In narrowing a dissertation topic and “pruning” as author Dan Butin, The Education Dissertation suggests, we strive to, in Butin’s words, “master a body of knowledge about a very little slice of an immensely huge pie.” This exercise helped shape a vague idea of “flow states” that explains optimal performances. and Narrowing the topic, helping explain why some succeed in high-pressure decision-making in public safety, military and athletics. More “pruning” narrows the topic to ultimately how it can be a framework for a defined demographic such as those in city management. In doing so, I searched for a passion topic that links my practitioner experience with theory. The scaffolded pyramid helped move from a dissertation “blob” to a “path” to a dissertation topic.