At times I find it quite challenging to grasp concepts that are more than 50% abstract. Although I have read and reflected upon the meaning of gratitude quite significantly, sometimes I find myself trying to understand the concept at a more tangible level. I would like to share an analogy that comes to mind based on a bean counter’s approach, and what can be more tangible than a bean counter’s approach?
        As I understand it, the process of showing gratitude forces you at a psychological level to get best prepared for whatever is coming next in your life.  If you are going through a rough patch counting your blessings becomes a process of damage assessment. The thought makes you focus on what material, social, emotional, and spiritual resources you still have at your disposal to get reorganized to overcome your problems. Digging deep and doing a re-inventory of your blessings helps you recollect yourself and gears you with an upbeat spirit. The process may also make you realize how you have under-exploited some of the assets (such as time) in the past, and helps you re-calibrate for a better asset management in future.      

       In the previous article, I mentioned the shared uniqueness among all doctoral students.  I find it quite fascinating to grasp the concept of uniqueness of a doctoral student. At the risk of brushing the fringes of philosophy, I would like to share with you the thought.  According to Population Reference Bureau by the year 2011, about 107.6 billion people had been born in our world. If we subtract from this number the current (2017) world population (i.e., about 7.6 billion), we can say that according to this estimate at least 100 billion people have completed their life cycle on this planet since the beginning of human history. I find it acutely amazing that our perception deems so unique the experience of life that has been already lived by a 100 billion people. The claim made by our perception manifests itself when my teenage kids complain that I can never understand their life; likewise, when the doctoral students protest that mentors fail to understand their viewpoint.         

        If you have ever embarked upon the doctoral journey, whether you completed it, or still midway through; whether you are struggling or have given up, there is one thing unique about you.  At some point in your life, you followed your aspirations to join a group of students who comprise less than 2% of the nation’s student body. The fact that you were blessed with inspirational, intellectual, financial, and emotional resources to experience a doctoral program implores a moment of gratitude.

        ​I believe that every student who qualifies to join a doctoral program has the potential to graduate. The only difference is that some may need more coaching than others.  Failure to finish a doctoral program, as I see it, is not a reflection on a student’s academic capability but rather indicates resistance to transformation on the part of the student.  A daily thought of gratitude appreciating your unique accomplishment for having qualified into the program, and humbly opening your mind to transformational learning can create just the right mindset required to finish the job. For all those who have traveled over the hump and have approved proposals, you are getting ready to join a group of graduates who will comprise less than 0.5 percent of the total college student population this year. A dash of gratefulness can help you keep level headed and focused to cross the finish line.             Those who have already crossed the finishing line and have acquired their terminal degrees, being thankful for having attained this honor can go long way to develop the mindset that would facilitate you to impart your knowledge for the benefit of your communities and workplaces.
        I wish you comprehensive success in your academic pursuit.
Gratefully,
Dr. K.

Notes from a burnt out student!  :)

        A doctoral journey is a systematic process that requires a student to master certain skills through all phases.  For most students, the key to success is to stay realistic, ask questions, and seek help when in doubt.  The difficulty level of a doctoral process can be viewed as a bell curve, where the middle stages (proposal writing, and proposal approval) can be most daunting if not planned out properly. The good news is that since a doctoral process is typically a longitudinal process, spanning between four to eight years, there is always time for a student to take a step back, learn from mistakes, create a new strategy and get things done. 
        An appropriate level of coaching in the early stage of a doctoral program can potentially save a lot of time and money by facilitating the students to focus on developing the required skills and by getting a head start on next steps.  Coaching can also be acquired at any phase of the program to help students keep moving forward through the process.
​        Another good news is that coaching doesn’t have to cost anything if acquired within the student’s institution. A mentor, program chair, cohorts, and senior students can be the best source of coaching available to a doctoral student. In certain rare situations where a student is faced with lack of responsiveness external sources of coaching maybe considered just to put the student back on the fast track.
Hope you find this map helpful
Cheers!
​Dr. K

        The seven points of a doctoral mindset listed in the earlier blog illustrate the basic level of commitment that an aspiring student needs to have in the doctoral process. The basic level of commitment shifts a student’s focus from a viewpoint that is influenced by external elements, such as social image consciousness, to a viewpoint that is influenced by an inner desire for intellectual growth.  Only under this mindset can a student truly begin to stack up to other scholastic traits that transform a student into a scholar.  Some of the key scholastic traits that promote an acute scholastic aptitude are depicted in figure 1.

       Those of us who pay for their doctoral degree out of pocket, or rely on student loans, know that the initial estimate for the cost of the program is typically between $53 K to $115 K over the normal course of the program. The normal course of the program is 5 years on the average (in the United States) where fee schedule varies by the program and the institution. This initial cost estimate typically includes the cost of books, labs, library facilities, and the cost of the fee for the number of courses required to graduate from the program. Embarking on a doctoral journey is a serious undertaking and requires a major financial commitment. All of us have heard horror stories where this undertaking did not go as expected and ended up costing students their health, home, job, and even their marriage. The good news is that if proper assessment and planning are done prior to embarking upon the program most of the risk associated with the program can be mitigated. I would like to share my thoughts on various risk factors over the next few blogs.

Financial Risk Planning
       The first rule of thumb is to realize that your student loan is a loan, and you do end up paying it back with interest. Over the years I have seen way too many students using their student loan as free money. When planning your doctoral journey, it is a clever idea to plan around the financial flow that could successfully get you out of this debt in a reasonably defined time frame. Be realistic! Even if you are promised a job promotion upon completing your doctorate, know that graduating from your program is not always accompanied with a green windfall.
       Those who choose the path of paying out of pocket as they go, have two key advantages over students who rely solely on student loans. First, paying out of pocket every semester painfully keeps you motivated to get the best bang for your buck. Secondly, your financial planning may allow you to pace yourself realistically through the program as guided by other factors in your personal life.
In cases where academically you are going strong, but are running low on personal finances, a mix of pocket funds and student loans can be an effective plan. In this format, you only rely on student loans just to avoid exhausting your pocket without sacrificing the momentum of your academic progress.     

   Performance coaches can’t stress enough on importance of the right mindset required to achieve goals.  So, what should be the mindset for a doctoral student?  This is probably the single most important question that is least frequently asked by doctoral students. I think in one sentence the answer to this question can be best provided by the age old Chinese proverb "You can't fill a cup that's already full". Doctoral journey is typically a very humbling experience, and getting humbled is not necessarily a very pleasant experience.  One has to unlearn much before new learning can begin.  In reality, the pain associated with the process is nothing more than the discomfort a student feels in breaking out of existing personal paradigm and making an effort to see things in a new light.  My quite frustrating journey, almost overnight became enjoyable the day I stopped blaming all external elements and started focusing on self development.  The mindset that worked for me can be summarized through the following seven points:

1. Never second guess your decision to start your doctoral journey
2. All schools, online or traditional, provide a fair opportunity for a self motivated individual to learn.  The system was not made with you in mind therefore the system cannot be unfair specifically to you
3. The entire journey is nothing more than a process with some very specific requirements. You are not in the game to change the requirements; you are in it to fulfill them willingly or otherwise
4. People who have completed their journey have already done what you have not yet achieved. Respect their achievement like you would like others to one day respect yours
5. There are no short cuts through the journey. Be patient, consistent, and persevere
6. Be ready to learn new ways of thinking and try to appreciate them with patience. A doctoral degree is a degree of endurance
7. Expect to grow with the process... emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, and also skill wise. Many students, specially the "good students" find it extremely difficult to let go of their academic behavior from high school and college years that focuses on quickly completing the assignments and maintaining their GPA and approach the doctoral process too mechanically. If the doctoral journey has failed to evolve you as a person, you have missed the essence of the journey somewhere down the path. With all the money, time, and effort invested in the process wouldn't it be wise to walk away with everything the process has to offer?

:)
Hope this helps!
Regards, 
- Dr. K