I gave a talk recently to the first-year PhD students, reflecting on my grad school experience. Basically what would I want to go back and tell myself?

Posting the slides here, in case they're at all helpful to others:
https://github.com/hagertynw/grad-school-reflections/raw/master/grad_school_reflections.pdf

Disclaimers:
- I don't presume to know what advice is right for everyone. Listen only as you see fit
- Not a comprehensive guide to grad school
- Most of it I learned from other people (but have long forgotten who)

A few highlights:

* A growth mindset is both helpful and true. Smartness and talent are not fixed; your research skills will improve with practice

* If you don't understand the seminars, it's not because you're dumb, it's just because you haven't seen enough seminars yet

* Mindful time management and activities outside econ can help you avoid conflating your work with your identity

* Be aware how fast the research frontier moves. Field courses from 2nd year will be somewhat obsolete by the time you graduate

* There is no end to the status game, so cash your chips in all along the way and try to enjoy the process

More to see in the full slides. Part of me feels like I should address the whole pandemic issue, but I have no idea how and I doubt anyone else does either. Yet another reason to be compassionate with yourself and others, and to take any advice with a large grain of salt.

Here's a different link, if you want something you can bookmark or share (the source file is on there too) https://github.com/hagertynw/grad-school-reflections/blob/master/grad_school_reflections.pdf