Customer Reviews

Finish Your Dissertation Once and for All!: How to Overcome Psychological Barriers, Get Results, and Move on with Your Life

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Thank God I came across this book and the author in my desperation for a resource to help me get on track to even working on my dissertation.

The book clued me into everything that was getting in my way, and started me down a path where I can actually see how I will eventually finish this project. I'm afraid to think of where I would be, or should I say, not be, if I hadn't discovered this book.



December 13th. I am adding to my earlier review.

In my online courseroom today I stated the following to my classmates:

I can honestly say I lost what likely adds up to a few months, simply because I didn't know what I didn't know, and that made me very uncomfortable, so that the act of sitting down to work on this project felt like an exercise in pain avoidance. A book I can recommend that changed all of that for me is called

"Finish Your Dissertation Once and for All!: How to Overcome Psychological Barriers, Get Results, and Move on With Your Life"
~ Alison B. Miller

What once used to feel like a hate/hate relationship with my dissertation now feels like a Like/Like relationship that is bordering on a Like/Love relationship :)

Do yourself a favor and read this book.

This book contains everything Alison Miller learned through years of professional dissertation coaching--knowledge that I desperately needed as an 8th-year PhD student who had yet to produce a single chapter. Here's my advice: 1) Buy this book. 2) Read the first 50 pages and realize that you are not a failure as a graduate student just because you aren't having an easy time with the incredibly difficult process of writing a dissertation. 3) Go all out with the daily & weekly workplans she recommends--it might seem like an artificial process at first, but it's a process that now keeps me writing, and something I'm planning on doing for the rest of my career. Good luck!

What this book has helped me realize is that over the years I have piled on negative emotions, thoughts, and behaviors about being a student that have now become an obstacle course for me as I finish my dissertation. What brought me to this book was frustration - I have been a student who has been motivated to learn from fear and this fear has driven my work patterns. This is not learning and this is not living. These patterns are ineffective and I want my life back.

This book has given me the tools to recognize: 1. many many people experience similar blocks when they really want to complete something. 2. certain patterns of behaviors are linked to certain patterns of emotions that I have believed. 3. I don't have to believe these emotions or behaviors - I can recognize the pattern and choose differently. I have used these tools to get through some major dissertation hurdles quickly.

It does not matter if you are writing your dissertation, you are beginning a bachelor's degree, or you are trying to learn a new language or tackle projects around the house. I have recommended this book to many people - including several who aren't in school. The bottom line is about learning and about recognizing how your potential has been unwittingly covered up by thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that you have unconsciously chosen. Buy this book! Get your life back!

Hi all,
Dr. Miller's book, Finish Your Dissertation Once and for all is a book that I will cherish for a long time! Dr. Miller discusses with candor the common psychological problems many students face when writing an academic paper. Dr. Miller's book has taught me how to turn academic papers into manageable chunks. Dr. Miller's book has helped me understand that creating workplans for academic papers help overcome psychological barriers. Dr. Miller's book also taught me that trying to write papers as if your committee members and advisor makes writing hell. Dr. Miller's book expressed the importance of getting your thoughts on paper first, even if these thoughts are crappy. Dr. Miller stated that after your thoughts are on paper, the student can go back and refine the paper. Essentially, Dr. Miller's book has made writing academic papers more enjoyable for me. This book is must have for students entering a graduate degree program and doctoral degree program.

Though there are a lot of writing guides out there, what distinguishes this one is the discussion of emotional stumbling that are particular to the disseration writing process. The author knows the nature of the beast and the mind of a graduate student very well. I particularly liked the way she brings insights rational-emotive therapy to help her readers overcome insecurities that are typical among budding scholars. If procrastination is your problem, this book is written for you. I have greatly increased my writing output by following the ideas in her book, particularly the one about creating daily Action Plans.

This book has helped turn working on my dissertation from something I totally dreaded into an opportunity to work through difficulties and challenge myself to commit to what is valuable to me.

Alison provides practical strategies to deal with the dissertation process such as breaking down larger tasks into more manageable daily chunks (this sounds like common sense, and it is, but it is frequently overlooked by dissertation students) and other practices like revision inventories.

The book reinforces that you are not alone with your struggles, which is extremely comforting. Alison provides example after example of how common it is for other dissertation students to have difficulties and that what you are feeling actually isn't that unique - you're guaranteed to find at least one struggle (such as "I'm not smart enough to write a dissertation") that you will identify with.

This book is one that is not only invaluable for the dissertation process, but teaches you skills that you can bring into the rest of your life; how to cope when you face challenging situations and how to move towards the life that you really want without losing yourself in the process.

Alison Miller has been my personal dissertation coach for over 2 years. Without her insights, attention to how I deal with issues, and her masterful ways of listening to me - then redirecting how I think about issues; I would not be close to finishing my dissertation - Summer of 09.
Alison provides a fresh approach to students who become entangled with life's frequent, if not constant interruptions. These distractions provide easy excuses that allow for procrastination that often pitches students into a downward spiral of hopelessness instead of success. Alison opened my eyes with this book by acknowledging that I am not the only student who may entertain feelings along a spectrum of negativity. Of equal importance are her directions on building timelines - a key intervention that I stubbornly fought against until I applied her suggestions and found that my stress levels were cut in half and I actually accomplished far more and enjoyed the experience. The content of this entire book is very worth while - however other highlights that personally spoke to me was the need to overcome perfectionism, working with your dissertation chair, and the final chapter centered on taking care of yourself! Thank you Alison - I will use this with future endeavors!

I could not have completed my dissertation in a timely and satisfactory manner without Dr. Miller's help. This guide can be used in many ways. One can actively read it cover to cover to get the most out of it. Or, it may be used as a resource in order to shed light on the darkest of times (yes, you know what I am talking about). The read is practical, concise, and fun. There is no other dissertation guidebook out there, like this one. Thank you Dr. Miller for your wisdom that shines throughout this text!

I have not actually read this book yet, but I did attend a workshop led by Dr. Alison Miller and really benefited from the session.

She spoke about the psychological sources of procrastination and perfectionism and offered suggestions for conquering these pitfalls. She also brought her own dissertation experience into the session. She was part motivational speaker, part life coach, part time- and task-management guru. The workshop focused on the dissertation experience as a whole, including working with committees and overcoming psychological barriers to successful completion. Dr. Miller also offered tangible time-management tips, such as setting structured milestone goals and writing action plans. I presume that these same techniques are also covered in her book and I look forward to reading it.

I bought this for my daughter as she embarks on her 4th year of post-graduate studies and has voiced her increasing stress about her dissertation. I was afraid she would take it as criticism. However, she has told me that it has helped her tremendously as it explains exactly what she was experiencing and the steps that would help her overcome these psychological obstacles to move forward on her dissertation. She rates it an A+.