Episode 124: The 4 Week Dissertation with Yvonne Bueno

In this week's episode Marvette shares a call between her and one of her clients, Yvonne Bueno, where they chat about why she decided to join the program and how joining helped her stay disciplined and focused during the dissertation process. Yvonne gives tips on how you can finish your dissertation quickly without burn-out.

Follow along on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/marvettelacy/

TRANSCRIPT:

What your program offers. And it really does help. I think the other part about what the community that you've created, seeing familiar faces show up and working together, like even just yesterday on the coaching call, you know, Alex, we were able to, when we got to the breakout rooms, just like take a minute and talk about recruitment for her and just brainstorm strategies and then get back to work, you know, like, okay, we did it, we had that time, but we connected and I could tell, like it was helpful. But it's also really helpful to show up and know that this is a space for us to reflect, but to work in, we check in with each other on it. But we, you know, we also have space for collaboration.

Yes. Okay. So since we're going to do this as a podcast, for those of you who are listening, we just, this was unprompted. It wasn't even planned. But it was just such an amazing conversation that we have to let the people know. So before we get deeper, introduce yourself, who are you?

And my program I am doing a, DrPH a doctorate in public health over at university of Arizona. So I'm in Tucson. Right.

Awesome. And so tell everyone the amazingness, you just did over the past.

Oh, somehow I finished my dissertation draft and submitted it on Tuesday. It's still happening quite a bit to do in the month of July. Or what are we in June? Because the bulk of the work writing several chapters in three to four weeks time.

Yeah. You did it. Right. And now while you are waiting for your defense, you just get to do some editing and prepare the presentation. Yeah.

Be here like it's a little bit. Yeah. It's still kind of a pinch me moment, but I think what really matters is that I know because of the work I've done in this program, that that's why I'm here. Right. That's why I ha I'm having this pinch me moment and that I'll be ready for August 3rd. Like, I mean, you had us, like, I remember saying it out loud and being like, okay, August 3rd, like our I'm defending in August. Like I said it, and I didn't quite believe it when I said it that first time several months ago. But that's the thing it's like you knew even if I didn't quite know or believe it happened.

Yeah. Okay. I, I definitely want to like come back and dive all the way in, but like for context, can you talk a little bit about how his dissertation life before joining the program and like what encouraged you to sign up? Because you know, a lot of people, like some big objections that I hear is like, why would I join? Why would I get a coach? Why didn't I have my advisor? Why would I pay extra? And I have this whole program is in my program supposed to help me. So just tell us a little bit about your experience.

I think prior to joining this is my sixth year. So it's been a long road facing different barriers, whether they were self-imposed or yeah, and I kind of didn't quite realize what was going on for some of those things. But COVID was a part of it, like just struggling that last year and having to pivot and having a lot of changes to my research. I think the other part was me just feeling stuck and some of those things, I don't know if my advisor wouldn't necessarily be helpful for really understanding my own personal experience. I don't feel like I had a lot of space or relationship like that with my advisor. So that wasn't that space wasn't available for me

So in terms of experience, like what was happening day to day life.

Yeah. Yeah. And like yeah, kind of juggling everything. Also, you know, as a student of color, like we created this student of color accountability group. That's not a formalized group, but we were doing our own work with trying to figure out create a group to support ourselves in the process to talk about, Hey, this is my experience with this advisor. I'm trying to form my committee or like, this is what sucks about, you know, being a first generation, Mexican American woman, trying to get a doctorate in my family, can't help me with some of those things, you know, and like having a space. So there was that space too which took a lot of work to do and create. So it was at the same time that it was finding support in it. It was also really hard because we were trying to create it at the same time. And so joining, I joined when you had the plan, your dissertation, that was my first like step besides the podcasts. That's I think where I initially learned about you. And then I went to that weekend and I signed up from that weekend.

Right. And so I think the timing of it, I was in the last, it was like December or January or something. And I knew like I needed more help. I needed more support and listening to the podcast, I think was kind of the, you know, like the little drops in the bucket, like, yes, this is speaking to me. I had a failed comp experienced and it was kind of traumatic for me. And so one of your episodes was kind of like how you're going to shift that experience. What did it, you know, in what did it do for me rather than what like happened to me? You know? So it's like some of those things I think really were helpful. And for me spoke to me personally about my experience up to that point. And then the other piece is that I, I felt like I needed the structure. I needed the structure and the accountability pieces, maybe whatever I was doing, wasn't working up to that point. And I knew that like showing up consistently was going to work for me. I love community. I miss not having community and, you know, during COVID, but even showing up on zoom was helpful. Like, it was really helpful.

What do you like say to people? So you listened to the podcast, right? You were in the program that we used to have plan your dissertation, but now that's just a part of the croup you came to the three day, write your dissertation lab have been in January. Right. And a lot of people did. And and a lot of people listened to the PAC cast, but talk a little bit more about, you know, because you've already had, you were talking about like, you created your own community of, you know, students of color. And so you have that talk a little bit more about like, how did you get to the place of, I know I need more support and I'm going to sign up to be in this program.

I think going through that weekend, that whole weekend made the decision for me, for me, it was really important to hear other students talk about their experience. Like I remember Tasha I can't remember who else. And some of the, I think the other pieces that really spoke to me was once we started doing the reflection and the journaling, and really like taking that time to look inside and really like give myself permission to have compassion, intimately answer the hard questions. That's when I was like, okay, like the tears came. They're like, okay, everyone was crying. I was like, I had no idea I was about to lose it. But whatever that container that was created obviously was safe enough for me to feel comfortable enough to share. And I think I just felt like, oh my gosh, just like me, like, oh my gosh, that's my experience. Like I can, you all relate to me in a place in a way, like, everyone's all over the place in the United States, but like we had this common experience and that was really powerful for me.

Yeah. To we. So for those who have never attended an event, which why, why haven't you, but I'm really big on community and showing that like, wow, you know, to your point, like there are students all over the states, the world even and they're in doc programs and having similar, very similar experiences, but we can get caught up a lot of times thinking it's just us, we're the only ones that are having these struggles. And so you showing up and experiencing that and joining, I liked that helped you to do so. So as you got into the program, what was some of your initial impressions of it?

I think those first few, like weeks, I think Rowe did a lot of the Sunday calls. And I liked the, like I liked having the consistency of the, like, this is how some days are going. Right. Like getting it into a routine, the journaling you know, taking that time to set myself up. I think for me it was like, yes, yes, yes. Like this all felt good. And I think it also made myself create time for myself. That was time planning time that I had not done planning time like that before. So said like that Sunday scaries thing is real. And I had several weeks of like just being disorganized or avoiding or whatever, excuse that one to make. That probably didn't set myself up for the best week, but it takes a lot of practice doing those Sunday calls in it. Even, even when I do them, sometimes it still doesn't work out the way I planned. Which is why you just have to keep showing up the next week and the next week and the next week. And yeah. So I think it's just crazy, you know, week by week, it created that consistent space to practice and to have compassion for that reflection at the end of the week is like, how'd it go? What worked and what didn't it, we're not expected to be perfect, even though we're trained that way.

A lot of people will say to me, oh, I don't need planning. I know how to plan. And I'm like, sure, you do know how to plan somewhat, but I bet you, the way you're planning is not helping you to achieve your goals and to your point, right? Like I know that when people first get introduced to the scholar planning routine, you're like, why is it so much why so many steps? And I'm like, cause you don't realize you're setting yourself up not only for this week, but for months to come in. Right. It's about practicing. And at that end of that next week of like, how did it go? What's working and what's not, those are really key questions that people don't ask themselves are not held accountable to asking. And so they just keep spinning their wheels, trying to next new productivity hack.

And I think like two things came up as you were talking. One is I didn't know that these skills were gonna be right helpful for me, this helpful for me throughout, like these are skills that I'm going to keep using. For example, the brain dump, like I've been brain dumping. Like those sheets behind me are just like, I'd get up and just like brain dump all over and then come back and sit down and like, okay, got that over there. I'm good. I can address it later or whatnot, but you know, kind of shifting myself into the, all right, you got it out. But so those skills I think yeah, are going to be really useful. And I think the other part of what those Sunday calls, I think it's the celebrating the successes that takes a lot of work. And identifying those things, those like, what are you celebrating from the past week? From the past month? That was really hard. Like I would just sit there and be like, I don't even know what to write down.

Yeah. We're not used to celebrate and we're not used to looking for things that we did. Right. Yeah. Which makes right. Showing up the next week even harder. Cause you don't feel like you did anything right. The past week. So

Yeah. Those, those things were like that. Yeah. And not realizing, right. Like, yeah, you're going to use those and they're going to be helpful for you. You don't see it now. So now when you're actually about to defend, you'll realize it.

Yes. It was a, he joined a January and what I tell people is like, I let, I let people just bounce. It used to cause we're changing things. I used to just let people bounce around to like get adjusted because this is a whole different world. And I would say like, we could definitely improve as, as a company on really communicating what happens in this group and the value of this group. But it is a different world from your program, from any other thing that you've experienced and giving people space just to like take it all in. Because I only, I guess for me, it's like, I didn't expect to receive the feedback of the community seems too good to be true. And I'm like, I don't understand, like I have, I have my background, I have two degrees in like building community.

What do you mean? And so we are doing more videos and like having members talk more so people can really see like, Nope, I'm not like this was an impromptu. So I don't even know what answers you're going to get frayed. So even that I think it's going to further help communicate the value of community, but you were right. You were in the program working on your deliverables. And I remember like trying to coach you to be like, just right Yvonne. And you're like, no, I can't, it's not that simple. And so let's talk about, you know, getting to the end of may early June and having this, this deadline of defending August 3rd, what was that? So like what happened, walk us through, like what happened? How did it become real for you and really what was the task like? Where were you starting? What were the things you needed to get done over June in order to turn in a completed draft of your dissertation by July six? Oh

My gosh. I had, like, I was avoiding my chapter two, so my degree is more of a practice-based degree. And you know, we partnering with an agency and have these deliverables, which are really important parts for me, for the dissertation. But so it's kind of a combination of like writing and also working with community partner for, for the deliverables. So it's kind of in that. And I had to make a decision on, like, I had paused writing to focus on deliverables. I had done a combination of like working on both at the same time and I had to figure out what was working and what was not working. So I think probably more of may is where I paused and did more deliverables. And then June, I was like, okay, you've got to now work on deliverables and right, you can do this. You just have to figure out the system is going to work for you.

That's an example of a deliverable.

Oh. So like I'm developing a nursing education course through a platform called the Western region and public health training center. So it was like learning a new software program to make the content you know, I have three topics, so I had to research each topic, get the best practices and then make all the content and then learn the, this, you know, the software so that I could make the course in that, in that software program. So let me

Get this straight. You have to write like a traditional dissertation, you know, on top of that you have these deliverables and example, just one example of a deliverable that you would have to do is create a course, which learning new software and figuring out how to put the information, learning information and put it into a usable format for a course.

Right. So that nurses can access it and get continuing education units. Wow.

That's a lot. And how many deliverables roughly, would you say you had to cover? Oh,

I did like there's three topics for that course. And then my parent education is also three topics, which will be like kind of PowerPoints at a record and then have supplementary paper materials that, so that's also what I'm, I'm still finishing that one.

Yes. Oh, wow.

And then wrap. So I was avoiding chapter two, which was more of a lit review like to support each aim, you know, not like a traditional kind of PhD that review. So it was like kind of mini, mini lit reviews. And I don't know why I was avoiding that, but similar to other people in the program that are doing more traditional lit reviews it just like, I don't know. I feel like it was taking me out. I was just stuck on like three pages, five pages and I just had to push through. But also realize when was it time to just step away from chapter two and then go to chapter four and five and come back to chapter two, which is what I did.

So you wrote chapter 2, 4, 5 in work. I'm sure you're still working on deliverables and what three and a half weeks. Well, that's just me, two people is possible, but I do want to talk about right, because inevitably it's somebody that's going to say. Okay. But I'm sure that you are burnt out because you did that in three weeks. So talk to us about like, what was, how did you set yourself up to be able to do all of that in three and a half weeks? And what were some practices like you use?

Yeah, the, the, the version of me that was like pre December before I joined, would have crashed and burned for sure. In the unhealthy, you know, way of trying to get this done, beating myself up and slaving my, you know, just like, oh, those things, right. The you're not good enough. You don't have enough. Right. but what I did, I mean, some tough coaching calls as well, boundaries, like really, oh, it's that like, I'm a people pleaser. And I know that about myself, but at the same time, it's really hard to be a like recovering people, pleaser that is like working every single no is a lot of work and energy. And so one of those coaching calls with you was like letting go of, you know, things like a GRA, it wasn't even a GRA position it's I wasn't getting paid, but you know, being involved in research groups, being involved in other things that were related to my dissertation that were important relationships, like having to say no in a way that felt like, okay, I'm I can do this.

I need a little push, a little coaching, a little support, but I have that. And so I can do this and it's going to be okay. And then I could come back to the next, next coaching call and say I did it. And it was okay. And guess what? That's what helped me get through. And like, of course, I mean counseling I'm in counseling. I've been in counseling since like January the whole time. So that's been really helpful. It's, it's been a lot of the, like doing the hard things. You know, one of those calls are, you talked about people pleasing, like being another form of manipulation, right. Where like you're still manipulating what someone else is thinking of you. And like taking some really hard looks at like, okay, what does this actually mean for me? And why is it so hard for me to say no?

And like, why can't I put myself first? And this is within my family and boundaries with that too. Like I adopted temporarily fostered my nephew's cat and then had to like back out, because that was like maybe some self sabotage. I had no idea what I was doing saying no to family trips saying no to hanging out with friends. And the other pieces of self care that were not like massages and mani-pedi, right. That are boundaries that are structure accountability, and like consistently showing up like that part of self-care that I learned in the group was really important.

Yes. I'm like, say it again for the people in the back. And what I want to say, like, I Meyer most about you as how open and culturable you are you know, like that's one of the expectations for people to be open and coachable and people think they are, but they're not being knit. And I don't think it's because they're trying to have any malicious intent, but I think it really is fear-based. But I admire like, even when I can see on your face that you're like, she has lost her mind, she's telling me to do this. Like, and I'm thinking about that call. And I was like, yeah, that, that team that you got, yeah. Let it go. Just temporarily, right? Like it's not forever, but just let it go. Because in service of this goal of you want to do this in three and a half weeks.

Right. We gonna have to let some things go for the moment. And I just remember, I was like, I don't know, maybe I broke her brain, but you were still with me. I was like, she's going to cut the zoom off at any minute. When you feel you were still with me and you did it, and you just like you came and you, you came to the cause prepared, you came to the cause with questions, you came to the call, like just open and ready to receive whatever the coaching was. And I greatly admire that. And so what advice would you give to other people who do want to show up in that way, but just, just feels like something's blocking them.

I feel like it takes a little bit of like in that openness kind of like leaning into the discomfort. Right. And some of it, I think is just what like each individual person has to do, but this side to do rather like, even if it's super, super scary, like know that, like whatever that part of fear, wherever that's like, find it in your body, where do you feel it? What is it? You know, what does it sound like? What does it feel like? And know that like you can kind of get a handle on it, get control of it, but, but to get your, you know, you deserve this, right. You paid for it, you deserve to show up for yourself. And part of that is like learning and growing in this process in like the discomfort is probably supposed to be there.

And like in this community, I w I knew that I could do those hard things because I had that support system, like Alex offered to text me the next day. And she did. And I was like, okay, Alex, I sent this email five. O'clock done. I'm going to text you when I send it. I texted her when I sent it. And like that piece. Right. that felt really good too. But the openness is hard. Cause sometimes it's like, you don't, you know, like I knew, I knew that I needed to change that. I just, I, I personally know that I also need some of that external coaching and processing, like to get to that point to say, like, here's my stretch. I want to stretch. But like, I want to, but I'm really scared. I know I can, but I need some help. So I was at that point,

I mean, I think that is like one of the most powerful things you could do for yourself is to realize like, here's this thing that I want, I know I want it. Cause people will say, well, you didn't do it because you didn't want it enough. No people want the goal. Right. But it's scary. And we do need that push. Right? And it's like, yes, you can go outside of yourself and look for, you know, coaching therapy, other people like peer support to help you. But you also, like you said, the key, what you said is like, you have to decide that you're going to do it anyway. Even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's scary, you're still gonna have to meet the universe halfway and then everything else will like come together to help you get what you set your intentions for.

And it's kind of like the other part is like, I know what, didn't what hasn't been working, what wasn't working. So why not give this a chance? Hm. Why not? Why not give it a chance?

So this version of you, cause you know, now this is just a matter of semantics and paperwork, you know, just help the version of you are from January.

I be ready for it's kind of like be ready for greatness. Like the greatness that you knew, like was there an attainable? But yeah. Seemed out of reach be ready for like a version of yourself that like, as even better than, you know, you thought possible, like to finish this, right. Like the version of myself that I needed to finish whole and happy and proud, all of those things that could celebrate my success, that version of me like be ready for that. Like for that version that is kind of counterintuitive to what some of academia experiences have been for me up to that point. Or maybe in other people that I knew. And like to know that I could put in the work and that I could

Kind of work smarter, not harder, no, no surface. Right. Like going back to planning right on the surface coming into this program will look like you're working harder, but I promise you it's working smarter.

It is. And the like, like getting back to balance, like can do so much for a person's life

And right. And now you get to like, even just in this month, I'm sure more amazing things are coming in the future. But it just meant like taking two trips and like enjoying life, even though you're preparing for a defense.

Yeah. The old version to me wouldn't have done that. Like you don't preserve it, you can't go anywhere. What are you thinking? You got to work and work and work. No, no, no. It's the like, you know, being able to envision kind of like what you said is like what's beyond also like, so that I know that it's just a continuation of an upward trend. Not like highs, whoa. But I was used to right. Like getting the milestone and then crashing. It's like, you know, a little wave that just keeps going up. And it feels so different. Like I think in it's an, it's an like a palpable and observable difference in my me and my demeanor and how I carry myself. That's like people around me have commented on and I maybe can't see it. But it's an interesting observation.

I mean like, and it just it's like you you're working in, and people, people say this all the time in a program, like people sit down and like I'm stronger and more convicted in like saying no. And I don't even feel bad about it. Like my favorite parts of watch, because it's my favorite because I tell people all the time, like I could tell you exactly what to do to write your dissertation, but that won't matter. Right. We don't go over here and they're like, no, no, I don't need that life coaching stuff. I just need you to tell me what to do. And I'm like, yeah, but you don't because if that was true, you would be done already.

We've done already. Exactly. Like

What would you give to someone who was on the fence about joining?

Hm. I would say ask yourself why you don't deserve to do this for yourself. Right? Like yeah. What, what, what story are you telling yourself that you don't deserve this? Because it's just a story. So after you tell yourself that story then rewrite the real story that knows that you do deserve it. And that even joining this, it might be a scary thing, right? Like not knowing what to expect but know that you're worth it, know that you deserve it and know that the program is what it says it is. And it does work, but it's not magic. It's also like you have to show up, but aren't you ready to show up for yourself? No, you wouldn't be thinking about it if you weren't. Yes, that

Is perfect. Thank you so much for just sharing a piece of your story and your wisdom, and I'm sure we could talk longer and for hours, but I want to be respectful of time. If folks want to contact you, what would be the best way for them to do?

Like my email it's [email protected]. And we

Will put that in the show notes for folks who want to follow up with Yvonne. But thank you. So, so

Thank you, Dr. Lacy, I'm so grateful for you and everyone in the program. Really? Like this has been life-changing for me. I love it. Thank you to celebrate more. That was celebrating.