I have labeled these things "10 ways to frustrate your advisor". These are the types of things that will annoy any boss and can lead to failure in careers. Here is what I tell students:
Your advisor wants you to succeed. If you succeed, your advisor succeeds.
But he (or she) needs your help. When your advisor feels like you are not fulfilling your part of the bargain, he will become frustrated. Want to frustrate your advisor, harm your chance of getting an excellent recommendation after graduation, and hurt his opinion of you?
Do any or all of the following 10 things.
1. Make excuses. Excuses are for losers. Take responsibility, own up to your mistakes, and then move on.
2. Be afraid to take chances. Graduate education is about learning. You learn complex skills by trying new things and taking chances. If you make a mistake -- learn from it -- and then try something different.
3. Make the same mistakes over-and-over again. This means that you are not learning. Make mistakes, but not the same ones.
4. Be too sensitive to feedback. If you are to become a PhD, you need to learn to welcome feedback and criticism. It too is a part of learning. If you become sensitive to feedback, you will make it harder for your advisor to teach you what you need to know. And you will stop learning. Develop a tough skin and use that feedback to get better.
5. Waste time. Time management is critical for success before and after graduation. Use your most productive times of the day well. Use your less productive times for tasks that don't need much thought. Use your school holiday and summer periods well. You are now in graduate school and wasting those periods is unacceptable.
6. Wait to be told what to do. Each advisor is different. Some are micromanagers, but most do not provide a lot of guidance. The freedom you receive from hands-off advisors comes at a cost. You must find out what to do on your own. Thus, you need to plan ahead for times when you have no assigned tasks. Ask yourself, what skills do I need to develop? What kind of projects can I work on? How can I use this time well?
7. Take your TA responsibilities lightly. If you are a TA, go to the class professor and offer to help. If you are not contacted immediately, contact the professor periodically to let her know that you want to contribute. You are being paid very well to be a TA. It is not a right; it is a privilege. Provide the university with real value.
8. Be rude or selfish. Graduate education is a collaborative effort. Rude or selfish behavior reduces learning.
9. Wait until your final year before you get serious about managing your career after graduation. If you wait until just before graduation, you put yourself at a disadvantage. Starting early can help you develop your curriculum vitae to highlight your capabilities and strengths. Starting early can help you develop relationships with potential employers or people who can connect you with potential employers.
10. Worry about what your advisor thinks. Of course, you should listen to your advisor, because he is a genius and a fountain of wisdom. But at some point, you need to reach a point where you care less and less about the opinions of others -- not enough to prevent you from doing what you think is right. If you become the expert your advisor hopes you will be, you will do what you think is right and ignore what others think. At that point, you will be ready to graduate.
