Habit, Not Hack – Define Your Own Win (PI Edition)

Great mentorship starts where your trainee is, not where someone else was at that stage.

Dr. Velasquez didn’t mean to compare.

She’d had dozens of trainees over the years, some fast writers, some brilliant presenters, some who needed quiet time to build confidence. But when her new student, Jordan, joined the lab, she found herself thinking:

"Alex had a paper out by their second year. Priya was already leading collaborations. Jordan… doesn’t seem to know where to start."

She didn’t say it out loud, but the tone crept into feedback:
“You just need to be more like Priya, she really ran with things.”
“You should talk to Alex, they figured this out quickly.”

Jordan grew quieter. Less confident. More tentative.
And Dr. Velasquez, to her credit, noticed.

In a candid moment, Jordan shared, “I’m trying my best. But it feels like I’m constantly being measured against people I’ll never be.”

That hit hard.
Because Jordan wasn’t wrong.

So Dr. Velasquez made a new habit:

Instead of comparing students, she began documenting individual growth.
She set development goals based on each student’s strengths, not based on prior lab stars.
And when discussing challenges, she focused on feedback like:
“Here’s what I’ve noticed you’re improving in.”
“Let’s build on your strengths.”

Jordan still moved slower than others, but more confidently. And in year three, they designed one of the most creative experiments her lab had ever run.

The Habit: Reflect On Each Student’s Individual Journey

1.  Stop benchmarking students against each other.
One student’s pace, strengths, or path has no bearing on another’s worth or potential.

2. Shift language from comparison to calibration.
Ask: “Where were they 6 months ago?” Not “Where was someone else?”

3. Celebrate different strengths.
Your quiet data analyst, your social connector, your perfectionist protocol-writer, they all bring value.

For PIs and Research Advisors:

Mentorship is not cloning. It’s cultivation.
Your habit: See the individual. Name their growth. Nurture their pace.

Because comparison isn’t just unhelpful, t’s unfair.

Create a space that builds trust, not competition.

That’s not a hack. That’s a habit.