Graduate school is often described as a journey—one filled with peaks of accomplishment and valleys of self-doubt. This week’s "Victors in Grad School" episode with Dr. Lucia Juarez is a must-listen for anyone navigating the challenges of advanced study, or even just considering taking the leap into grad school.

Hosted by Dr. Christopher Lewis, the conversation delves deep into the realities of pursuing a graduate degree across different countries and cultures, and the unique obstacles that arise, especially when juggling family, working in a second language, and adjusting to new academic systems. Dr. Juarez shares her own candid story, from earning scholarships and moving continents to facing the all-too-common “imposter syndrome” and the myth that working harder is always the answer.

One of the most powerful takeaways from Dr. Juarez is that success in graduate school is not solely about relentless effort. Instead, it’s about working smarter—not harder—by building holistic routines that protect your wellbeing, energy, and focus. Dr. Juarez’s personal wake-up call came when her all-in approach to her PhD left her physically and mentally exhausted. Recognizing the unsustainable pace, she began to reimagine her process, experimenting with practical strategies like the Pomodoro technique for focused productivity, intentional breaks, and prioritizing self-care.

These experiences led her to develop the SmartPhD System, a framework that supports students on key dimensions: self-care, mindset, attainable goals, reflection, time management, planning, and positive habits. Whether you’re struggling with motivation, managing multiple responsibilities, or hitting a productivity wall, Dr. Juarez’s system offers a toolkit for making consistent, meaningful progress.

The episode also touches on an often-overlooked aspect of the PhD journey—reconnecting with your original passion. Keeping sight of your purpose can help reignite motivation during tough times. Dr. Juarez encourages listeners to regularly reflect on their “why” and embrace the fullness of their journey, setbacks and all.

If you’re on the verge of giving up or simply searching for ways to be more effective and balanced, this conversation is for you. Dr. Juarez’s insights and empathy remind us that you’re not alone and that small shifts can lead to significant change—not just in grad school, but throughout your career.

Tune in to this episode for practical advice, reassurance, and the inspiration to build your own sustainable system for success in graduate school and beyond!

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:01]: Welcome to Victors in Grad School, where we have conversations with students, alumni and experts about what it takes to find success in graduate school. Welcome back to Victors in Grad School. I'm your host, Dr. Christopher Lewis, Director of Graduate Programs at the University of Michigan, Flint. Really excited to have you back again this week. As always, every week we are on a journey together. I call it a journey because it is a journey. No matter if you are just starting to think about graduate school, maybe you've applied and gotten accepted, or maybe you're in graduate school.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:32]: No matter where you are, there are things that you can do at every step of the journey that can help you to be successful in that overall journey. That's why this podcast exists. It is here to help you to be able to identify maybe some stumbling blocks, maybe some things along the way that you can do, to be able to help yourself to prepare yourself well, or find things that you can do, some tools for your toolbox that will help you to be able to have that smooth sailing as you go through graduate school. That's why every week I love being able to bring you different guests with different experiences that can help you to see things a little bit differently and also think about things in a little bit of a different way. Today we've got another great guest. Dr. Lucia Juarez is with us today and Lucia has a very interesting journey and we're going to be talking about her own educational journey, but also a program that she started called SmartPhD that is helping individuals that are going for that PhD to do things smarter and to really think about what they're doing to be able to have that positive, successful experience through the PhD. I'm really excited to have her here.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:01:42]: Lucia, thanks so much for being here today.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:01:44]: Hi, Chris, thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here because I think one of the things I would love to share with you today is how when I was doing my own PhD, I thought the only way to progress was by working harder and harder. And that really affected me. It almost broke me. So one of the things that I really want to share today is how I managed to find my way around creating a system. As you said, that work helping me and is helping others to finish the dissertation faster without compromising their well being, which is so important. It's becoming more and more important to protect that.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:02:20]: Well, before we jump into the SmartPhD program, because I really want to delve into that, I want to learn a little bit about your own journey because I know you did Your undergraduate work in Argentina, because you are from Argentina. That's not where you live now. We'll have some spoilers here in just a little bit of where she lives now, but you started in Argentina, and at some point in that journey, I know that you had an opportunity or you started to think about the next steps. So you were getting that bachelor's degree, and at some point you said, I want to keep going. Bring me back to that point. And what made you decide that going to graduate school was the next step?

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:02:56]: Thanks, Chris. I think, to be honest, I was always curious about teaching and researching, even before finishing my undergraduate studies. So I started doing, like, advanced courses. I was very interested in heritage conservation, and I got a scholarship as soon as I finished. So I finished in December, in January, applied for a scholarship, and in April, I was traveling to Spain to do my master's degree, and I really, really loved it. And I lived in Spain. I never actually came back home after that. So it's been more than 20 years of that.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:03:31]: And years after that, I got a scholarship to do my PhD. Related with heritage conservation as well was more like industrial heritage. I wanted to work something related with Scottish architecture and the connection with Argentina. So Scott, seems like the right place. And I got the scholarship to do it here in Edinburgh University, and I've been here since then. I have two Scottish boys. So staying here? No, I don't know for how long, but I stay here for now.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:04:00]: So talk to me a little bit about that transition, because every person goes through transitions, and now you went through some big transitions, going from one country to another country to a further country, going from different language models to different ways of teaching. What did you have to do as you were transitioning from your undergrad to your master's, from your master's to working, from working back into your PhD. What did you have to do to set yourself up for success? And what did you have to do to remain successful through that entire educational journey?

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:04:34]: I think it's successful. Sometimes it feels like a big word, Chris. I know because I've been listening some of your previous podcasts as well. There are many people in the academic world that suffer from imposter syndrome. Or we have this thing about not feeling good enough, academic enough. For me, my English was never enough. Actually, I was doubting. I am good enough in my English to be in podcast like this one, you know, because you feel like maybe because of my accent, will people really understand when I'm talking? Like, we have so many doubts.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:05:06]: And I was listening to some of your previous guests, I think it was Dr. Julie Snyder. She was saying something about transitions as you were saying. And she was saying like it wasn't a smart decision to stay in the campus. She was from the master to the PhD to make things easier. I think we want to look at things to make things easier for us. That's the smart way to do. But not always you have the option if you have a scholarship, you take it or you don't take it.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:05:37]: And, and for me, as you said before in another country, in another language, another way of doing without family support, without friends, I was like, at least I came here with my husband and that was nice company to have. And you don't feel that you need to start everything from scratch. But it was a big challenge. So when you were saying about being successful, I think sometimes it's not so linear. So there is a lot of ups and downs. And I think what we tried to do is these downs not to be going so deep. What happened to me, I think I was so deep that I needed to make a change. So when I was there at the beginning, I thought that working harder was the only option.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:06:25]: It was because to that challenges that I was saying about being in another country, writing your dissertation in another language, trying to adapt. I also had my first baby in the middle of the way. So it was super challenging. And I don't think I can talk about being successful until now. I can see in perspective because to be honest, I wasn't feeling that way at all. I was self doubting myself. I have this feeling that I wasn't good enough for my dissertation and I wasn't good enough to be a mom. It was really, really tough.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:07:03]: So I thought the only way to be success stressful was by working harder. And the problem was I was taking. So my days weren't really productive. So I started taking hours from the night and I wasn't resting at the beginning I thought, well, it is what it is, I need to do it. There is, there is no other way. But I ended up with there was a point I couldn't move forward. I had a sciatica problem, I couldn't move meaning I couldn't do much work on my dissertation. And also this is heartbroken.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:07:36]: I couldn't play with my baby. And that thing that you want you to do, that is progress in your dissertation, you need to stop everything because you cannot progress at all. I was having migraines. I developed tendinitis in my hand for working with a mouse for such a Long hours. So I went to see the gp, the doctor here, and he said, you need to stop, you need to go, you need to. He wrote me a letter to take it to the university, to the disability department so they can adapt my desk. He said, you need to do Pilates classes two times a week. And when I was listening to all this, Chris, I thought, this one is crazy.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:08:16]: He has no idea what doing a PhD is about. You know, like, I'm trying to use every minute I have so I can be with my son and working, like, who has time to go to the gym, you know? But at the same time, I thought, well, I cannot keep going in the same way. And that was a red flag I couldn't ignore. So I needed to stop and reflect a little bit about what, what I needed to do differently. Definitely. I started doing these Pilates classes. I changed my desk, I adapted more. I was trying to sleep more.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:08:51]: Headaches I alleviated a bit. But I was. I think it was something that came with me all the way until the end of my dissertation, until I finished. But there was something that I started to feel better. But they're still not making the progress I hoped I would have with putting some things in place. And I was having a conversation with my husband about what he can do or what help I will need to make more progress. And I would like to highlight this, something that some of your guests talk about earlier as well, or some of your episodes about having this support system, family, friends, mentors, coaches. So it's so important that we can ask for help as well.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:09:39]: But I said, you know, what I need is time. I need time to work on my dissertation. Because we were here with no family support, we need to pay for private nursery, and that's very expensive in the uk, so we never could actually afford more than three days. I also have a conversation with my supervisor about if I could change like a part time because I was a full time PhD student. And he said, you cannot change after halfway. You need to finish now as a full time student. So I needed to do the work of a full time, five days in three days, because that's what I could pay. And my husband said, well, we cannot pay more, but I can.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:10:20]: Instead of you dropping our son to nursery and I picking him up, I'll do both, so you have a little bit more of time. I said, well, that would give me one, two hours more per day. I can do something with that. And I remember going to the office, so excited about, this is the day I'm Going to make massive progress. I was there and around. Like I arrived early, around 8, I was already sitting on my desk. And around 7, Chris, not 7, around 3pm, I realized I had like 20 tabs open. I was reading something, but I realized I was looking at the screen, I was reading something, but I was like, I wasn't really understanding when I was reading.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:11:05]: I was like, where am I? What am I reading about? Why I'm reading this? What was this 20 tabs that I have open and why I'm here. It's been like seven hours here, not making progress. And I started feeling so guilty as well. I'm not with my son because I supposed to be here working and working, working, but I'm not progressing. I started crying. It was horrible. Like I felt so bad about myself. My PhD, me as a mum again, another red flag I couldn't ignore.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:11:41]: This wasn't sustainable anymore. But the thing is, it was clear that it wasn't just about having more time. I needed something different. So I thought it was time. But it wasn't just time. I need a strategy. I needed to know what I was doing. I didn't need 20 tabs open on my laptop.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:12:00]: So I was having a conversation with a friend who also have twins at the same time I have my sunbed and she said, I'm using Pomodoro technique. Have you ever tried? I said, no. What's that about? She said, well, you focus for 25 minutes, then you have a break of five minutes and then you go back to the task. And I thought, oh, this will help with the. This not like reading without really knowing what I'm reading about. Like I can't focus for 20, 25 minutes. So I was stopping and reflecting off what I can do different, what can be differently for me so I can make more progress. That it wasn't necessarily having more time because when you have a scholarship, although it's wonderful.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:12:39]: And I was feeling lucky as we, as we usually feel when we have this, it's not. But if I didn't finish on time, I needed to return the money. So there was a lot of press pressure. And because I only could work three times a week, I really need to put a strategy in place. One of the main things that I needed to think about was this. Chris, I know that you mentioned your daughter. Sometimes, like sometimes we worry we are maybe trying to work and thinking how our kids are doing. I wasn't really present and I needed to do something about that because I thought there is no point of me Being at work, thinking about my son and being with my son, feeling guilty because I wasn't doing PhD work.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:13:23]: So I try meditation and that really helped to be more present. So I just started having this strategy. I will go, my husband will take care of dropping, picking up. I will go to the office early, I'll do like a 10 minutes meditation only I will walk on my way. So I'll do some exercise that the doctor asked me to do and I was feeling better about that. So I will cycle or I will walk, I will arrive early, I'll do some meditation and I'll start doing the pomodoro technique. And the good thing about that is that I started making progress. And when you start making progress, you get some momentum as well.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:14:01]: And I brought like more energy. And I started thinking like, what were the other things that weren't working? And I started working in my distractions, what I can do with my phone. Then I realized, well, this thing alarms sounded like 25 minutes. Sometimes it's disturbing. What about. I think I can concentrate for 40 minutes instead of the. So I was listening to me, what was working, what wasn't working, paying more attention. So I started to be much more productive in the same time that before I wasn't really producing.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:14:31]: So doing these things, I got to the end. But Chris, I always remember this, holding the whole thing because at that time was in person, I needed to print it, I give it in the office. I think everyone is doing it online now. But I remember like, oh my gosh, I could have done this in less time, with less waste of energy, fewer tears. And I think that's what I want to do now, you know, now if, if I have to go. But of course it's late for me now. I think I wasted energy, I compromised my well being. I didn't go into details.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:15:11]: But sometimes that affect your relationships. You are moody, you're tired, you're frustrated because you're not making the progress that you are hoping. But it's not just about hope, isn't it? It's about like a strategy that will work for you. Because something that happened to me, I don't know if this will resonate with you because I know that you, you talk with a lot of people and sometimes people have like recipes or do this or that. As it was, for example, for the pomodoro technique, just you feel, oh, this is not for me or this won't work, this is too strict or this is too this or too that. And you feel, and I think many Times in the academic world, we normalizing that thing with the effort and do it more and more and more. We don't even think that there is an easier, better, more enjoyable way. It doesn't seem like it's something that you can actually have, but it is possible.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:16:02]: I know that everyone has their own journey and you listen to so many people in this podcast, but there's many.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:16:09]: Times where I remember that feeling of being a zombie in graduate school where you're losing sleep, you're trying to balance everything. I was lucky enough that in my doctorate I got my coursework before we had our first child, but I was in my dissertation phase while we had our young child. So you did have to try to carve out time to be able to have that focus time so that you didn't feel like you were taking away from your family in that way. And I know that feeling of being a zombie like you were talking about and where you were kind of clocked out per se and not being able to get things accomplished help you in developing that smart PhD system that I mentioned earlier. And I guess that sounds like from what you just said, that what you learned in this moment was really that turning point for yourself of how it changed your approach to academic life. But then I guess I look at it and think, as you look back at that now and you work with other students, what did that period of time do for you that now you try to use your system and you try to help others in learning so they don't repeat the same issue?

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:17:14]: I think it wasn't so straight away. So what I was sharing my story is with the time because I was a tutor at Edinburgh University and I was doing some teaching and I started paying attention of sometimes my students. Well, they knew about the topic. Some just wasn't reflected in their grades. So I was paying attention of why or what was going on. And some of them were having some health issues. I have a student that was depressed, so the medication she was taking was making her like a bit dizzy. I have other students that were brilliant, but they didn't know how to express their idea in written.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:17:51]: So it wasn't about the norms, knowledge on the things. So I put some effort in looking for tools or things that will help them with clarity and things like that. So when I decided to become a coach because I realized I enjoy most helping students and helping them with the tools and that and when I started listening to so many PhD students is when I was thinking about my own experience as well. So it wasn't like I finished my own PhD thinking oh, I got this, this system created. It was after listening to so many students that I realized like wait a minute, I'm listening to students all over the world and somehow any challenges that they were having were similar to the ones I had. And somehow they will be related with self care mindset, including the imposter syndrome and attainable goals. Because sometimes we are over optimistic and we are not realistic about our realities. For example, in my case, only working three days, having a baby, not having family support maybe would be different for other students working five days with not the same family.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:18:57]: So trying to adapt these goals for every individual was another thing. So that will be the A for attainable goals. Also realize that many students, as I did before, I have this big problem. We don't stop to reflect. It seems like we are so busy that reflection seems like something we cannot afford when actually you don't need a lot, like five minutes. And I in my own experience, because I didn't have option as well. But I don't think the people I'm working with or other PhD students, they need to suffer as I did to realize, oh, I need reflection, you know, if they can reflect now, like what is working, what is not working, what I can do different, they can definitely make a change that transformation. Sometimes you don't need to go that low to make it better for you or more successful or make a transformation that will make a most successful journey anyway without the suffering that I had to go through.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:19:57]: So then we have the T from time management, which is very common around a PhD student. And as I said, it was an issue that I had. It was not just about time management, also task and energy management. And that was happening in that day that I had this crash because I had the time, but I wasn't managing it properly. Then you have this idea about the P from planning and priorities. Because for example, that day I could have been productive if I knew what was my priority that day Instead of the 20 tab, what if I had just one tab with the right thing that I needed to do? So it's so important that we have all these components and something that I see very often. Most of the PhD that come to me for help are usually in the last period of their dissertation because they are running out of time and they feel, oh, I was neglecting help before, now I don't have any other option. And the first thing that we need to see is what are the priorities, what is really important in the message that they want to Go to share from their dissertation.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:21:01]: I have. I don't know how was your experience Chris with your own dissertation but and mine at the end was. I was removing paragraph that took me months to create because it was easy to remove it than to try to fix it. And when they were gone I realized they weren't really important. So there's so much time that we put in there and we are putting part of our life in there as well. Maybe we don't need that, but we need to think is this really a priority? Is this really important? And also sometimes the priority it might be being with your son that week like it was for me last week. Like sometimes it's like we are a hole and sometimes we forget that. And then the other thing about that successful over time.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:21:46]: I think if we put these things that you create that system that works and you're doing consistently. So for example for me at that time doing the meditation, checking emails only at the afternoon, for example. I'll give you an example that I see this very often in terms of habits and routines. Sometimes I ask the students like when they feel more focused for writing. And the majority said first thing in the morning. And when I ask what do you usually do in the mornings? They say I'm taking emails. So they are not developing yet the self awareness of how they work best. And they are not putting in a system that work consistently.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:22:25]: So they need if they know that they work best writing in the morning. And they do this the habits and routine and always write in the morning, check emails in the afternoon or lunchtime, always go to bed at the same time you do this then to be honest, the body is asking you for that. It's asking you for the rest. It's asking you for the exercise, it's asking you for the time to write. It's asking you to enjoy time with friends and family so you will take most and your life is more enjoyable as well. It doesn't feel so hard either. And to be honest, the deep from drive of meditation motivation sometimes comes naturally. When you start seeing that you're more effective, more productive, that brings more energy.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:23:10]: And that's why I like the idea of the system also because it happened to me. For example, that day that I was describing you earlier, I was motivated. I thought this is the day I'm going to make progress. But so some people say well, I need motivation. I was motivated that day and I couldn't make any progress because I didn't have the plan, I didn't have that strategy. The priorities That a specific task with attainable goal, that this was part of the bigger planning that I needed to have done. So that's why I like talking about that system. Because you need all of these elements.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:23:44]: You need to be rested, to be focused, you need to believe that you can do the work. So you need that mindset. It works everything together.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:23:52]: One of the things that you talk about when I was kind of looking at your system is you talk about reconnecting, reconnecting with the passion that led someone to start their PhD in the first place. Because everybody has that reason. Because not everybody wants to get a PhD. Not everybody wants to get a terminal degree and go through the process and going through that further education. What strategies do you use to help students rediscover that spark when they feel either stuck or burned out?

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:24:22]: That's a very special question, Chris, because although everyone is different, I always try to let them think why they wanted to do the PhD in the first place. Because many kind of forget they are going in a loop about that frustration and they forget that big picture. Most of the people when I asked this, the majority said or reflect on that contribution to knowledge they wanted to do. So. What is interesting about that as well is like most of the time they cannot make this contribution to knowledge if they don't finish their dissertation. And that's why important that they work mainly in the priorities or at least trying to have a full draft before polishing and making it perfect. But the other thing is you say something about the sparkle. Like sometimes I like seeing the PhD like a long relationship with a partner.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:25:20]: So I always remember, I tell this story sometimes, Chris, that I was about to start my PhD. I was renting a room, My husband didn't move straight away. I was on my own for a couple of months before and Cloud May introduced me to a friend and he said, look, he's finishing his PhD. And I said, oh, I'm about to start. And he said, I can tell that you are about to start because your eyes are still shining. And I didn't get it until later on in my PhD journey. But something that I see now is like as in a long relationship, you know, maybe the sparkle and the brightness, it's not the same either. But it might be an opportunity to learn different things.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:26:03]: For example, if your relationship with your partner is different from the beginning, but maybe it's the maturity, is there another learning experience there? Are you learning a different way to deal with things in the relationship? Are you managing? Are you improving your other soft skills in the way. So I think we do that with a PhD. You don't necessarily need to have, have that sparkle, but you can keep the motivation as soon as you feel that you are fulfilling the purpose, that you are giving something. I think many students feel, Chris, that they are putting so much from their life, their energy. They invest in money and sometimes with their own body, as I did with I was suffering. What do they get in return? Sometimes the fetus is not. Not in a good balance. So I think it's very important that the students can see what the PhD means to them, how they will feel when they finished.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:27:03]: And also it's not necessarily about that dissertation, it's about them and what every person is bringing in their dissertation as a episode into the world of knowledge. And it's so beautiful to see that at the end of the day is a creative, a creative process, isn't it? Every thesis, every person is different. And it's nice to see that contribution. But again, they needed to have it done. So how to do it without compromising, that would be the key here.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:27:33]: It's definitely the key because you, you have to figure that out as you go along so you don't lose that momentum. And you don't lose, because if you lose the momentum, the issue becomes, you get to a point, where are you ever going to finish? Because as you said, you can spend a day, a week, a month working one section of a dissertation. And we don't say that to scare you, it can get into that place. So having strategies and having things that can help you to be able to, to work smarter and not harder is so important. And you definitely want to think about that for yourself as you're going through this. So, Lucia, if a grad student is listening today and is on the verge of giving up, what's that very first step that you would encourage them to do to regain that momentum?

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:28:20]: I think most of the time the most important thing is just stop for a second. You know, sometimes we need to slow down to speed up later in that reflection, maybe can be thinking about if it's the motivation, because sometimes there are different things that can be going on, but sometimes the motivation is coming from another place. So for example, sometimes you don't feel motivated because, for example, your supervisor said something and you feel that that puts you down. So if it's something related with mindset, you can always, always kind of reframe or challenge your own thoughts. Is this actually true? Focusing more on the things that you have done? I always remember Chris and I share this with the people I'm working with. One of the most frustrating things for me when I was doing my PhD was going to be feeling super tired and start going in the mentally the list of all the things that they were missing, the things that I didn't achieve and I used to go to bed like drain and. And I learn now instead of doing that going to be thinking all the things that I have done. So it's something that I definitely encourage students to do instead of focusing on the things that they don't have done.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:29:35]: Usually they always do more than they actually think or recognize. Sometimes it can be also sending a difficult email to the supervisor. There are things that they need that kind of acknowledgement, you know, and being brave to do it. Sometimes it's like hard work because for example for me I could have spent days in the library working on archives without funding anything. So there was a joy in doing it that I used. I loved exploring the thing so you can reflect on that as well. What I enjoy from this process, what is this is teaching me so that all goes around that mindset as well. Sometimes it's that simple thing like why I'm doing this, what would be my contribution, what was this means to me.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:30:24]: I love that because I think you definitely do have to have that wake up call every once in a while to be able to remember why you are doing what you're doing. And I really appreciate sharing this Pomodoro technique as well as your smart PhD system. I think that it can definitely help so many people and we'll definitely put a link in the notes today so people can learn more about this. I guess finally as I think about a PhD and finishing a PhD. Finishing a PhD isn't just about completing a dissertation. It's about building habits for life after grad school as you think back to the not only your own experience, but the things that led you to to creating the SmartPhD system for other students. How do those lessons from the SmartPhD carry forward into careers beyond academia?

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:31:19]: Oh, that's a great question Chris. Because I did like a change in my career. Sometimes students like let's say PhD student who finished not working with me, but they finished and they're trying to find a job and they cannot find. Sometimes they call me to see if I can help them as a coach coach or just to share my experience or changing because I work for a university and I have my own business. So I like sometimes things in between. It shouldn't be necessarily one thing or the other as well, so I noticed that it's harder for me to help students in preparation for a job interview and other things that the students that they didn't go with me through the SmartPhD mainly because there were things that they were working with a smartPhD like for example building confidence, developing their self awareness. So it's so important that when you're working in your PhD and you pay attention of the things that as I was sharing before, for example what is working, what is not working, how I work best, at what time, how is my energy that it can be different from someone else. So knowing yourself can definitely make a big difference in first of all understanding what other opportunities can be be for you.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:32:29]: So being more open and be more flexible your skills are working with time management and planning can make you a great asset for any place, any job whether that's in academia or in the industry. Anyone wants to work with someone who has more positive attitudes towards work in general. Again whether that's in academia and anyone wants to work someone who is neglecting their self care because it has to be also that as the idea of the system that doesn't bring positive energy to the work that you do. And a positive energy if you ever pay attention when you are productive most of the time was the time that you were rested that you are happy with the work that you're doing that you feel motivated to do it because you feel that you can do it. So that's the mindset your attainable goals. Understanding with this act of actually attainable or not and having that that sense can also help you to present yourself better in like showing up as a professional in a different way that you will be like self doubting yourself all the time and not really knowing how do you work best. And if you pay attention to you, you will also pay more attention to others whether that's in a job interview or at work for the rest of the team. Collaboration is key in any area academia, industry and it's becoming more and more important.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:34:00]: The same with things like leadership that are so connected with self awareness that is related with that are of the reflection and mindset from the SmartPhD. So again I would say seeing you yourself as a whole and taking and try to make the best version you can today that will make you a great asset for any job that you can apply for.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:34:24]: I really appreciate you sharing that. If people want to find out more about the SmartPhD about working with you, where should they go?

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:34:30]: I think the easiest will be my website which is www Lucia Juarez and maybe I need to spell that. L U c I a j-u a r e sa.com Am I always happy to listen to stories if anyone wants to contact me on LinkedIn, for example chat experience or ask questions. I know this hard and I don't want anyone to feel alone. For many people it's a very very lonely journey. Maybe just seeing that you are not the only one and if someone on the other side just for anyone listening, just feel free to send me a message.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:35:10]: And as I mentioned earlier, I will put links in the notes today so you can find Lucia easily. So feel free to check that out and go learn more about this amazing system that can help you to be able to better manage your time and better be able to prepare yourself for that PhD that you may be considering for yourself. Lucia, thanks so much for being here today. Thank you so much for sharing and for being here and I wish you all the best.

Dr. Lucia Juarez [00:35:35]: Thanks a lot.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:35:35]: The University of Michigan Flint has a full array of master's and doctorate programs if you are interested in continuing your education. Whether you're looking for in person or online learning options, the University of Michigan, Florida as programs that will meet your needs. For more information on any of our graduate programs, visit umflint.edu/graduateprograms to find out more. Thanks again for spending time with me as you prepare to be a victor in grad school. I look forward to speaking with you again soon as we embark together on your graduate school journey. If you have any questions or want to reach out, email [email protected].