Ted Audio Collective

As you may know, I'm a professor, which means I went through the grueling process of writing

a dissertation in order to earn my PhD.

That's right, the dreaded D word.

A dissertation is the culmination of your years of grad school.

After entering the intellectual contribution you want to make to the world.

And it's a heavy, deep, intense process.

It starts with assembling a committee of faculty mentors and proposing your topic of study.

After they sign off, you write your dissertation.

And then you have to give an oral presentation defending your dissertation.

It was part exciting.

I mean, you're about to become a doctor, but also full of stress, fear, worry, doubt, you name it.

All went well, and I passed.

Woo-hoo.

But afterward, I did get a valuable piece of constructive feedback from my advisor.

She was really proud of me, but it turns out I had performed quite terribly in the question

and answer portion of the defense.

I rambled when they asked questions.

I eventually got to some answers, but it wasn't pretty.

Luckily, my advisor helped me diagnose the problem.

Instead of offering direct responses, I took too much time to process information out loud.

And I came across as unfocused.

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