The life of a graduate student can be both wonderful and challenging. There are times when you feel many factors that can lead to a lack of motivation, be it personal stress, pressure, being overwhelmed, or simply exhaustion. As a graduate student myself, I found one of the biggest challenges lies in my ability to effectively and efficiently manage my time.听听
To help you establish your priorities, identify your goals and stay motivated in graduate school, myPath鈥檚 misson is to help graduate students and postdocs pursue their goals on how to maximize their precious time and energy into an individual development plan. By reflecting on your skills, values and interests, you can be more intentional during your degree and ready to transition into a meaningful career after graduation. We spoke to the myPath Program Officer, April Babey, and myPath Communications Administrator, Jennifer Guyver, to find out more and make accessing these resources a little bit easier!听听
Q: Why did you choose to join the鈥疢yPath鈥痶eam鈥痑t鈥疢cGill鈥�?鈥�
Jennifer: My own experience as a PhD student at McGill is what drew me to myPath. I found it incredibly hard to stay on top of my academic and professional goals while balancing my personal life. It was very hard to get a grasp of the full picture. Looking back, I know I would have benefitted tremendously from myPath鈥檚 services and tools. I鈥檝e joined the myPath team because I want to help other graduate students at McGill to realize their dreams.听
April: I choose to join the myPath team for a few different reasons. Firstly, I am huge professional development nerd, and my job allows me the opportunity to create resources, facilitate workshops, and offer students individualized support as they pursue their goals. I also love having a job that allows me to use my creativity and helping skills on a daily basis to make things that I wish existed when I was a McGill graduate student. However, my favourite part of working for myPath is our team, all of whom are talented, wise, inspiring, and passionate about the work that we do together.听
Q: Drawing on your personal and professional experience, what motivates鈥痵tudents to develop their鈥疘ndividual Development Plan (IDP)?鈥�
April: In my experience, there are a multitude of reasons why students decide to create an IDP 鈥� it鈥檚 very personal. Some students are motivated by the mandatory IDP reporting requirements (if applicable), other students have been encouraged to create an IDP by a mentor, supervisor, or one of our workshops, while others find something valuable in the process of sitting down to think deeply about what is important to them and what steps they want to take in the next 6-12 months to get closer to where they鈥檇 like to end up.听听It can be a lot of work to create an IDP. However, students who engage in this process tell us that it helps them to articulate their priorities, break down their goals into manageable steps, track their progress, revise/change their goals, hold themselves accountable, maintain their well-being, and/or gain clarity on aspects of their life beyond the McGill experience.听
Q: What is鈥疢yPath鈥痑nd how can it help graduate students at McGill reach their goals?听
Jennifer: myPath is a toolkit that provides workshops, explanatory videos, planners and resources to help graduate students define their priorities and stay on top of their goals by creating an Individual Development Plan (IDP). You can think of an IDP as a personal road map. An IDP is the product of self-reflection, exploring and envisioning the future, and engaging and tracking progress.听听
Unlike the progress tracking report that you fill out with your supervisor every year, the IDP is a personal document that takes into consideration your personal well-being and professional ambitions. When writing your IDP, we encourage you to think about everything you want to accomplish in the next 6-12 months, not just your academic targets or milestones. This will help you make a plan that is realistic and achievable.听
Q: What鈥� tools and 鈥痳esources are available to graduate students who are looking for help with their career planning?鈥�
Jennifer: myPath鈥檚 tools and planners contain exercises to help you use your self-knowledge to explore various career paths. Knowing your skills, interests, professional values, and ideal lifestyle is an important first step towards planning your career. We also offer a specific workshop, Exploring Your Professional Path after Graduate School, co-facilitated by advisors at CaPS, to help graduate students as they look towards entering the job market. For more specialized help with career planning, McGill鈥檚 Career Planning Service is the place to go.听听
Q: What kinds of events and workshops does鈥痬yPath鈥痯rovide?鈥�
Jennifer: myPath offers workshops on goal setting and planning, of course, but we also cover topics such as personal well-being, career exploration, and internship planning. For students who are looking for more personalized help, we offer free individual advising sessions. We also host a weekly drop-in session, called the Grad Breakfast Club, which meets every Monday morning at 10:30am for students who would like a space where they can share their goals for the week and get feedback/support from their peers. Twice a semester, we host a goal setting retreat for students who want to write their IDP in one day. This 5-hour session is free and includes lunch.听听
Q: As a PhD鈥� candidate鈥� yourself, what are some tips for regulating stress and managing multiple tasks you would like to share?鈥��
Jennifer: A PhD is a long and arduous undertaking. Life happens and things rarely go to plan. Try not to get too negative or obsessive about how much progress you鈥檙e making. myPath has an exercise called 鈥溾�� that can help you to reframe your perceived failures by identifying the challenges and obstacles that may have prevented you from accomplishing everything you hoped to. By laying it all down on paper, you might also come to realize that you achieved much more than you think you did.听听听
Q: Why is it important for students to also focus on personal goals, and not just academic ones?鈥�
April: No matter how accomplished you are academically, or how much you enjoy your research, you are more than just the degree you are pursuing: you are a whole person with diverse needs and interests. Focusing on a select number of professional, career, and/or well-being goals that are important to you (in addition to academic ones) can help to ensure you get your wholistic needs met and can also help you to sustain the rigorous nature of grad school throughout your degree (not just up to the next deadline).听
Q: Are there any resources鈥�(i.e. apps, blogs,鈥痓ooks, etc.)鈥痶hat鈥痽ou would鈥痳ecommend鈥痜or graduate students?鈥�
April: Beyond the excellent resources, videos, and workshops the myPath team has created to help McGill grad students pursue their goals, a few goal-related resources I would personally recommend include:听听
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厂碍滨尝尝厂贰罢厂鈥� Time Management 奥辞谤办蝉丑辞辫听
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Wellness Hub鈥檚 Skills for Strategic Procrastination 奥辞谤办蝉丑辞辫听
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骋谤补辫丑辞蝉鈥� Writing Commons,听 Writing Retreat, and Three Months Advance Your Thesis听
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By: Leela Viswanathan听
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By: Bill Burnett & Dave Evans听
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and the by: Tricia Hersey听
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by: Ali Abdaal听
Q: As students return to campus in January, what motivational advice would you give those facing a post-new year slump?听
April: Be kind to yourself. We all get demotivated sometimes, especially in the cold dark days of January in Montreal, and EXTRA especially in the cold dark days of January in Montreal while in grad school.听听
Don鈥檛 buy into the lie of toxic productivity - it is a total waste of time. Take a moment to decide what goals are truly important to you for the rest of this semester and break them down into small bite-sized pieces. If you get stuck, come see me for an individual advising appointment and I can help you to break things down.听 Have confidence that doing something is usually better than doing nothing, and that, over time, your somethings will add up to the thing you are trying to create if you stay focused, take breaks, treat your whole self with respect, and reach out to your friends, family, colleagues, and other people you like for support as you are doing your thing(s).听
If you get stuck, don鈥檛 even worry about it. Getting stuck is an important part of life, learning, the creative process, and research in general. There are literally hundreds of staff members at McGill whose actual jobs are to help you get unstuck. Come find us. We want to help!听
And there you have it: a full, in-depth review of some of the resources provided through myPath that every graduate student should look into. If you want more information or need support, feel free to reach out to myPath staff here!听听