Pressure, Procrastination, and Perfectionism (and the PhD)

Sure, the only good dissertation is a done dissertation, but can we learn to be ok even without that?

Photo Credit: UnSplash

Back before I knew better, I used to think perfectionism was a label meant for people who did everything perfectly. Back when I thought it was some kind of compliment for people who were just great at everything.

Now I know that perfectionism can mean getting nothing done at all. Perfectionism and procrastination might in fact, be BFFs.

When I was in graduate school I spent a good many years stressed out. I enjoyed it, of course. Most of it. Because where else in this society can you spend all day reading, writing, going to classes where you are hopefully and supposedly and many times actually with smart people who have done the reading and done the thinking and you can have conversations.

Neoliberal Higher Ed: Rewarding Mindlessness

As I teach undergrad students, with each passing year, those who do the reading dwindles down to nothing. This might be because many colleges require instructors to use the most awful of textbooks with a correspondingly equal awful online learning package that sucks up money and sucks up potential critical thinking time.