Try cultivating a 15-minutes-a-day writing habit

Finding the Time

Consider that the average master’s thesis is between 30 and 100 pages and a PhD between 50 and 450 pages [1], depending on your discipline and institution. If we take an average, let’s say 200 pages, and there are 365 days in a year, if you write just 140 focused words daily, the equivalent of five sentences or half a page (in a double-spaced 12-point Times Roman font), you could more than cover the word count. And, writing the equivalent of five sentences in just fifteen minutes is a breeze if you have done some reading, thinking and journaling over a weekend.

The Importance of Planning

It is best to prioritise creating an overall outline for the thesis or dissertation in a working document—your first 15 minutes could be used to generate chapter headings. The general sequence of a thesis is an introduction (problem definition and statement, the purpose of the research and how you will go about it), a literature review (the social and knowledge context and a theoretical frame for understanding the problem), the methods used in detail, the documentation of the results or the analysis or interpretation of the data (statistics and/or themes), and the conclusions you have reached based on your analysis.

The next priority would be to outline the required sections within each chapter because there are requirements when writing a thesis. For example, you have to address the ethics affecting your research design. More broadly speaking, the reader must be convinced that conducting this research is worthwhile (relevant), well-thought-through and executed. That will ensure your conclusions are trustworthy, a considered opinion rather than fiction. 

Once you have a working outline—because the outline and headings will change as you progress and they become more creative, descriptive, and meaningful—set up a linked table of contents to facilitate you moving around the document with speed and then commit to keeping a journal of what you read and think in odd moments or when reading in your field or processing data. Once you know where you are going with your writing, you can peruse your journal in your fifteen minutes each day and place statements within the outline you have created. Sentence by sentence, your outline will grow into the final report you will submit. Essentially, having an outline breaks what could be experienced as an overwhelming task into bite-sized pieces: You will simply fill in the spaces for fifteen minutes a day for a year.

Uninspired Moments

Long-term writing projects inevitably risk running out of steam because we cannot feel inspired to write on demand every day, even for fifteen minutes, and even if we love writing and have flexible schedules. Remember that there are many mundane tasks when writing a thesis: listing References, generating tables to support your claims, and creating diagrams to show links between concepts and themes. If you feel completely uninspired about constructing sentences, you can use that fifteen minutes on those mundane tasks to fill in the blanks and would otherwise be left for the final stretch.

Just 1% of your day

Albert Einstein allegedly said, “Anyone can be a genius, if they pick just one specific subject and study it diligently just 15 minutes each day.” [2] Whether you desire to be a genius or just upskill and graduate with a master’s or PhD, 15 minutes of daily focused activity, just 1% of your day [3], can assist even the busiest person to complete a master’s or PhD research report without burning out or disrupting your work-life balance.

If you start with a working outline, your fifteen minutes can be spent filling in the gaps, sentence by sentence, as you build the vehicle that will carry you forth in your profession. When feeling inspired is challenging, remember that listing just eight References or creating a table or figure brings you a step closer to achieving your dream of graduating with that sought-after master’s or PhD degree.

References

[1] Stapleton, Andrew. (2024). How long is a thesis or dissertation? [The data]. Academia Insider. https://academiainsider.com/how-long-is-a-thesis-or-dissertation/

[2] Albert Einstein quotes. (2024) Quotefancy.com. https://quotefancy.com/quote/763678/Albert-Einstein-Anyone-can-be-a-genius-if-they-pick-just-one-specific-subject-and-study

[3] Idea Vision Action. (2018, January 30). Create Your Dream Life, 15 Minutes a Day. https://ideavisionaction.com/personal-development/create-your-dream-life-15-minutes-a-day/