April 7, 2013
It really is hard to believe that it is one year since registering at Surrey. It went by quickly and I have achieved less than I had anticipated. However, when I consider that I took on a full-time job in July last year it is probably no surprise that I slowed down on the PhD project. Today my achievement is a draft chapter one which I know will change 100%. Effectively this puts me exactly where I started a year ago… but…
It was very much a year of discovery. From knowing nothing about motivation, to knowing a lot more than the average human should. I have read (or looked at) every book on the subject and am slowly working my way through key journal articles. My aims and methodology are not clear but as I read more and more I am becoming familiar with what needs to be tested – and more importantly how to test it. I have also begun to understand the academic world and the process of research at a whole new level. I am asking and enquiring as I read and critique. This is the part that I enjoy most: learning to have an opinion.
In short, I have nothing tangible to show for my first year – but I am supposed to hand in a draft of my literature review by the end of April. If I do that, I would be very happy and with it I will be able to stay at my job and switch my PhD to a more realistic part-time programme. The next meeting with my supervisors will be in May. Until then I need to spend all the hours God gives me to finish my literature review.
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March 24, 2013
It was a busy start to the week with preparations for a meeting and a whole day with clients in Reading. The last few days have been wonderful. The first time I really knew what I was doing with my writing and I was able to make a good start on the structure of my chapter as well as the headings. Now it’s about filling in the right theories and presenting the relevant studies within the right headings. Relatively simple but very time-consuming.
It has been great to be back at Imperial. The library is well stocked with good internet coverage and comfortable working areas. It’s also not very far by underground from where I live – which is a great bonus. It’s going well. I know I have a few business trips and engagements when I return. I will take a week off in April to catch up with my family (I have seen very little of them) during the day and with my writing in the evenings. It’s probably the only empty slot I have left until the end of April when my literature review is due.
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March 14, 2013
From good to bad this week – but nothing unplanned. A business trip, followed by a week’s training (with evening group work) left zero time for PhD. Next week is another work trip – this time to London. I will take a few days after including a weekend to get some serious work done. I managed to get access (24 hours) to the library at my old university. I should be able to spend some quality catch-up time if I stay behind after the meetings.
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February 28, 2013
The more I get involved in this project, the more I realise that an hour here and an hour there (even if they add up to half a day) are not the same as a good chunk of time taken together. I took the opportunity of national day holidays to go to London and be alone with my research. I managed to do a lot of reading before meeting my supervisors.
My review was a little more positive this time, and my next milestone is to hand in a draft literature review about motivation by the end of April. ’It’s about 500 words a day’ said my first supervisor. Easier said than done with work and travel. It also looks like I will be switching to part time in April. We will make the final call then if I’m still working.
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January 15, 2013
The couple of weeks before Christmas, then my kids were home for the holidays, followed by a very tough period at work where three major projects have come alive together, have made the end of 2012 a very challenging time. Just when I was connecting the dots and putting in place a map to build my knowledge onto, I am physically and mentally too busy to read. The first two weeks of January have not been any better – in fact they’ve been worse. I’m writing this in Dubai having spent most of the day responding to emails after a long day of presentations in nearby Sharjah. I am drained and am surprised I have the energy to write this post (recovering from a cold too). It must be the guilt of not reading for three weeks – and indeed not having any conference call contact with my supervisors.
I must (and will) take back control very soon. I need to re-start the weekly calls and more importantly go back to my reading (and some writing). I will also book some time away from the office and away from family and friends… a PhD holiday of 100% focus on nothing other than my research… It’s time to sleep at the university library.
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November 24, 2012
Ok so I’m not doing enough reading and my ‘draft’ of me draft literature review was a source of concern. After a tough meeting with my supervisors, and dinner with my second supervisor, we have agreed weekly conference (Skype) calls to ensure I’m reading the right and relevant material – not secondary sources such as text books. I need to do a full upload of everything written about Motivation over the past 60 years. Like keeping fit, or controlling weight, this is simple but not easy.
One thing is certain: I agree 100% that I need to bring my learning and work up a level or two…
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October 11, 2012
Although there were words on paper that described – in detail too - what I wanted to do with my research, I was not quite sure what it actually meant. What did I mean by ’testing a theory’? It took me long enough to grasp the significance of theories and how they draw the pencil lines for management systems that come years (sometimes decades) later. My draft of the Literature Review is forcing me to put down the little I have learned over the past few months into sentences and paragraphs. My supervisors who have left me alone to get on with it thus far explained in our last meeting that my aims would become clearer after I finish the Literature Review. Like many things I am learning in this process, I chose to ignore that and tried many times to adjust my aims to make it into a ‘real doctoral research’. I kept asking them and my wife if there was enough there… Well, today I have finished my Literature Review plan (which is yet to be appropriately filled) and my God it is all making sense. I almost know what I meant when I wrote my proposal over a year ago. It should not be a celebration – but it sure feels like one.
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