Making Success Inevitable with Dr. Thomas Joseph
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:40:12]
No one goes out of this process unscathed. It’s just too long a process. You’re doing this for a year or more. Yeah. And no one goes through a year more of life and has everything worked out exactly the way they planned. And every day and every day it just doesn’t happen. So we don’t have challenges, whatever those challenges are. You meet them, you face them, you overcome them, but you keep going on this dissertation and sometimes you might slow down a little bit, you mentioned you had to delay your field work a little, but that doesn’t mean it stops. It’s just forward progress. That’s what gets you there.
Dr. Thomas Joseph [00:40:47]
And another thing I want to add to what you’re doing, Dr. Strickland, with Dissertation Done. People have to learn to take advantage of that. Those things they’re going to do, because the more help you can get, the better you position yourself. So take advantage of this situation. Take advantage of that. You have people that will guide you along the way and help you through the process. This is like David fighting Goliath, to be honest with you. So if you find your sling and Dissertation Done, could be a rock in your sling. Take it and knock that giant, that giant out. So I highly encourage that because the more help you can get in the process, the better your outcome would be. The more encouraging and enlightening outcomewill be.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:41:40]
Getting coaching in any endeavor is a big return on investment. And if you look to the most successful people in life in anything that they do. That’s going to be the group of people that’s going to tell you, oh, yeah, I have a coach and you may not you may never think about it. You might never think to ask them about it. But the most successful people in life are always going to be able to point to the mentors and coaches and support structures. They had to get them there. And we help students to to graduate, whether it’s a few months or a few years sooner than they would on their own. It’s a huge return on investment. Not having to pay tuition is great. But we’re going to talk here in a moment, Dr. Joseph, about what happens after you graduate. Right. You’ve had some exciting and tremendous opportunities that you mentioned to me and to push those away from you because you’re struggling through this thing on your own. You know, that’s not that doesn’t get you where you want to be, where you want to be is graduated, where you want to be, is done. So getting there as quickly as possible is you should do whatever it takes to make that happen. So speaking of which, so you go to your defense, you mentioned to me that already your chair had prepared you for that defense. That’s everybody’s story. By the time you get your defense, you’re ready for it. But what was that process like and how did it feel for them to finally tell you? Congratulations, Dr. Joseph.
Dr. Thomas Joseph [00:43:04]
Now, the interesting part about my defense was my chair was not a present that my defense. Oh, wow. So I had my I have my she was on a she was international travel trip. She was not she told me in advance that she was not able to, but we had like a mini defense between she and I. And she told me congratulations. She had approved my my you know, give me her approval. So I met with my my my two other committee members. But it was it was just an opportunity that literally brought me down. I remember when I’m in, after about a 15 minute conversation, one of my committee members says, well, we’re very proud of the world that you present today. You have some good information that you present. So I want to be the first to say. And she paused and she said congratulations, Dr. Joseph. Yeah, I mean. I teared up, I’ll be honest, I teared up, it was like I remember that whole thing from day one until today, I teared up. Yeah, I literally teared up. But, you know, it’s like I felt like my effort. She says, you deserve it. You really, really deserve it. Then I’ll tell you. And she said, go celebrate.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:44:27]
That’s my favorite call that I get from our students is after their defense. And and oftentimes I’m lucky enough that they’ll call me right after the defense. And I can get that raw emotion. They just say congratulations. Yeah. And it’s really, really great. But always to be able to come back and see what that experience meant for people. It’s so fulfilling to be with them through this journey and then to to be able to to see what how how they’re kind of smiling. Even through the phone. You can see the smile ear to ear, and it takes a little while for to wear off now that you get people to start calling you Dr. Joseph for a while. Did you abuse the privilege at all?
Dr. Thomas Joseph [00:45:10]
No, I took some time and took some time to get out of that. But at least, you know, a burden was lifted up. You know, I knew I didn’t have normal school schoolwork to do. I didn’t have to study. I know I would have to do work later on to do research myself, but at least I could take a break. I could sit back and take a well well needed break from from studies and all of that.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:45:39]
One of my students said the best part about finishing his dissertation was he got his life. That that’s how he put it. Yeah. And it’s really true that you’re almost a different person while you’re a doctoral student and you’re a different person after you graduate. But you’re more like the you that you knew went you don’t have that stress hanging over your head.
Dr. Thomas Joseph [00:46:00]
Yeah. I don’t know if we can stretch a little bit. You feel qualified. You know, at that time, you feel qualified and useful, and if I can just jump the gun a little bit, you start applying for jobs and position that like I’m qualified for this and I’m qualified for that. And guess what happened? The challenges you go through, your dissertation process and your doctoral process there are meaningful, because when you get to that point, they feel I’m qualified and you get a rejection letter or reject email. Yeah, you’re like, why in the world did I go do this? And what did I do that I thought nobody would reject me for a job. Nobody will tell me, quote unquote. I’m not qualified. I am qualified solely by matter.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:46:48]
So there’s a difference between so many these days. It seems like kids in particular, everyone’s so worried about their self-esteem, how you feel about yourself. But there’s this other thing called self-confidence. And I think self-esteem, in a sense is detached from reality. I see so many kids that are young adults, late-age kids, whatever it might be, who just. Act like they can do anything that they’re they’re qualified on any basis and what they lack is the experience of having actually gone through the gantlet and earned those stripes, so to speak. Yeah, getting the qualification is what they haven’t done. And that’s what self-confidence is all about. You’re confident when you’ve been through the wringer, you come out the other side and you know what you’ve done and you know what you’re worth. Not your mom telling you that you’re smart and handsome or pretty and all this kind of stuff. But they knock you down over and over again. You got back up and finally they said, you know what, we can’t knock you down anymore. You’re good. That’s when you know that you’re confident that you can do something again if they knock you down again, like you got that rejection letter. Well, that’s not the end of it, because I can get back up and I can go send in another application. And I can because I know I’m qualified, as you put it. It’s so important.
Dr. Thomas Joseph [00:48:09]
‘Yeah.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:48:10]
So but you were telling me I mean, you’re talking about applications, I heard a story that maybe you don’t even need to apply for jobs at some point.
Dr. Thomas Joseph [00:48:20]
So my great story is I was sitting at home just relaxing, going through my daily motion, and I get a call from the university and says, hey, we’re actually in the process of looking for alumni that have a Ph.D. or a doctoral degree, and we’re looking to bring in some adjunct instructors. Is this something that you would be interested in? So that’s how I got my first adjunct instructor then still went for the interview process and stuff. But at least that became and I said a while ago about qualification. It was like, wow, I’m just sitting here and then somebody that just recognized me just because you have a doctoral degree. So that’s really when I got into my first higher education gig, so to speak. And that just zoomed me in. And then that’s what I’ve been doing for the past. How many years? Eight years or so.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:49:19]
But isn’t that amazing? You you that’s your big why and you’re just sitting around the house and literally the phone rings. Are you ready? We’re ready for you. So I’ll tell everybody out there listening. Your mileage will certainly vary. Don’t expect to have someone just call you up and offer you a teaching gig. But I do know that you’re qualified. You can go out there and make and apply. And it’s a tough market out there generally, but definitely something that’s that’s worthwhile, something that you can do. Before we we wrap things up, though, I want to talk to you about something else that you did, which is kind of near and dear to my heart. You told me that not long ago you became a published author. How did that work for you?
Dr. Thomas Joseph [00:50:02]
And so something that really I’m a very self-motivated person. I like I speak to myself a lot, very self motivated. And that’s really something that I try to instill in people still in my kids, instill in the employees that I work with. Instill that develop yourself. One of the things that came to me one time was the idea of, oh, let me make a note to myself. I always hear people say that, oh, let me make a note to myself. And I remember driving one day and it just something just strike me as a note to self. What does that mean? So I started thinking about it. And since that’s that, the more I think about it was like, why don’t you write a book note to self? And what does that really mean? As basically, if you see my background is a copy of my book, I also have one in my hand. So I wrote a book together. It’s about it’s a lot of different sayings which I called Notes of Self. I tell people that you think about it when you when you kind of struggle into what what is my next step? You have a note to self and that’s really what we call the why, right. This is my why. This is something that will encourage me and motivate me and help me go to the next to the next level. Sometimes it’s it’s easier to give up, you know, and give in than to continue on the journey. So I think these are very helpful little nuggets that people can use and now help develop, motivate yourself so you don’t give up on their goals. So I wrote this a year ago and then I published it on Amazon. It’s on Amazon. For those of you who want to get a copy of it, it’s not necessarily a book that you will sit down and read from page two from cover to cover. But it’s something that you go through and you find something and you underline it. Guess what? A year from today, this might be that cup of tea that just kind of bring it to that square. So that’s really why I wrote the book, to help people find a source of motivation, a source of inspiration when they need it most. And you never know what that’s when that time is going to be.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:52:11]
So that book is Notes to Self. We’re going to draw the link to the the listing on Amazon in the show notes. So if you want to go to the blog on DissertationDone.com and go through the show, notes should be able to find that link. So, Dr. Joseph, how did publishing this book, how did that what kind of opportunities that provide for you? How has that changed your trajectory?
Dr. Thomas Joseph [00:52:34]
Connection. You get to connect with a lot of people and a lot of people who’ve read my book have actually communicated back to me and give me a say how this has helped them. I actually had a gentleman who was very close to me, and one day he called me and said, Man, I just got to share this with you. I was going through because, like, my business was about, I always felt like I was going to give up on my business. And he said to me, I just remembered something I read in the book. It just kind of clicked to me. And then I went back to it and I read it again. I was like, that was like so fuming. It was like a flame that just went up and in it, I just got myself back together and when it gets started, it gets so it creates that connection. As a matter of fact, publishing is very good, gives you credibility. That’s one of the things when you when you get your doctoral degree and you finish the dissertation, publication has a very strong role in opportunities that can be opened up for you as well. So connect with people to help you publish because you’re going to need to do that. It’s very, very, very critical to do that as well.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:53:46]
So the idea of publishing. What you want to get out into the world is important when you’re working on your dissertation again, it’s got to be what your committee wants. You give them what they want to. They’ll approve it. You can graduate, but once you have graduated, now you’re able to get your message, whatever you’re passionate about, whatever you want to do to help people in this world, you’re able to get that out, attract those people to you, and then you can help them at higher and higher levels if you use work and to do so.
Dr. Thomas Joseph [00:54:16]
And something I want to add to in line of what we’re talking about while we wrap up things, this I know lots of people I will be listening to us will be working people, working professionals, professional stuff. And you’re working on your doctoral degree and you probably want to get into teaching like I was, you know, get into teaching. One of the things that I did not have in my background was, quote unquote, teaching experience. Like I didn’t have no position that says I was a teacher of an elementary school or middle school or high school or nothing like that until I did my research and found out that teaching is not necessarily teaching at an academic institution. If you’re doing anything at work that requires you to do any type of coaching, any type of training, you should begin to capitalize on that, because this is some of the training experience and the teaching experience that you need when you develop your résumé, if you want to go into teaching so you can incorporate those things in your resume as well. So if you get an opportunity at have work to do any type of training or just to speak to your your team or just to speak to people within the organization, take advantage of that because you can put that on your resume as a teaching experience as well. So there’s a little nugget that I learned that I wanted to get you guys, you know, acclimated with it as well.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:55:40]
That is awesome. And it’s it’s true that teaching is not just a title, but it’s it’s a it’s what you’re doing. And so many times for folks guide folks through our meetings are things where we’re helping folks learn new processes. And that’s all the teaching. That experience all comes to bear. Very, very good advice. Well, Dr. Joseph, if folks want to reach out to like I said, we’re going to drop in to the show notes about the book. But if they want to reach out to you, find out a little bit more about notes to self work or anything else that you’re doing right now, what’s the best way for them to get in touch with you?
Dr. Thomas Joseph [00:56:19]
You can actually connect with me on LinkedIn. Thomas Joseph, Ph.D. That’s how it’s listed. You can email me ThomasJosephDr@gmail.com. If I’m permitted to give my phone number 318-5126364. You can text, call. I use WhatsApp so if you are an international student. You can reach me and you know, I’m available.I make myself available to work with people and to talk with people. And, you know, I want to be an influencer. I want to be a motivator. I want to be someone that really people feel have inspired their life for the best. So do you want to contact me? We can start with LinkedIn and connect with me on LinkedIn or email, phone, text or call. That will work as well.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:57:12]
So it will make sure we put those points of contact in our show notes as well. And and yes, I, I imagine you’ve been quite motivational to folks today. So I appreciate you coming on and sharing your story with everyone today. Dr. Joseph, thank you so much for joining me.
Dr. Thomas Joseph [00:57:29]
It’s a pleasure. Really. Thank you for having me.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:57:31]
Absolutely. Once again, this episode today has been brought to you by Dissertation Done. So if anything, that we’ve been talking about concerning the dissertation process resonates with you. If you are about to undertake this process, struggling through it right now or fed up with it and and wondering if your why is enough to keep you going, reach out to me at DissertationDone.com/done. We’ll help get you on the fast track to graduation with our Fast-Track Your Dissertation coaching program. And if you have a message that you want to get out into this world, if you’re an expert and you want to have the credibility of being a published author, we can take you from blank page to a published author faster than you thought possible. Reach out to us at DissertationDone.com/book and we’ll see if we can get you to Expand Your Authority coaching program. So thank you once again, Dr. Joseph, for joining me.
Dr. Thomas Joseph [00:58:26]
You’re welcome.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:58:27]
And for everyone else, have a wonderful day and go out and live your unconventional life.
Outro [00:58:37]
This has been an unconventional life. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today’s episode, subscribe now to keep getting inspirational stories of unconventional lives as soon as they’re released. Until then, go out and live your best unconventional life.
