Greetings, Friendlies!

The writing challenge continues; taking a quick zoom out and spending a few sessions writing about the Independent PhD as the container for this Dharma PhD gig.

I don’t know if y’all are interested in this material; maybe anything that is not a sutta spreadsheet is anathema?

Let me know if that’s the case. :)

Until I hear otherwise, I’ll post here as well as there (there, and horror of all horrors, there).

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The Why, What, and How of the Independent PhD: Part 1, Why?

In Essentialism, Gregg McKeowen included a diagram that, for the first time, allowed me to explain myself to other people:

If it’s not clear what’s happening here, the length of each arrow is energy spent, the direction of each arrow is different things you spend the energy on. The total amount of energy is the same between the two drawings, but the drawing on the right, that energy is all pointed in the same direction. You are really getting somewhere.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with the drawing on the left. Sometimes it is appropriate to have a bunch of projects and to be dividing your energy between them. But today, we’re not talking about that time.

We are talking about when it is time to commit.

Think for a moment what that might look like. Choose any of your myriad hobbies or passions or dreams, and really let fly. What would your life look like if you arrived at the pinnacle of that practice? Whom would you spend your time with? How would you feel about yourself? What could you give to the world?

The only way to get there is to commit.

The Independent PhD is a tool that can help you manifest that commitment in the world.

In the next part, we’ll look at the nuts and bolts of how an Independent PhD might move you from a bunch of little arrows to one big getting somewhere arrow.

May you be well!