5-Year Project: THE END

With a little more time since I finished reading all those abstracts and papers, I have had the space and time to reflect on what I have learned.

But first, some fun facts:

• I read 2,142 abstracts
• This is roughly 291,024 words
• I looked at 227 articles more closely

As it can be expected, at some point all these articles and ideas began to blur together. And while I cannot (nor should I be expected to) remember each abstract and article I read, I came away with a few thoughts that are in no way original but nevertheless relevant to management doctoral students:


1. Management as a field has a strange relationship with Theory.

• Hambrick, Donald C. "The field of management's devotion to theory: too much of a good thing?." Academy of Management Journal 50.6 (2007): 1346-1352.
• George, Gerard. "Rethinking Management Scholarship." Academy of Management Journal 57.1 (2014): 1-6.

2. Writing for "A" Journals will require SEVERAL years of practice.

• There is a certain "feel" each journal has, and developing an intuitive sense of what that is will take years. Faculty that publishes in those journals can help - and so can the following articles:
• Colquitt, Jason A., and Gerard George. "Publishing in AMJ—Part 1: Topic Choice." Academy of Management Journal 54.3 (2011): 432-435.
• Bono, Joyce E., and Gerry McNamara. "Publishing in AMJ—Part 2: Research design." Academy of Management Journal 54.4 (2011): 657-660.
• Grant, Adam M., and Timothy G. Pollock. "Publishing in AMJ—Part 3: Setting the hook." Academy of Management Journal 54.5 (2011): 873-879.
• Sparrowe, Raymond T., and Kyle J. Mayer. "Publishing in AMJ—Part 4: Grounding Hypotheses." Academy of Management Journal 54.6 (2011): 1098-1102.
• Zhang, Yan Anthea, and Jason D. Shaw. "Publishing in AMJ—Part 5: Crafting the methods and results." Academy of Management Journal 55.1 (2012): 8-12.
• Geletkanycz, Marta, and Bennett J. Tepper. "Publishing in AMJ–Part 6: Discussing the Implications." Academy of management journal 55.2 (2012): 256-260.
• Corley, Kevin. "Publishing in AMJ—Part 7: What's Different about Qualitative Research?." Academy of management Journal 55.3 (2012): 509-513.

3. The most interesting papers, had interesting stories.

• Daft, Richard L. "Learning the craft of organizational research." Academy of Management Review 8.4 (1983): 539-546.

Always Up-to-Date: Learning Resources

This is my always up-to-date page of Learning Resources. As I navigate the PhD process, I will make sure to collect as many resources as I can.

STATISTICS

Learning the Basics

• Khan Academy: Probability & Statistics
• Khan Academy provides short videos that cover the basics of probability and statistics.

Using Statistical Programs

• How to Stats
• This is a YouTube channel. The link above is for their blog page, in which they categorize all the topics they have covered. 
• The focus is on SPSS. 
• Introduction to STATA
• This is a tutorial website by Princeton and emphasizes data management and graphics.
• SAS Learning Modules
• This is a tutorial website by UCLA and covers all the basics of working in SAS.
• Try R
• Try by Code School. This is a fun, and short intro to the basis in R.

PROGRAMMING

Learning to Code

• Code Academy
• I used this to teach myself Python.
• Code School
• I use this to learn Git.
• W3Schools
• I used this (a long time ago now) to teach myself HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and SQL

Programming Languages

• Python
• This is a brief intro in programming with Python.
• R Tutorial
• Go beyond the basics by reading through the modules in this Tutorial.

Productivity Tactic #3: Captain's Log

I have often been told:

"If you didn't write it down, it didn't happen."

And I never wanted to listen. It just took too much time and effort to write things down. But when I started my PhD, I knew I would need some sort of way to make sure that I stayed on track. These kinds of programs are by design structureless. So as a student who refuses to go ABD (All But Dissertation), imposing a structure on myself is absolutely imperative.

Enter my Captain's Log

And yes, this is a Star Trek reference.

I used GoogleForms to create a log for my daily activities. In it, I track if I engaged in scholarly activities (reading, writing, data collection/analysis), teaching activities, or service activities. I also track a few personal metrics such as the miles I walked,  (see The Year to Thrive and 1,000 Miles).

At the end of the week, I can access the data summary that Google so nicely puts together.

1,000 Miles

As part of The Year to Thrive, my goal is to walk 1,000 miles.

This is inspired in part by The Proclaimers' song. But also by my desire to be fit and healthy in a way that does not destroy my knuckles or hurt my body (bye-bye boxing).

Here are the rules:

• Miles are on top of my regular walking
• I will track by map, gps, or fitbit
• I am allowed to have off-days

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

Join me HERE to check out my progress!

2015: The Year to Thrive

It was the middle of 2010 when I realized that something had to change. And that something, unfortunately, was me.

I was always stressed (most of the time, I could not even tell you why). I never EVER exercised. While I was (and still am) a vegetarian, I did not have a healthy diet. I had finished my MBA, I had a job, and yet, I felt like I was failing at adulting.

My mission, and I did choose to accept it, was to move away from my workaholic-unhealthy-stressed-about-everything ways to be who I thought I wanted to be.

But how to approach such a seemingly insurmountable challenge? Ah - science!

I read all sorts of articles and books on motivation, creating healthy habits, and making lifestyle changes. And honestly, they all sucked. Big time. They were dull and, frankly, the self-help section of my bookstore made me feel like I was part of the Who's Who of Human Failing.

I was looking for EPIC. I wanted the journey to be AWESOME. And all those books made it look like hard, dull work. I was just not into it.

Enter KICK-ASS.

That's right. I was too poor (student loan payments, anyone?) to read the comics, but I certainly watched that movie. By the end, I was totally and completely convinced that while Hit-Girl had had a messed-up childhood, she was awesome. She could fight, she was confident, and she gave zero fucks about what the world thought of her.

So I said to myself: "This is what I must do: KICK-ASS!"

2011: The year to KICK-ASS

When this year began, I made a list of all the ways I wanted to kick-ass: confidence and fitness topped the list. I also wanted a nose piercing.

And so, I focused on making things happen. I got my nose pierced. I joined a boxing gym. I worked on leveling-up my work skills to be more confident. It was Epic. Not in a way that would make a good movie, but in the way I experienced it.

2012: The year of ACTION

I made great strides in 2011. But I needed more. It was time to pursue my dream: get a PhD. So this year, my goals were to apply and be accepted to a PhD program, get some self-defense lessons, and keep up boxing.

2013: The year of DARING

I was now in a PhD Program, and I was 29 years old. With the big 3-0 on the horizon, I needed to check-off some things on my bucket list: skydive, run in a race (5K, I'm really not a runner), travel. Also, I got a divorce (which was necessary and a daring thing to do).

2014: The year of POSSIBILITIES

So, I turned 30. I had gotten a divorce. I was in a PhD Program, and the world was my oyster. I wanted to travel some more. But my only real agenda was to get over the divorce and move on.

2015: The Year to THRIVE

And here I am. I am still in a PhD program (YAY!). And I am finally close to being an adult. I have a new, healthy, relationship. My goal this year is to make room to grow - professionally and personally.

Here are some of the ways I hope to thrive:

• Health: keep my diet and weight on the healthy side most of the year.
• Walk: I am walking a few miles everyday. My goal is to get to 1,000 by the end of the year.
• Learn: learn Italian (since I already speak English, Spanish, and French).
• Code: learn python - for my research
• Propose: my dissertation!