A Day in the Life of a Dissertation Coach
Are you curious about what a typical day is like for a dissertation coach? Well, first let me say that no day is typical. Here is a glimpse into what my (Jessica Parker’s) day was like on Tuesday, February 26th.
5:40 AM: Sunny
Meet Sunny — my incredibly furry, ridiculously playful goldendoodle. With all that fur, it may be hard to tell that Sunny is lovingly staring at me, but that is exactly what’s happening. In fact, it’s hard to understand most of Sunny’s expressions because of that unruly mane. But that mane is part of Sunny’s charm. So is his disposition, which more than matches his moniker. Sunny is my constant companion throughout the day. His very existence helps me be a better human, business owner, and coach. Today, like always, he greets me with unwavering affection.
5:50 AM: To Run or Not to Run
I’m awake this early because it’s a run day, and the day is packed with clients. If I am going to exercise, it’s gotta be now. I love to run, but even though I’ve worked out in the morning for as long as I can remember, that doesn’t mean I don’t try to think of excuses when I first wake up. Today is no different. I can feel an excuse deluge coming on. There’s a slight chance of rain. What if it rains, and I get my hair wet? I know I don’t have time for a full wash and blow dry before my first client meeting. What I want to do: cuddle up with Sunny and go right back to sleep. What I actually do: push aside my covers and go for a run with my neighbor. As it turns out, it’s a glorious morning; it doesn’t rain, and I didn’t have to worry about washing my hair (shout out to rain-free runs, dry shampoo, adulting, and the love of one loyal dog).
7:00 AM: Let the Coaching Begin
7:00 AM? Did I really just say that I coach my first client at 7:00 AM? Absolutely. One thing I love about remote coaching is that I can meet with clients from all over the world. Today’s first session is with Sonya who lives in South Korea. While I am still beginning my day, Sonya is rounding hers out with targeted coaching. Today’s topic? One of my favorites — the literature review. Sonya and I have been meeting once a week for four months, but I still spent about 15 minutes preparing and reviewing my notes from our last session. Sonya hired a dissertation coach because she needed someone to hold her accountable to her writing goals. She treats our weekly meetings as writing deadlines, and her goal is to send me a new draft to review each week. And you know what? It’s working! She has made amazing progress and is almost done with her proposal.
8:00 AM: Enter the Breakfast Bar
I’m in the groove, and I don’t have a lot of time to stop and cook breakfast. Sunny doesn’t seem up for cooking (not one of his many talents), so today my food of choice is a protein bar. This go-to choice might be shifting though because I am currently embarking on a new food romance. Move over protein bar; I’m falling hard for Trader Joe’s Gluten Free PB & J Bars. Actually, that’s not true. I have already fallen for them. I’m just figuring out a way to let the protein bars down easy, so this morning, I multitask, protein bar in one hand and laptop open. I toggle between answering emails and taking in the news via the Skimm.
9:30 AM: What’s a Zoho?
When I say Zoho, you might think I’ve unearthed some long-lost, half-finished Dr. Seuss book. If only — “There’s a Zoho on my . . .”
Okay, I am digressing. Zoho is my customer-relationship management software. I love it. I depend on it . . . and I am not naturally good at navigating it (or any tech, for that matter), so I need all the help I can get. To get myself up to speed, today I take a three hour class about how to use Zoho. I already use Zoho to manage my growing client base. It has something like 347 bells and whistles (yes, people. 347!) and before today, I only knew how to use about 5% of them.
#Lifelonglearning, ya’ll.
1:00 PM: Entrepreneur, Dissertation Coach, and Dog Walker
Sunny has many virtues. Patience, however, isn’t his strong suit. When I get back from the training, Sunny is no longer gazing at me lovingly. He is giving me his “I’m ready for a walk” eyes. Well, he would be giving me those eyes, but yeah, fur. I, on the other hand, am ready for lunch. After I make quick work of some leftovers, we head out. There’s just one problem. Remember that slight chance of rain? It came to fruition on our walk. What I failed to mention earlier is that it’s been raining for about a week in Raleigh. Sunny and I are both over it. We trudge around into the mud looking for places for Sunny to do his business.
2:00 PM: Coaching Session 2: Checklist Love
My second coaching session of the day is with a Boston client who is in the process of revising her methods chapter. Today we talked about her sampling methods and worked through a checklist that I developed for an interpretative phenomenological analysis study. Here’s where I need to tell you something very important about me. I love checklists. Checklists provide clarity. Checklists outline the features of the writing we are creating. Checklists help us track progress. Checklists are the wings upon which democracy soars. Well, okay, maybe not. But see why they make me happy?
2:30 PM: Zara’s Takes All
Well, in case you want to know more, here’s what led to this picture. This picture was going to be a lovely snapshot of me at my desk preparing my agenda for our weekly Dissertation by Design team meeting. That’s what my calendar said I should be doing. That’s actually what I wanted to be doing until my doorbell rang and I saw my Zara’s package. I’m a HUGE fan of Zara. Not to go all product placement on you, but for real, their stuff is inexpensive; they have lots of monochromatic items that are timeless and fit me well. I don’t normally order shoes from there because I am not a fan of cheap shoes, but these $30 snakeskin print sneakers needed to be bought. Yes. Needed. I stand by that proclamation. I use a standing desk, so I need to wear comfortable shoes while I work. These shoes are comfy and cute, so sorry, agenda. You have to wait. What do we think, folks? Order another pair in a different design?
3:00 PM: Enter the Rapid Fire Back Half of the Day
Sunny and I walk again, and I try out my new shoes. Bad move, Jessica. It’s still raining. I have no time to think about it though because I am talking to my editor. She has two dissertations due back at the end of the week and needs to talk through a few questions.
3:30 PM: I Don’t Have Time to Caption These Headings Anymore
I take another call, this one from a nursing student. In addition to running Dissertation by Design, I teach an online research course to about 60 nursing students. My week is peppered with several conferences with these students. Today, I am going over exam scores, helping my student understand her grade.
4:30 PM: This day is heating up. So much for the detailed descriptions! Hop on because it’s not going to slow down until my head hits the pillow tonight. At 4:30 PM, I coach a Florida client. This is a really important coaching session. We’ve been working on his proposal for three months, and he is submitting his Chapter 3 to his committee this week.
5:00 PM: A coach and I discuss a client that she is meeting with this evening. We talk about her client’s unique topic and how to best position her for recruiting her target sample.
6:00 PM: It’s my final coaching session of the day with a client in Texas who I’ve been working with for five months.
6:30 PM. Breathing Room and Return of the Heading
My coaching is done for the day, so I whip up some dinner and watch World News Tonight with David Muir. I honestly don’t like to watch the news, but I love me some David Muir. If we have to watch terrible news, can we all just agree to let David Muir be the bearer? Somehow I feel like this would help the world be a better place.
7:00 PM: Remember that team meeting agenda from earlier? Me neither. Oh, wait, yes I do. My Zara hunger has been temporarily sated, and it’s finally time to pull that agenda together. I now have four coaches and two editors, so an agenda is a must. This week I want my team to brainstorm ideas for a summer writing retreat. I’m excited about this meeting! Yes, I get excited about team meetings. I also get excited about making agendas for team meetings. Agendas are checklist-adjacent documents, and I’ve already shared how I feel about checklists. Need I say more?
9:00 PM: Book Love, Bedtime Meditation, and Rest
I’ve been up since 5:40 AM, and it’s time to wind down, so after a final stroll with Sunny, I head to bed with this little gem.
This is my book club read, and I devour it for precisely 4 minutes and 53 seconds every night — at which point my eyelids droop, and I begin to disappear . . . into dreamland that is. When this happens, I know it’s time to call it a night, so I turn on my Insight Timer app and meditate my way to sleep. I’ve been listening to the same meditation for 239 days. It is called “The Dream for Sleep” and it is 25 minutes long. Little tidbit about this mediation: the first 15 minutes are pure bliss. And the last 10? I can’t tell you about the last 10 because I have never, ever, not even once made it past minute 15 of that meditation. If you want to know about that last 15 minutes, you’ll have to ask Sunny.