Your One Piece of Philosophy Grad School Advice

If you could give beginning philosophy graduate students just one piece of advice, what would it be? I know that some readers will want to jump in to say “don’t”—either as a wisecrack or as sincere guidance. But as humor it’s clichéd, and as advice it’s not helpful. All graduate students nowadays have heard some version of the warnings most of us know to give undergraduates who tell us they want to go to grad school in philosophy, and they’ve decided to go anyway. So let’s offer advice that will help them do well at what they’ve chosen to do. I ask that commenters limit themselves to offering just one piece of advice, and to try not to repeat what other commenters have said. (I know it’s probably too much to ask you all to refrain from raising problems regarding the individuation of advice, but try.) I’ll start: Communicate, don’t isolate. If you’re having trouble understanding something, if you’re struggling to keep up with all of your work, if you can’t quite figure out what to…