Last updated Jul 15, 2008
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A mentor's advice on getting started on your journey!!!

Published Friday, July 18, 2008
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As I have done with every intern I have either hired or mentored, I have a few suggestions (very strongly suggested for those I hire or mentor :) ) for all to help you grow during yoru internship.

1) Write up a mission statement.

The statement should include tangible things you want to ACHIEVE (it needs to be stated with a measurable result) during your stay, a reason why you want to do it, and how you think you will leverage it. If you cannot make it tangible or if it is simply something vague like  ("It would be nice to know...), I suggest that it might not be worth your while.

I encourage you to also write up 3,5 and 10 year life goals for yourself.

2) Prioritize the list in the mission statement in order 1,2,3,4,5

And then make a commitment that unless you have done the high priority items WELL or SATISFACTORILY, don't even try to do the ones at the bottom. There will be plenty of wonderful things for you to experience, but if you are mediocre in all of them, my feeling is that you have not learnt well.

3) Write a weekly or monthly report for yourself or your manager. Weekly reports is asked of those who worked for me, and monthly reports from those I mentor.

In this report, write up what went well and what you you managed to ACCOMPLISH compared to what you planned at the begining of the period. Reflect WHY things went well and not so well. Determine What and How you can change to improve the situation. And finally, list out what you plan to accomplish.

You will find that the successful people have a plan that is measurable either by their manager or simply for themselves.

Every 3 months, I would encourage you to measure yourself against your mission statement and make appropriate adjustments to meet your goals. This continuous monitoring will keep you on track.

All these may seem onerous initially (some of my mentees said so, initially) , but I promise you, in the end you will find  that these things are actually life management skills. I invite my mentees and former interns to post their own HONEST reflections. 

Next, I like to start a place to list a series of books myself and other mentors would encourage you to read.

Lastly, DO HAVE FUN!

Again, Welcome and enjoy your ride!

C.H.

 

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4 comments
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  • NUS Bio-Valley (University of Pennsylvania)
    Aug 20, 2008 Yee-Ling Tan said:
    The weekly report really helps me a lot in terms of personal development.
  • NUS Bio-Valley (University of Pennsylvania)
    Aug 15, 2008 Colin Lim said:
    Darren! how have you been? Heard from yuling you are disorientated cos you are no longer orbius-ing everyday! lol. what's your personal page? it would be worth sharing!
  • NUS Bio-Valley (University of Pennsylvania)
    Aug 07, 2008 Darren said:
    If any of you are interested in how i did mine, i will be posting my weekly logs on my personal page soon. Hope you guys make full use of your time there!
  • NUS Bio-Valley (University of Pennsylvania)
    Jul 23, 2008 Colin Lim said:
    Great Advice! Thanks for the advice CH!

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