Arts and Dissertations

October 10th is Arts Matter Day. What would life be like without the arts? The arts are important in so many ways, but did you realize how important they are for your dissertation?…

I work with doctoral students in the professional sciences. Business, education, psychology, nursing,… You name it. If you study people in a data-driven way, you are probably the type of student I support.

My students are driven, hard-working, and persistent. But, do you know what they are not? Machines. They are people.

Dr. Stephen Covey identified 7 Habits of Highly Successful People and enumerated them in his book of the same title. Habit 7 is Sharpen the Saw, by which he means that highly effective people take time to relax, renew, and recharge.

And, how do you relax, renew, and recharge? For most of my students, it’s listening to music, reading a good book, or maybe binge-watching a great program. In short, it’s the arts!

Giving yourself time to enjoy something that’s completely unrelated to your dissertation allows your brain time to relax, renew, and recharge. But, do you know how your brain “relaxes?” It organizes. It analyses. It evaluates.

My students are constantly amazed how the new idea that they’ve been banging their head into the wall trying to come up with just materializes after spending an hour with a good book. At how their tangled mess of a literature review seems to fall into line. At how they can suddenly see exactly how to position their study for their problem statement.

It’s not magic. There’s real brain science to back all of this up. And, plenty of empirical evidence. So, no matter how busy you think you are, take some time to enjoy your favorite kind of art. Your dissertation will thank you for it!