Essentials of Writing a Successful Doctoral Thesis.

As more professionals acquire mid-career extra degrees, pursuing a doctorate in the given field is becoming the norm. One of the major challenges of obtaining a mid-career degree is balancing family and professional life, along with the added responsibility of fulfilling curricular educational requirements for a degree. This article aims to highlight and overcome those challenges. Undertaking this major commitment requires discipline, planning, and, by all means, changing one's lifestyle. Lifestyle changes specifically include becoming more organized and balancing work and study, along with financial and mental health considerations. Keeping sanity in all this "organized chaos" requires developing inner strength and constant dialogue with oneself. The authors used their own experiences to draft a framework that can serve as a guide to help those in pursuit of higher education. The flow diagram has been aimed at concisely putting the stepwise development of the thesis, with the hope that it helps other mid-career students and professionals.