Dear Reader,
Somehow it’s already the middle of June. Rude, I know.
(Classic summer behaviour.)
A couple weeks ago, I wrote about a question I think is worth asking at this time of year:
What do you want figured out by September?
It can be easy to think (in April or May) that you’ll have so much more free time soon, more light in the day (unless you’re in Australia or thereabouts), more energy for Doing Things to Help Yourself.
And I think that’s often at least somewhat true.
But external realities alone don’t create movement.
And some external realities, like baseball season, your city hosting the World Cup, the Knicks in 5 (!), can get you super distracted; I know this all too well.
You can have more time and still keep circling the same questions:
- What else could I do?
- Would anyone outside academia value my experience?
- What kinds of jobs would actually fit me?
- Am I ready to leave, or just tired?
- Should I be applying now, networking first, updating my LinkedIn, rewriting my resume, resting, researching, panicking quietly?
Just the usual stuff.
This is why I care so much about structure and support. (And need it in my own life.)
Not because you need someone to tell you what to do with your life. Goodness, no.
But because big career questions get easier to work with when they’re not floating around in your head as one giant, emotionally loaded cloud.
Inside the PhD Career Clarity Program, we break that cloud down.
You reflect on what matters to you now.
You take stock of your skills, strengths, values, priorities, and constraints.
You identify possible directions.
You gather real information about what’s out there.
You test ideas through conversations, research, applications, small experiments, or whatever makes sense for your situation.
And you do that with support from me and from other PhDs who get why this is weird, emotional, practical, and not always linear.
If you meant to use this summer to get clearer, there’s still plenty of summer left.
But it probably won’t happen just because the calendar loosened up.
If you want structure and support for this work, the PhD Career Clarity Program is open.
And if you’re interested but not sure whether it’s the right fit, book a private tour with me. We’ll talk through where you are, what you’re trying to figure out, and what kind of support would actually help.
And yes, please take some time to Do Summer Things Too, of course..
As for how my summer is going (not that anyone asked), I’m trying to make the most of it, within reason!
I’ve fit a couple baseball games in (so fun) and went to Harbourfront for free music as part of the Luminato Festival this past weekend. The crowd went wild for Rashmeet Kaur; this was her first Canadian show.
Cheers,
Jen
P.S. Want to explore working with me? Visit my Services page to learn about options, or reply to this email and let me know what you want my help with!
Jennifer Polk, PhD
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