The Boxer and Dissertations
January 10th is George Foreman’s birthday. Foreman’s career represents the power of persistence, arguable one of the most important traits to apply to your dissertation…
In 1973, George Foreman, a huge underdog at the time, KO’d Joe Frazier to win the WBC crown. Howard Cosell’s iconic, “Down goes Frazier!” call became the most notable of Foreman’s boxing career. Foreman would only successfully defend his title twice, half as many times as his predecessor. Within two years he lost the title, in the “Rumble in the Jungle,” to Muhammad Ali who would successfully defend the title 10 ten times.
Despite being a bit of a boxing footnote between two much more successful champions, Foreman’s reign as champion set him up for tremendous future success… In the mid-90s, Foreman lent his name to the George Foreman grill. Although the details of his endorsement were kept private, conservative estimates indicate that he had earned more than $200 million as of several years ago…easily exceeding the total earnings from his boxing career.
As a doctoral student, you enjoy a similar opportunity when you complete your dissertation. Graduating from a doctoral program elevates you to the status of academic champion, as it were. Your dissertation need not be exemplary among other dissertations to afford you a wealth of opportunities that others without a doctoral degree are not.
The goal of the dissertation process is simply to graduate. Trying to earn additional accolades for your dissertation slows your time to graduation and quite possibly puts your degree at risk, altogether. You cannot know what the George Foreman grill of your future will be, but it will only be there for you if you get your dissertation done and graduate!
If you’re having trouble winning your academic championship, click hereto schedule a quick, 15-minute chat with me to see if you’re a good fit for our Fast Track Your Dissertation Coaching Program. If you are, then I’ll invite you to join the fastest group of dissertation students out there and help you to reach graduation a good year or two faster than you would on your own.
