Personal Development & Well-being

Well-Being

Presentations on Well-Being

GradWell at Boise State University hosts a video library with recorded videos of presentations on topics such as emotional wellness, physical health, work-life balance, imposter phenomenon, graduate students and the advisor relationship. To get started educating yourself about mental wellness, check out these resources created by Boise State University

Mental Wellness Resources

University Counseling Services

Universities offer individual and group counseling sessions for graduate students. Find out which resources are available to you at your university to address personal issues that may be psychological, developmental, behavioral, social, or academic in nature. Or to develop new knowledge and skills related to your personal and social needs that can lead to more fulfilling life experiences.

Counseling Resources

Telehealth

Telehealth is a virtual visit with providers from our Medical, Counseling, and Psychiatry services staff from the comfort of your own home using a smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Telehealth Resources

GradConnect

GradConnect​ is a virtual workshop series designed to foster​​ connections and provide wellness tools for graduate students. The workshops aim to cultivate graduate student wellbeing in all areas. Through activities and dialogue, students will develop skills​ and gain knowledge​ related to their own mental health and wellness.

GradConnect Resources

Personal Development

Create and follow a work schedule

Setting realistic daily and weekly goals is essential to remain motivated as you accomplish small goals towards a bigger project on a daily basis. It also helps you maintain a healthy work-life balance. Work with your mentor to set these goals through structured weekly meetings. Resources such as Trello, a collaborative work management app designed to track team projects, can help you organize your projects and improve the efficiency and efficacy of collaborative efforts with your mentor and other team members on your projects.

Be sure to set and follow a schedule or calendar that tracks all of your professional commitments as well as your writing and personal goals. Try to select a single approach (e.g., Google Calendar) and stick with it. If you need to use multiple calendaring/scheduling tools, be sure to maintain one master schedule or calendar and schedule a regular time to review and update it. 

Many students plan out both long-term and short-term goals, mapping out major milestones and objectives for meeting them. This can take the format of goals and milestones for your entire graduate education or annual or semesterly goals and milestones. Watch the Every Semester Needs a Plan webinar from the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) for guidance on mapping your long- and short-term goals and tasks. You can access NCFDD through Boise State’s institutional membership.

Set Goals and Establish Priorities

Creating effective goals and establishing priorities is fundamental to successful time management and productivity. 

• Set Priorities: Determine which tasks are most urgent and important. The quadrant system, as described in the article “Time Management Strategies for Graduate Students” (Quinnipiac University), can help you organize tasks by priority.
• Break Goals into Subgoals: Divide larger objectives into smaller, actionable steps to make them more manageable and less overwhelming. 
• Be Realistic: Ensure that your goals are achievable given your current responsibilities and constraints, allowing for a balanced approach to workload and other commitments. 
• Specify Timelines: Assign clear deadlines to each goal to create accountability and a sense of progress.

For additional guidance on aligning your goals with your priorities, consider exploring resources like the webinar “How to Align Your Time with Your Priorities” from the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD). You can access NCFDD through Boise State’s institutional membership.

Create an Individual Development Plan (IDP)

An Individual Development Plan (IDP) is a resource generated by graduate students to help guide their career development. It is a written plan that helps advance academic and professional development, and it has been increasingly identified (including by NIH and NSF) as a valuable tool to use in graduate school. When creating your IDP, you will consider your interests, strengths, and the skills and qualifications necessary for a chosen career. The IDP is also a useful tool to function as a shared point of reference for conversations with your mentor(s) about how to achieve goals and evolve them. Graduate students who develop a defined career plan report greater career satisfaction, improved productivity and effectiveness, and enhanced interactions with their mentors.

You can use these resources to start your IDP:

• MyIDP: Focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields
• ImaginePhD: Focused on humanities and social science fields

To learn more about IDPs and how they can help you, explore the following additional resources:

• Follow this step-by-step guide from the Center for Career Development at Princeton University to Create Your Career Roadmap with an Individual Development Plan
• Read about IDPs from AAAS. While the articles connected here will refer you to myIDP (for STEM fields), the general information about planning, assessing, goal-setting, and making career-related decisions will be informative.