Where Does Dissertation Motivation Come From?

Motivation to do anything can come from many sources.  To simplify, psychologists have come up with two kinds that I believe speak to what I have been thinking about in terms of where dissertation writing motivation is coming from for me: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation.  Ryan and Deci (2000) define intrinsic motivation as "the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfactions rather than for some separable consequence." They say that an intrinsically motivated person "is moved to act for the fun or challenge entailed rather than because of external prods, pressures, or rewards." Yeah right!  I wish I naturally enjoyed tedious hours of reading and analyzing scholarly articles.  Okay, maybe I do a little once I get started...but getting started is the problem.

Ryan and Deci (2000) then define extrinsic motivation as "a construct that pertains whenever an activity is done in order to attain some separable outcome." I think this one sounds more like me. Here is a link to the article by Ryan and Deci that provides further discussion on the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

To try to sort this out for myself and find out which one pulls at me more, I came up with a list of some of the reasons I want to finish this dissertation to earn the elusive doctorate (these are not in any particular order):

• I want to finish this goal I set for myself
• I want my family to be proud
• I want my name to have the credentials attached
• I want to position myself to advance in my career
• I want to get the respect that having a doctorate gets you, especially with faculty and other academics
• I want to add to the statistics of Latinas with doctoral degrees
• I want to have a voice for all Latinas

What I discovered when reading this list was that a great deal of my own motivation seems to be mostly extrinsic. This means that I need outside motivators to not only keep me focused, but to give me the continual momentum to prioritize sitting down and doing the work even when other demands pull at me.   
After I made the list I realized that I should have added these to this list of reasons, which would tip my motivation to be more intrinsic:

• I want to increase my knowledge about the topic I have selected
• I want my research findings to contribute to the body of knowledge
• I want to feel accomplished that I can conduct sound research 

Adding these and several others with more intrinsic motivational value might propel my actions.  Oh, if only that were true.  Another thing I learned about myself while making these lists and discovering that most of my motivation seems to be extrinsic - outside of myself - is that I need to use this to my advantage.

So what am I doing?  I am feeding my need for extrinsic motivation by creating things around me that constantly remind me about what I need to do.  I made little signs to post around my desk that post my name with the "Ph.D." at the end with 2 questions meant to be asked in the morning when I get up and at night before I go to sleep:  

AM - What am I going to do TODAY to make this happen? 
PM - What did I do TODAY to make this happen?

I always thought posting these kinds of printed affirmations were somewhat corny, but I can't tell you enough how much this visual reminder focuses me and gets me thinking and obsessing about my dissertation (in a good way of course).
  
Another thing I did was start this blog.  Since I first contemplated and wrote the words in my first post, which actually came some time before I officially posted, I have really stayed focused and have made some great strides.  I suddenly put out into the universe publicly that I was on this journey and I invited others to join me.  That meant that I had a responsibility to report back my progress and stay on track.

So here is what I did since I wrote my first post:

1. I rewrote my introduction to be as clear as possible on what my topic is about.
2. I categorized and organized the articles and books for my literature review into themes.
3. I entered tons of references into my RefWorks online bibliography database.
4. I updated my completion timeline to reflect the pace at which I plan on working in order to defend in the spring of 2014 and attend graduation in May 2014 (now the pressure is on!!!)   

I am proud of my progress and will continue to find ways to stay focused and keep my eyes on the "extrinsic" prize.  :)  One great way I want to stay motivated and share the inspiration is to invite some amazing Latinas who have recently (or not so recently) completed doctoral degrees to share their stories.  I will call this the "Galeria de Doctoras Latinas."  That section will be coming soon!

Now feel free to share with us what have you been doing to work on your doctorate and if already finished, please message me on LinkedIn if you want to be featured in the "Galeria." 

Join Me in My Journey to be Doctora

Anyone who has ever been in the process of completing a dissertation knows what a lonely and frustrating process it is. I started this blog to not only share my journey while in the midst of it, but also to create a supportive community of Latinas who are in the same struggle.  

There are other websites that provide support and resources to doctoral students, but I believe Latinas have a unique set of circumstances that cause an extra layer of doubt and what many studies have uncovered as the “imposter syndrome.”  I hope to list those resources and share them anyway because they do have lots of valuable information about the process, the mindset and the tools needed to get through to completion.  Whether we have always been encouraged to pursue advanced degrees…or not, we still might share some common feelings of inadequacy, low expectations from society as a whole and lack of self confidence.  I am finally willing to share some of these publicly – actually, some of the public sharing began thanks to Dr. Angelica Perez-Litwin, founder of both the www.newlatina.net website and the Ella Leadership Institute, when I wrote a hopeful reflection piece for the website a few months ago.  Here is the link in case you’re curious:  http://newlatina.net/entitlement-is-not-a-dirty-word-a-reflection-on-the-pursuit-of-a-life-well-earned/

Every week I will share resources and words of encouragement. I hope to just “be here” for any Latina feeling lonely in the doctoral process. I will also ask for words of comfort and support to help motivate me to do something every day to meet this goal.  I want every Latina to know that she is not SOLA! 

So join me in this journey, whether you are currently working on your dissertation or even considering starting a doctoral program and hopefully while completing this goal myself, we can encourage more and more of us WISE LATINAS to do the same. 

Okay hermanas, let’s do this!!!