March 2018
Hello fellow crazies,
This week’s been one of those where I’ve oscillated between feeling like I’m really productive, know lots, and have a well deserved high-five headed my way for how on top of things I’ve been, and then again feeling like I’m a complete failure and have accomplished absolutely nothing. You know what I mean, where it changes on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis? It’s normal to feel this way, especially since most of us judge our own self worth on what we accomplish relative to our own expectations. However, it’s incredibly important to understand that while this is your job, it’s not your life. I tell my partner this often. What I mean by this is keeping your work from permeating into your life, from affecting every aspect, including relationships with friends and family, and again, your own self worth, is near impossible without the right personality type or the right amount of practice.
If you have the kind of personality where you don’t struggle with leaving work at work, I applaud you, I despise you, and I wish I could be just like you, you jerks. You crazies don’t need to listen anymore. But for those of you who are like me, I’ve got a little somethin’ somethin’ for you. In my experience, the best advice I can give is to sit down and right down your priorities, categorizing them into A, B, and C priorities. If your list has work or school related tasks as every A priority, your life is skewed. For the love of sanity, take your list and restructure it, forcing yourself to allow one A priority that is for your own enjoyment. Whether it be exercising daily, walking your pet turtle, catching a play or musical, or knitting your mom a sweater for Christmas, make it something that is relaxing so that you can turn off your brain...or, if you have an overactive brain, make it something that is mentally stimulating that you enjoy: trivia, documentaries, reading, etc.
If you don’t allow yourself to be a pseudo-normal functioning human being throughout your graduate degree, you’ll become a robot, a monster, and you’ll burn out extremely quickly. Especially for you Ph.D.ers, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll become a pretty stinkin’ awesome professional as well as a pretty well rounded human being at the same time.
Cheers,
Kaylee
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Kaylee Hollingsworth
Kaylee is a Ph.D. student in the Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences department.
This week’s been one of those where I’ve oscillated between feeling like I’m really productive, know lots, and have a well deserved high-five headed my way for how on top of things I’ve been, and then again feeling like I’m a complete failure and have accomplished absolutely nothing. You know what I mean, where it changes on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis? It’s normal to feel this way, especially since most of us judge our own self worth on what we accomplish relative to our own expectations. However, it’s incredibly important to understand that while this is your job, it’s not your life. I tell my partner this often. What I mean by this is keeping your work from permeating into your life, from affecting every aspect, including relationships with friends and family, and again, your own self worth, is near impossible without the right personality type or the right amount of practice.
If you have the kind of personality where you don’t struggle with leaving work at work, I applaud you, I despise you, and I wish I could be just like you, you jerks. You crazies don’t need to listen anymore. But for those of you who are like me, I’ve got a little somethin’ somethin’ for you. In my experience, the best advice I can give is to sit down and right down your priorities, categorizing them into A, B, and C priorities. If your list has work or school related tasks as every A priority, your life is skewed. For the love of sanity, take your list and restructure it, forcing yourself to allow one A priority that is for your own enjoyment. Whether it be exercising daily, walking your pet turtle, catching a play or musical, or knitting your mom a sweater for Christmas, make it something that is relaxing so that you can turn off your brain...or, if you have an overactive brain, make it something that is mentally stimulating that you enjoy: trivia, documentaries, reading, etc.
If you don’t allow yourself to be a pseudo-normal functioning human being throughout your graduate degree, you’ll become a robot, a monster, and you’ll burn out extremely quickly. Especially for you Ph.D.ers, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll become a pretty stinkin’ awesome professional as well as a pretty well rounded human being at the same time.
Cheers,
Kaylee
---
Kaylee Hollingsworth
Kaylee is a Ph.D. student in the Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences department.