DavidRomer's Rules for Making It Through Graduate School and Finishing YourDissertation"Outin Five"

• Don't     clutter up your life with other activities; just write.
• Don't     carry out a thorough and comprehensive search of the literature; just     write.
• Don't     attempt to make sure that every page you write shows the full extent of     your professional skills; just write.
• Don't     write a well-organized, well-integrated, unified dissertation; just     write.
• Don't     think profound thoughts that shake the intellectual foundations of the     discipline; just write.
• If     you don't have a paper started by the spring of your third year, be     alarmed.
• If     you don't have a paper largely drafted by the fall of your fourth year, panic.
• Have     three new ideas a week while you are getting started.
• Don't     try to game the profession, work on what interests you.
• Good     papers in economics have three characteristics:
    
  • A      viewpoint.  
  • A      lever.  
  • A      result.