If you remember from my blog post at the beginning of 2024, I structure my work on How To Grad School around the FLOW framework. This framework distills tons of educational psychology research, theory, and principles for grad students so that you can use self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies in grad school.
This month, I'll be writing posts about the Obstacles category, which is probably the most tumultuous category because when grad students have challenges, they often struggle to know what to do about them.
I define the four main obstacles for grad students as behaviour, motivation, cognition, and well-being.
Of course, this is just a start and we all know there are many more challenges beyond these in grad school, but I believe that these four areas of challenge are the ones that can be addressed using SRL strategies and processes.
I also believe that behaviour challenges may be the first ones we really notice because that's what behaviour is - observable. We're either doing something or not doing something (or maybe part way in between).
How do you know if you're facing obstacles with your behaviour?
Behaviour is a highly subjective category and what may be a behaviour challenge for some may not be a challenge for others. We also need to be aware that there are systemic influences on our behaviour that cannot be ignored.
Here, I'm mostly talking about challenges you may notice to your own behaviour and why it may be important to recognize how your behaviour is being affected.
The way you can tell if you're having a behaviour challenge is to take stock of what it is you want to be doing and then seeing if your behaviour matches those intentions. This is where talking with friends, family, peers, colleagues, can be helpful as they are often also aware of behaviour changes that may need addressing.
For example:
Are you meeting the deadlines in your courses regarding papers, assignments, exams?
Are you attending required meetings and are you prepared for those meetings (e.g., have preliminary data, bring questions, etc.)?
Are you having trouble starting tasks? Finishing tasks? Starting work? Finishing work?
What other work/volunteer/family commitments do you have? Are you meeting all of those commitments? Are there some that tend to get pushed to the side in favour of other commitments?
Are you satisfied with how you meet the commitments you set for yourself, such as grad school deadlines, breaks, exercise, time with loved ones, sleep, etc.?
What other aspects of your life are important to you and are you spending enough time doing those things?
This month, I'll also be writing about motivation, cognition, and well-being challenges.
Usually behaviour challenges are linked to one if not all of these challenges, so I hope this month of writing blog posts about challenges grad students face is helpful for you as you dig deeper to the causes of some of the challenges with behaviour in grad school you are facing as a grad student.
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