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It’s hard to look back and see how far you\u2019ve come, especially when what you\u2019re doing never seems to get easier. I see it in my classmates all the time: the frustration when an experiment doesn\u2019t work, the struggle to remain motivated when you feel like you\u2019re moving any direction but forward. I struggle with it myself, and usually it takes another person to remind me that a year ago I couldn\u2019t do 90% of the things I\u2019m doing today. But I think assessing your progress is a critical step in not getting discouraged. This is true in any context, but particularly in graduate school, where progress is so difficult to measure.<\/p>\n
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I\u2019m currently in the (hopefully) final year of my PhD, and I\u2019ve been reflecting lately on how much I\u2019ve learned in the past four and a half years. When I started graduate school, I struggled to make simple graphs of temperature and salinity. I spent a whole week during my first winter term trying to load my own data into Matlab. Then in my third year I started learning how to run oceanographic models, which solve simplified physical equations to predict ocean currents, temperature, and salinity. Two years ago I struggled with downloading the model code, a year ago I was trying to get my model to run, and a month ago I couldn\u2019t figure out why a simple run had an unexpected error.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/web.whoi.edu\/big\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/89\/2020\/04\/Fig-1-1-300x123.png\")
Left: A figure from my second Problem Set in my first graduate school class. Clearly, I also didn\u2019t know how to save figures at high resolution. Right: For comparison, a figure from my first paper.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Looking back on my journey, I could choose to interpret it two different ways. The first is to dwell on my two-year struggle to run oceanographic models. The second is to recognize that I\u2019ve grown from not knowing what \u201crunning a model\u201d meant<\/em>, to not knowing how to run it, to editing the code itself so that the runs are more accurate. Both perspectives are true, but all too often I find myself stuck in the first mode of thinking, rather than appreciating the second.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This mindset is exactly what my opening quote means to me: the task doesn\u2019t change, but I can get better at doing it. Odds are, the software, machine, or analysis technique you\u2019re working with hasn\u2019t changed much in the time since you started using it. If it seems easier now, you\u2019ve just gotten better at using it. This applies to all aspects of life: studying in graduate school, starting a new job, trying a new sport, learning a new language, or even practicing better self-care. We get better by doing the thing<\/em>, and we stay motivated by appreciating our progress.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Left: Collecting samples from groundwater wells in Duck, NC in August 2016. Photo credit: Rachel Housego. Right: Prepping an instrument in a much different environment, the Gulf of Maine, in June 2019. Photo Credit: Maura Thomas<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n My opening quote is often used as inspiration for marathon runners, and I happen to have run a marathon. The nice thing about training is it\u2019s easy to track your improvement: \u201cThis week I ran fifteen<\/em> miles! Next week I\u2019ll run eighteen!\u201d Working toward my PhD feels like a marathon in its own right, but unfortunately there\u2019s no online training guide that I can download to make sure I\u2019m on track. There\u2019s no daily plan that tells grad students exactly what to do next week, and next month, to move closer to their PhD.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Instead, I suggest tracking what you\u2019ve already done. Think back to a year ago: what can you do today, or what do you understand today, that you didn\u2019t then? If a year feels too long, do the same exercise with the past semester. Or the past month. Or yesterday.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For me, tracking my progress means keeping a notebook where I write down what I accomplished each day and its significance. This was a tip from an older student in my program that I find very helpful, because it not only reinforces what I\u2019ve accomplished, but helps me to set reasonable expectations for the next day. I also like to take a step back every few months (I\u2019m a \u201cseasons\u201d sort of person), reassess my goals, and outline new goals for the next few months. I write everything<\/em> down, because looking back on my previous to-do lists helps me to appreciate how far I\u2019ve come.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/web.whoi.edu\/big\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/89\/2020\/04\/Fig-2-300x200.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/web.whoi.edu\/big\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/89\/2020\/04\/Marathon-300x298.jpg\")