My two cents...
<aside> 🥵 Graduate school and lab participation require a great deal of hard work. However, it does not have to consume your every waking moment. Develop skills that encourage smart, productive work and learn to spend less time spinning your wheels and worrying about work to be done.
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<aside> 📅 I recommend treating graduate school as a full time job with regular hours. The nature of our work allows for a great deal of flexibility. This is wonderful, until you find yourself without boundaries to protect your free time (or boundaries to protect your work). Set some regular protected hours where you will be in the lab. I generally work 8 or 9 to 4 or 5. I promise that if you do too, you will be highly productive, get a lot out of your time here, and infrequently have to work evenings or weekends. Unless you want to (that's okay too).
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<aside> 🧘♂️ That said, this is only my formula for success. You may work better in the evening or on weekends. That's okay. Just be mindful of the ways in which flexibility can lead to feeling like you are always working and set some boundaries.
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<aside> 📍 For those interested in pursuing an academic position (e.g., universities, medical centers) prioritize your work time with research first. School work and other grad school responsibilities come next. If you have other career goals, this might shift some and we can discuss that together. In all honesty, I learned FAR more from my research labs than I did in my traditional course work.
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<aside> 🧠 Work smart. Can a report in a class be expanded into a theoretical manuscript or a systematic review or meta-analysis? Think big picture and consider how to leverage coursework in ways to build your CV too.
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<aside> 🧗♂️ Much of your training and development will be independent. I believe in collaboration and teamwork AND I also believe that this will only get you so far. You will be a better and more sought after collaborator if you have more to offer. Actively pursue things that interest you and put in the work of learning new skills. It will pay off, likely in ways that you couldn't have foreseen. The harder you work, the luckier you will be.
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<aside> 👍 Say yes often. And mean it.
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<aside> 👐 Much support is available. Use it whenever you can.
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<aside> 🏋️♂️ Apply for funding, grants, travel, conference presentations, etc. There are resources available if you look. It never hurts to throw your hat in the ring. You'd be surprised at how uncompetitive some of these things are because people don't bother applying.
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<aside> 👟 Graduate school means you will be time constrained. Note that I didn't say "busy." Being busy is easy. Everyone is busy. Not everyone is productive. Find ways to fill your time doing what you want to do and not just spinning your wheels. Having a place to put everything that your mind wants to ruminate about will make a big difference. Stop trying to keep track of everything in your mind—It wasn't built for that! You will just wear yourself out, get little done, and feel exhausted doing it.
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<aside> ✅ Enter task managers. A place where you can organize your thoughts, make plans, and never again have to think, "I feel like I'm forgetting something" or "what did I need to work on today?"
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<aside> 💜 I use Omnifocus. But there are many great options that come in all shapes and sizes. Things, Notion, Todoist, Trello, Google Keep, a basic notes app. I even know someone who uses Excel. Find something that suits you and USE IT. Make it a habit. Your future you will thank you.
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