Steven Posusta – who taught writing at UCLA – has created the formula ‘The Instant Thesis Maker’, as part of a writing course. This is the formula. 1. Although…. (general statement, opposite opinion) 2. nevertheless…. (thesis, your idea) 3. because…. (examples, evidence, #1, #2, #3 etc.) When…
A while ago I reread Marinus Knoope’s book The Creation Spiral (De Creatiespiraal 1998). The book is about the natural cycle from wish to reality, as mentioned in the sub title. In the book the writer explains how your wishes can become reality. He compares this cycle with the natural…
Not long ago I found a little book with 50 success models, which, according to the writers, will help you with making strategic decisions. (50 succesmodellen, Mikael Krogerus, Roman Tschapler). One of the models (which was not really a model) has a peculiar name: ‘Black Swan Event’. This intrigued me…
‘You have exactly one year to finish your thesis.’ This remark or any remark about time will send most PhD students into a frenzy. How come? Uncertainty The main reason is uncertainty about what needs to be done to reach the end product. Often this seems an incomprehensible mountain without…
Success is explored in many ways. The internet is overflowing with quotes on success. The theme in all these quotes is that success has to be earned. And because you work so hard for it, you will continue working and don’t really reflect on the successes…
Many PhD students don’t work, they overwork. Because they have the idea that working more is better, they work so long and hard that they don’t work effectively anymore. And ‘overworking’ kills creativity and you really need creativity. Imagine this: everybody is like a fishing pond full of creative ideas.…
