The (summer) heat is on!
Recently, I celebrated the graduating seniors from Stony Brook’s College of Business during their spring convocation. It was a wonderful event that helped me suspend my “summer scaries” and focus on the accomplishments of others. The “summer scaries” are like the “Sunday scaries,” but precede summer rather than Mondays. Maybe you’re like me and you also experience the “summer scaries.” I get the “summer scaries” because I don’t like having unstructured time and unclear expectations. I’m terrified of seeing August 1 arrive with a full summer to-do list. At the same time, I want to ensure I have time to breathe, appropriately reflect on the past year, and, quite frankly, relax. So, although I still don’t know how entirely to combat the “summer scaries,” here I share some things you may want to consider as well as some strategies you may want to employ when deciding how to make the most of your summers.
SET GOALS
Setting good goals takes practice, so let’s get some practice in this summer! Staring down months of unstructured time can be daunting and it can be hard to know what is reasonable vs. a bit too ambitious. Fortunately, there are resources available to us help ourselves. One of my favorites is the term plan, which I first learned about from “The Writing Workshop” written by Dr. Barbara Sarnecka (and freely available at this link). Term plans (samples of which are available at this link) allow us to break down the summer into digestible chunks (e.g., weeks) and require us to identify tasks to be completed during each chunk.
So, big goals are broken down into their component parts over the course of many, many weeks. Additionally, if you read The Writing Workshop, Dr. Sarnecka encourages us to consider what is within our control and what isn’t. For example, I can control when I return drafts to co-authors; however, I cannot control when co-authors return drafts to me. This is why it’s important to build in some contingency plans and revisit our term plans regularly; some revision may be necessary. Finally, if new to this sort of goal setting, consider getting some feedback on your plan. You may also consider sharing it with a friend/colleague who can help you stay on course (and you can help them stay on their course!).
TIME BLOCK
I’m a fan of time blocking (not to be confused with being *good* at time blocking). This strategy can help you carve up your day into manageable chunks and impose the structure you may need to help you reach your goals. However, just as is the case with term plans, some practice is needed with time blocking as well. It can be hard to anticipate just how much time may be needed to complete some tasks, so always be open to revising your blocks.
Here’s an example:
This is a very general example, however, you can see that I’ve built in time for work, rest, and self care. Just as we make time for our work, so too do we need to make time for our personal needs as well. For example, I really enjoy walking my dogs, so I’m going to make sure this happens every day that it can. After wrapping up for the day, I consider myself “free” to do whatever. I personally don’t want to time block every hour I’m awake, because I need flexibility. If you’re feeling like you need a bit more structure than a term plan can offer, consider time blocking!
BE ACCOUNTABLE
This one is simple—be accountable. Unstructured time is easy to pass by and soon it’ll be time to start the fall term. Schedule regular check ins with yourself and with others, including your advisor (if applicable). If it’s difficult for you to work alone, schedule co-working time. If you have an especially difficult task to complete, consider building in rewards…or punishments, as I did in the case of my job market materials (if I didn’t meet my self-imposed deadlines as verified by a friend, I had to donate to the campaign of a candidate I despised…so let’s just say everything got done!). If you find yourself falling short, regroup, revise, and move forward. None of what I’ve described thus far should be construed as an all or nothing sort of thing (and don’t wait until the next Monday to get it back together!).
FIND JOY
Even if you find lots of joy in your work, it’s helpful to find joy in other things as well. You are a whole person with friends, family, hobbies, and favorite foods. Be sure to allocate space to growing your whole self and not just your research/professional self. Invest in people (including yourself!) and places. Celebrate the big and small stuff. Honor disappointment and rejection. Be unapologetically joyful.
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TWO BONUS TIPS FROM DR. MERLE VAN DEN AKKER
Here are two more tips from Dr. Merle van den Akker, author of The Ultimate Guide to Doing a PhD—a great new resource for prospective and current PhD students (more information below)!
YOUR SUPERVISOR MAY GO MIA
Summer is a time for holidays. And I can imagine your supervisor having been looking forward to theirs for a while now! Make sure that you know exactly when they are out of office, and won’t be (or really shouldn’t be) replying to your e-mails. The further you know this in advance, the easier it is to plan around it.
Why should you plan around it? Well, if they’re not around and your work is highly collaborative, the work will change over the time they’re gone. Or, if you tend to struggle with unstructured environments where no one holds you accountable, your supervisor leaving for a prolonged period of time may sound like a nightmare. Don’t be scared to communicate this. If you have a halfway decent supervisor, you can sit down together and plan out the work that can happen in their absence—milestones, deadlines, approaches and where to go if something goes wrong or isn’t working. I especially recommend this for more junior PhD students!
CAMPUS MAY BE QUIET…REAL QUIET
Not only your supervisor is going to say Adios. A lot of campus services will shut down or operate on significantly reduced hours, and the undergraduate buzz will die down too. Campus may start to feel a bit post-apocalyptic with its lack of people. Even if you’re not on break (yet), and you want to keep working, this may not be the location for you to do so, if you don’t thrive in these types of quiet and slowed down environments. Plan this out ahead! Maybe there are aspects of your PhD you can do remote (e.g., writing, literature reviews, meta-analyses, etc.) and you can go to an environment that suits you a bit better (e.g., your parents’, friends’, or just the beach).
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Until next time!
RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT
In this section, I highlight resources you may find helpful as you navigate the PhD application process as well as the PhD itself. This week, I’m highlighting a new book from Dr. Merle van den Akker (perhaps you remember her from her Scholar Profile!). Here’s a blurb from Dr. van den Akker about her new book, The Ultimate Guide to Doing a PhD:
Have you ever considered doing a PhD, but have no idea where to start? Or are you doing a PhD and feel like you're losing the plot?
Deciding to do a PhD is going to be one of the most impactful choices you'll ever make. It's a multi-year commitment that can really shape your career and your life. Yet as important as the PhD is, there's not much collated information about the process as a whole: this is where this book comes in!
It explores every aspect of doing a PhD from application to graduation, and the whole mess in between. There are chapters on the motivation to do a PhD, the application process itself, questions around workload, time management, mental health, (peer) pressure, supervisor (mis)communications, teaching, networking, conference attendance, all the way up to publishing your thesis, and preparing for the next steps. And no, the next steps don't necessarily mean continuing to work in academia. This book addresses both career pathways, whether leaving or staying in academia, equally.
This book aims to take a PhD student or prospective student by the hand and outline the entire PhD process, answering every question you might possibly have along the way.
How to reach me: You are always welcome to email me (letstalkgradschool@gmail.com). You can also find me on Twitter @tweetsbymidge and Instagram @letstalkgradschool.
Want to support my #hiddencurriculum efforts? Consider “buying me a coffee” via Ko-fi. All funds will be put back into my Let’s Talk Grad School initiatives (i.e., weekend groups, buying/mailing books, etc.). Learn more about my efforts here.
Let’s give away some books: Readers located in the United States are eligible to enter the book giveaway to receive a copy of A Field Guide to Grad School by Dr. Jessica Calarco. To do so, complete this survey and note that you only have to complete it once to be entered in all subsequent giveaways! I do hope to expand the reach of the giveaway; however, at the moment, the shipping costs are too great to scale. If you’d like to talk about ways your institution could secure an electronic (or hard) copy, please let me know.
Wishing you all the best!
Margaret