Staying strong throughout several years of study is a challenge that involves facing moments of isolation and uncertainty. It is a stage of life where one must have the ability for constant motivation, as well as a high command of the selected research area for the doctorate.
In this sense, you can have at hand the teachings of resilience, perseverance, and purpose through the guidance of psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor Frankl, who survived the Holocaust and developed a tool called logo therapy, which consists of a psychological approach whose main axis is the search for the meaning of life; for this reason, it can be applied to the practice of the doctorate, which demands intellectual and emotional resilience.
Reading this article will allow you to learn about Viktor Frankl’s principles, which will help you as a doctoral student to better manage intellectual resilience, stand firm with your purpose, and see obstacles as opportunities rather than failures.
In the journey of an online doctorate, there are many burdensome factors, such as professional and personal life, academic solitude, the absence of direct contact with tutors and colleagues, and the stress generated by having to make novel contributions to the field of study, because online doctoral students are not limited to researching and reading, but also to going further.
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During online doctoral studies, the student is always faced with the suffering generated by the time devoted to hours of effort, mental fatigue, and multiple doubts; it is then that one finds meaning in suffering, just like the experiences narrated by Viktor Frankl in his book Man’s Search for Meaning.
In this book, Viktor Frankl teaches resilience in the face of the extreme experience of suffering during the Second World War, in the concentration camps, where he learned that human beings can find a purpose that allows them to resist, because if there is a “why,” one can withstand any “how.”
Bringing this teaching to the online doctorate means that difficulties can be given a new meaning when linked to a more ambitious purpose. Thus, you will see difficulties as part of a process that has a profound meaning.
Viktor Frankl explained that human beings always retain the final word when choosing how to respond to circumstances. In a passage from his book, he stated: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances – to choose one’s own way.”
Turning this into the academic perspective, it can be said that doctoral students will face many difficulties they cannot control, such as assigned deadlines or required methodologies; but in the face of all this, they can choose how to respond, even though they cannot control everything.
There are three ways to respond with intellectual resilience:
Inner autonomy
When we face external adversities, we must have the capacity to decide and choose our position in the face of obstacles.
Do not reject difficulty, because it is part of the process
In research, one always faces setbacks, which are part of the investigative and doctoral process.
Suffering as part of learning
Stumbles or obstacles are part of improving the research, so the rejection of an article, methodological errors, or any failure in an experiment are not reasons for failure.
Mental and emotional fatigue is one of the complications faced by online doctoral students when dealing with statistical analysis, highly complex readings, and dense writing.
Frankl gives as a solution to these problems his keyword: meaning. You can achieve a connection between your research and a broader purpose: solving a social problem, bringing a positive change to a community, or innovating in a discipline. With this, you will find mental fatigue more bearable.
To turn obstacles into renewed strength, one method that may work for you is to
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Remember that students who conduct research must keep in mind that their thesis is a contribution that will leave a legacy for others. Therefore, they must convey and have the power to change mindsets.
Practical strategies inspired by Viktor Frankl’s philosophy can be applied by online doctoral students in their academic projects. These strategies are explained below:
The teaching of Viktor Frankl is the search for meaning, which extends to all of life, not just the goal of obtaining a degree. What is important is building a legacy. Because an online doctorate can leave a transcendental mark, such as methods in different disciplines, motivation and inspiration for other professionals and future students, key research that transforms frameworks, and personal growth that even inspires others.
The important thing is that you can take home a doctoral degree that represents something beyond the academic, one that motivates you to continue building with perseverance and meaning in life.
For doctoral students, there is a profound and powerful teaching in Viktor Frankl’s thought, which emphasizes that the way to achieve success lies in giving it meaning, but never in avoiding suffering.
Intellectual resilience is walking the entire doctoral journey while accepting the challenges in order to learn from them, with clarity of the final purpose. The connection must be with the clear vision of the meaning of what is being done, including fatigue, solitude, frustrations, and mental exhaustion.
An online doctorate is a unique experience that goes beyond a research project. As Frankl’s practical strategies project, it is mainly about the search for meaning to connect with the strength required to reach the goal, being able to transform both your academic and personal journey.