My attention feels steadier and more intentional.

Working on Myself Is Not a Detour

This time is not only about pages written. It is also about the person doing the writing.

On these Mondays, I am prioritizing things that make me a better thinker and a steadier human. Movement. Nourishing meals. Reflection. Time offline. Sometimes that looks like a long walk before opening my laptop. Other times it looks like planning, journaling, or simply slowing down enough to notice what I actually need.

Working on myself is not separate from my academic work. It is what makes the work sustainable.

Using the Time I Have Earned

I also want to be clear about this. I am not trying to burn myself out to finish my dissertation. I am also in the midst of a massive project at work to record, produce, and release 250 episodes before July 4, 2026 for America 250. I’m at 150. Adding to this, being a person, a mom, a wife, an auntie, a sister, a daughter, and a friend.

These Mondays are part of my compensation. I am using time I have earned to support myself during an intense season of intellectual and emotional labor. I did the same when I completed my National Board Certification in 2009, and it made a meaningful difference in how I experienced that process.

That experience reinforced something I believe strongly. We do not have to exhaust ourselves to meet our goals. If you set up systems to support the work you want to do, the focus becomes the work instead of everything else.

Choosing Focus Over Hustle

There is a quiet pressure in academic and professional spaces to always be available and always producing. Taking every Monday off in February is my way of stepping out of that cycle.

This is a deliberate experiment in slower, more intentional work. Fewer days of output. More clarity. Less frantic energy. More meaningful progress.

I want to finish this dissertation not just completed, but feeling healthy, present, and proud of how I showed up while writing it.

What I’m Hoping to Carry Forward

I do not know if this becomes a long-term practice. But I do know that protecting time has already changed how I think about my work and my worth. March brings a few trips, so taking time off may actually create more chaos, but perhaps the trips are the point of March.

Progress does not always come from doing more. Sometimes it comes from doing less, better and giving yourself the space to just be.

February is my reminder that winter deserves to be honored and that we do not have to burn ourselves out to build something we care deeply about.

I care deeply about this dissertation and the work that will continue after it for teachers in the civic space. We all deserve the care and time this will take.