Week Six: Mentors and Motivators

Like most terminology the word mentor has Greek origins.  To read a story about where the term mentor was devised check here.

Turner states that a mentor is “an experienced person who advises, guides, teaches, inspires, challenges and corrects, and serves as a role model” (Turner, 2004, p.5).  Mentors have  a critical educational value in graduate education.  Many of us are surrounded by people who have knowledge and expertise and are more than willing to share what they know to help others learn and grow.  It is important to capitalize on these opportunities whenever possible.

To me there are three types of mentors.  

• Those who have the position you would like to have and can give you insights on how to get there.
• Those that do not have the position you would like but have many skills and resources to develop skills necessary to reach your professional goals.
• Those that are in a similar position (other graduate students) to you that have great perspective on how to be successful and navigate graduate school.  Their insights will probably be more raw and practical and help you survive and capitalize on opportunities within the program.  Asking real questions to these folks helps navigate the intricacies of a graduate program.

All three types of mentors offer tremendous wisdom and insight that is necessary to progress through the program and eventually professionally.  Finding folks that are easy to connect with to foster these outstanding learning and networking opportunities is a key to graduate student success.  This process loosely involves the following steps

1. Identify individuals who have similar passions and interests (see above categories)
2. Initiate contact and relationship
3. Foster relationship
4. Secure a project or committee that connects you to them for a longer duration of time to build a relational depth (If geographic proximity is a challenge keeping a mentor in the loop about what is happening in your professional world helps keeps ties fresh)

Motivators are people that help remind us of why we are committed to our work.  They can be students, children, family, colleagues or someplace random like this.  Reminding in touch with motivators can help in times of struggle or lack of professional clarity.  We have all had days that were harder than others.  Those are the days that I find myself needing to remember motivators and their value to me.  As I write this I am thinking about needing a refresher.  

Techniques I have tried that may or may not be worth considering.

• Being proactive to reach out to people that I feel a connection with so far.
• Say thank you to those who are helpful to you.  I know that I would not be where I am without some tremendous people.  I do not thank them enough.  So this message serves as a reminder that I should send thanks to them again.
• Remembering in times of struggle that there are motivators out there that can keep you in touch with the purpose of the journey. 

Quote that best represents the week.

• One of my favorite books of all time.  Tuesdays with Morrie is filled with great quotes, but here are two favorites
• "The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in" (Albom, 1997, p. 52).
• "In the beginning of life, when we were infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right? But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well" (p. 157).

Remember that what lies ahead might be a challenge but it is worth every minute.

Resources:

Albom, M. (1997). Tuesdays with Morrie. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Neteinstein (2007, February 11).  Team Hoyt - Dick and Rick Hoyt. Retrieve September 30, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flRvsO8m_KI.

Turner,  M. (2004). Mentoring: an overview.  Retrieved from

http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/hr/mentoring/Mentoring-anOverviewMikeMunroTurner.pdf

Week Five: Happy Place

Within the entry for week two I referenced the advice in reference to  “managing your freak outs”.  This week I would like to expand upon this a little further and provide some thought that I have found useful to this topic having survived what I would describe as my first minor “freak out”.  

Adjusting to graduate study is a constant process.  Just when you think there is some method to the madness a curve is thrown in the calls for adjustment.  For me this adjustment came this week when I received my first set of feedback.  This feedback was not terrible but it was not outstanding either.  It required me to take a step back and carefully evaluate the strategies that I had incorporated thus far to create a better opportunity for future success.  The exact changes in my strategies may be elaborated at a further date but for now I want to reflect more on what to do within an emotionally sensitive point to get centered and be able to proceed with a level head.

Psychologists call this coping, or “constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing (“Wikipedia”, 2011)”.  The key is finding ways to settle your mind and body in times of high stress.  Each of us have our own ways of doing this, the important thing is to protect time to do so.  

Techniques I have tried that may or may not be worth considering.

• I run.  (Actually I jog at a slow pace, but I think you get my drift) It “costs” about three to four hours a week of my time, but the “benefits” accrued from doing so are well worth that sacrifice within my schedule.  These benefits are even more critical on days that I am more stressed than usual.  Knowing the benefits of balancing this additional stress makes it all the more important to carve out the time to run even if it is the last thing that it makes sense to do.  This by no means is a plug to start running, it is merely a push to encourage you to make time to do the one or two things that really bring you inner peace and balance when your life may not have that naturally occurring.  
• Putting myself in a situation that encourages laughing also helps.  Whatever that may entail for you I am not sure, but laughing can be powerful medicine for stress.
• I also do my best to spend time with people I care about when I can.  That time feels so much better when it is planned for and looked forward to.  Cherish it.
• If you ask me it is worth a try.  Fight for that “you” time.  I think it will help out in both the short and the long term.

Quote that best represents the week.

• “There is, only one person in this race and that person is me.” - Goerge Sheehan (Burfoot, 2007, p. 31)
• This quote reminds me that this journey is my own to figure out. It does not matter how others manage it, my experience will be unique and special from all others. It does not matter how I finish as long as I do. This quote in addition to reminding me that running is my own art, reflects well on this journey as well.

Remember that what lies ahead might be a challenge but it is worth every minute.


Resources:

Burfoot, A. (2007). The runner’s guide to the meaning of life. New York, NY: Skyhorse.

Coping. (n.d). Un Wikipedia. RetrievedSeptember 25, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coping_(psychology)

Week Four: Headlights

Recently I read a quote that I think has relevance to the graduate study journey.  In Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird she discusses the novel writing process.  Within the book she references a thought by E.L. Doctorow that says, “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”  Lamott goes on to add, “You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice on writing, or life, I have ever heard” (1995).  I agree with Lamott’s reflection and think it has specific relevance to dissertation and thesis writing.  The beginning of the research process feels disorienting like Doctorow describes.  This journey involves a lot of trust, investigation and patience.  While it is difficult to understand where a dissertation will end up, it is important to remember that much like driving in the dark, a destination can be reached small bits at a time with just a little light and the bravery to keep moving forward.  As graduate students, we embark on the study of the research process and this is an important thought to hold onto.  A dissertation or thesis will never be completed in a day. It will be completed one idea and paragraph at a time.  

Below are some ideas that might help break down the early stages of the research writing process into smaller more manageable pieces.

Techniques I have tried that may or may not be worth considering.

• Concept mapping (also called mind mapping)
• Concept mapping is a way to start to organize a series of thoughts that relate to a particular topic.  This method is helpful for organizing themes or connections in materials.  I have begun to use this method to organize potential research topics that might be worth pursuing later.  
• Below is an article by Novak and Canas that explains the psychological benefit of concept mapping if you are looking for more information about the topic.
• I would also encourage doing Internet searches for “concept map examples” or mind map examples” to get a visual of what the end product might look like.  There are also many instructional videos available that show the process of developing a map for a research project.
• Doyle (2008) also discusses concept maps int his book Helping Students in a Learner Centered Environment.

Quote that best represents the week.

• “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E.L Doctorow

Remember that what lies ahead might be a challenge but it is worth every minute.


Resources:

Doyle, T. (2008). Promoting independent learning. In, Helping students in a learner-centered environment (pp. 63-84). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Lamott, A. (1995) Bird by bird. New York, NY: Anchor Books.

Novak, J.D., Canas, A. J. The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them.  Retrieved from http://cmap.ihmc.us/publications/researchpapers/theorycmaps/theoryunderlyingconceptmaps.htm