We know that writing a thesis can be a difficult ordeal. So our next GRAD TALK question is for anyone who has faced writer’s block or other issues that got in the way of their thesis process. We want to know what barriers you faced and how you overcame them.
Feel free to comment in the box below on this website or email us at fgpa_newsletter@carleton.ca and we will share your comments in the next issue of TheGraduate@Carleton. We look forward to hearing from you.
FGPA is also hosting a focus group on this topic the end of November. That group is already full and has a long waitlist.
Last time on GRAD TALK, we asked you how you maintain work-life balance. Here’s what you had to say:
“I am taking an eight-week radha yoga class, for two hours a week, and it has been very helpful as a fruitful time to reorganize my thoughts and take an institutionalized break from the weekly routine. It has also helped me function in balancing graduate work with living priorities (such as matters of health) and provides a space in which to review ways that I can remove some of the stresses from my academic work routine.”
“Avoid working weekends!! Do something else, anything else. Don’t succumb to pressure from your supervisor, you don’t get paid enough. Your work will still get done. These are the best years of your life, remember them as being the best.”
And now, a few tips for grad students from Canada’s renowned work-life balance expert, Carleton Professor Linda Duxbury (Sprott School of Business):
1. Do not think that multi-tasking will save you time. Do one thing at a time if possible. Otherwise you end up having to spend time that you do not have later redoing something.
2. Don’t be surprised by deadlines: Surprises can be stressful. Have a to do list in a prominent place that you can use for planning purposes. Also helpful if you need reasons to say no to something – there is the list right in front of you with the reason(s) why you cannot take on something else.
3. Make time for yourself and your friends/family: Too often when we get overwhelmed by work, we end up cancelling social activities – an unfortunate tendency given the data showing that social activities and relaxation with friends and family (or even time reading a book or doing fitness) actually help you relieve stress and come back to work refreshed and rejuvenated. That being said, remember the goal is balance……. some work and some fun .. Not too much of either.
GRAD TALK is FGPA’s new initiative that allows you to share your thoughts on a particular topic with other grad students