October 2022…
That was the last time I digitally penned my thoughts and it was for my call for participants for my research just shortly after my ethics was approved.
Brilliant right? But then life took went into a tailspin…
My family suffered a bereavement and (rightly so I might add), my EdD took a backseat as my family needed me.
January onwards is the absolutely worst time in a Secondary school. Prelims, attainment meetings, more meetings, interventions, meetings about the interventions, second prelims, additional supported study, Saturday schools, Easter school, immersion days and then the actual exams themselves.
And I decided to move house somewhere in there too!
I get that everyone is busy and I am envious of those who are working hard and making progress with their EdD journey. I am not looking for tiny violins to sound as you read this.
What I am saying is that there has been very little time (in my mind anyway!) to sit down and give my research the time it deserves.
I had my first review meeting this week. I was nervous. I had a presentation sorted. I knew what I wanted to say and I knew where I wanted to be. But I wasn’t there, I hadn’t made the intended progress, and I was nervous that I was going to be found out.
But it couldn’t have been more supportive. I talked…A LOT (was I avoiding the questions?) and I was honest. What did I get back? Support. From my external reviewer and from my supervisors. They know I should be further ahead. I owned that and I know that! The different perspective from someone new to my research allowed me to consider things from a different angle but it also gave me confidence that I can do this and that my research is worthy.
I finished reading “The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living” by The Dalai Lama this morning and the following quote hit me like a ton brick:
I can always complain about lack of time… I’m very busy. However, if you make the effort, you can always find some time, say, in the early morning. Then, I think there are some times like the weekend. You can sacrifice some of your fun… So at least, I think daily, say a half an hour. Or if you make the effort, try hard enough, perhaps you may be able to find, let us say, thirty minutes in the morning and thirty minutes in the evening.
If you really think about it, maybe it is possible to figure out a way of getting some time.
I have used this has my clean break…I am going to make some changes that will hopefully schedule.
Friday – regardless of my workload, I am going to leave work at 1300, head to a coffee shop and get working before going to BB at 1900. There is no point in commuting home to my new house so I should start a new routine to be productive.
Saturday – I used to complete the writing group and then ParkRun started to get in the way. I need to get a routine around my studies. I can exercise and run at any point. I will be getting to this group more often.
Generally, I have reached out to several of my support team/critical friends to try and get a bit more done, more reading done, more thinking done, and more writing done.
Deadlines have been set and I am thankful for that.
- Completed Literature Review by August 2023
- Participant Recruitment in September 2023
- Interviews start from October 2023
- Aim for a June 2025 hand in
You might be thinking…why are you then spending 30 minutes putting a blog post together that only 3 people might skim through. Accountability. I have put it in writing. I have laid it out and cleared it from my head. This will help me.
I have already put so much into this: time, effort, money! I still want to see the fruits of this labour come to fruition. I still believe it will make a difference to middle leaders in the future. There is a gap for this type of work and I am determined to finish it.
Two more years, upped pace, let’s get to work…
