Monday Motivation #177 (3/11/24)
Happy Monday!
In this week’s episode of “Katy should probably say no more often,” I find myself headed to DC for a day of training at the National Institute of Mental Health. I’m co-facilitating a couple of workshops to help experienced scientists and researchers build their mentoring skills, with the goal of helping them work more effectively with the graduate students, postdocs, and junior researchers in their labs. Later this month, I’m headed to Boston to train faculty mentors of graduate students working primarily in the biomedical and health sciences.
Seven years ago, I was one of the participants in these workshops: being introduced to key concepts like identifying and aligning expectations, understanding different communication styles, and talking about how the role of a mentor should evolve over time as the mentee gains skills and becomes more independent. I also learned how to facilitate these “Entering Mentoring” workshops so that I could share the training with others. I came home from that two-day workshop inspired and excited, and promptly reserved a conference room and invited graduate students to come and learn how to work more effectively with their undergraduate mentees during summer research programs. Since then, I’ve helped to train mentors in my department, our college, and across campus — and eventually I was invited to help train research mentors (and workshop facilitators) nationally.
As much as I love facilitating and get energized by the participants in these workshops, I usually feel a little exhausted and overwhelmed preparing for them — and I really don’t need to add more things to my calendar these days. I do say “no” to most of the opportunities, but the real question is why do I sometimes say “yes?” Because that includes me in a community of facilitators from across the country, who meet a few times a year for professional development activities that help me become a better facilitator, a better teacher, and a better mentor. Because I keep learning new things that I can share with my students and colleagues, and because I am challenged to continue working to improve my own communication skills. So really, I’m saying “yes” to strategic opportunities for personal and professional growth.
Katy
Three Things to Try This Week
Say “No” — many graduate students are in the habit of saying yes to every opportunity or request or new project. Often this habit develops early on, when we’re trying to figure out exactly how grad school works and where we’d like to focus our classes and research. But at some point saying “yes” can become overwhelming. Consider this advice from a former grad student for figuring out when “no” is the right choice: https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gradhacker/saying-no#
Say “Yes” — understanding your goals and aligning your “yes” with those priorities in mind can make a big difference. Here’s some advice for figuring out when “yes” is the right response: https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2022/07/01/how-overwhelmed-and-burned-out-faculty-can-reframe-saying-no-opinion
Improvise a Bit — if you’ve ever seen comedians improvise, you’re probably familiar with the idea of “yes, and….” It’s a technique actors use to keep the story flowing, and many of these techniques have been adopted to help build communication and teamwork skills. Successful improv requires listening carefully, engaging positively, and thinking creatively — all transferable skills that can be used in a variety of professional settings. Consider this approach: https://galenemanuele.com/blog/power-of-yes-and
More Resources
- Ramadan Mubarak to the many members of our graduate community observing this holy month. Those who are interested in learning more about Ramadan might find this resource of help: https://ing.org/resources/for-all-groups/calendar-of-important-islamic-dates/ramadan-information-sheet/
- The MSU Graduate School is offering an array of workshops this month, from RECR training and developing academic job applications to navigating your PhD or enjoying lunch with the Dean. Learn more and register here: https://grad.msu.edu/calendar
- The MSU Pavilion is hosting the Lansing Home & Garden show starting this Thursday; it’s a fun opportunity to learn about everything from organizing your closets to cooking with local produce. Learn more and purchase tickets here: https://www.lansing.org/event/lansing-home-%26-garden-show/50362/
