October 11, 2024

TIPS FOR SUCCESS FROM STUDENT AFFAIRS /// October 10, 2024
As a graduate student, you will have experiences that stretch and challenge the academic, emotional, professional, physical and social aspects of your wellbeing. These experiences can create positive or negative stress. Consider taking the time to develop your toolkit of daily or weekly practices to support your overall health and wellness throughout grad school and beyond. Below are a few examples and try out ones that make sense for your needs.

Identify when and where you work best. Get to know your study rhythms and comforts. Are you a morning person and need to set aside time to read, take notes, and write? Or are you more of a night owl, and prefer to do coursework in the evening? Maybe it’s a combination of the two? Can you study in a busy café, or do you need a quiet workspace, whether in your apartment, house, or at the library? Additionally, based on your weekly assignments, set concrete, manageable goals each time you study (e.g. to read these chapters or articles, to make an outline of notes and questions for seminar for this day, etc.). This can help you avoid or minimize cramming for courses. Finally, connect with peers in or outside of your department, so you can study together, share what your individual goals are for the session, and hold each other accountable to completing tasks.
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Develop a health routine that works for you. While it’s true that having a busy schedule is part of being a graduate student, it’s neither possible nor realistic to always be productive. Attending to other aspects of your life, such as your health, is just as important. You can always start with small steps. Engage in healthy habits that take only 10 minutes, like stretching at or away from your desk, going for a walk, journaling, mindful snacking, or dedicating time to wind down before going to sleep for the night — all the way to participating in weekly, fitness classes at your campus recreation center.
Additional resources:
Learn to embrace failure. In graduate school, just like in the rest of our lives, you’re bound to experience failure, make mistakes, or have setbacks from time to time. When things don’t work out, notice your self-talk. Is it too critical, harsh, or judgmental at times? Maybe something didn’t go according to plan and we might say to ourselves, “My work will never be good enough.” One way to move forward is to allow space for your feelings, get some distance, and then revisit by asking yourself, “What concrete things can I learn from this experience? What improvements can I make? What kinds of support can I connect with so I can do better next time?” Even the most accomplished people experience failure, we just don’t always hear about it.
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We hope you find these strategies useful and let us know what has worked for you.

Best,
UW Graduate School