Focus your attention on what you can control. That's what the Stoics taught us. But if you're someone who responds to every bad outcome with guilt-filled 'If only I'd ...' thoughts, you might be overestimating how much lies within your control. Don't worry - we can fix that. Grab a cuppa and sit down with your Imperfectionist friend for the first solo episode of 2025.

You can find the Wheel of Life exercise here, and the Core Values exercise here.

Have you ever wondered whether Stoicism might help you manage the stresses of modern life and find peace and satisfaction despite things being far more imperfect that you'd like? Have you ever wondered what Stoicism even is, other than a source of motivational poster slogans and the inspiration for 4-minute-read online articles called things like 'Use These 3 Stoic Hacks to Put Out Your Bin Fire of a Life'? You have? Then this is the episode for you. I interview my colleague, Professor John Sellars, who is not only a scholar of Stoicism, but is also devoted to helping people improve their lives by following Stoic principles. 

John Sellars is professor of philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London, and Member of Common Room at Wolfson College, Oxford. He’s a founding member of the London Centre for Ancient Philosophy and a member of two non-profit organizations aimed at bringing Stoicism to a wider audience, Modern Stoicism and The Aurelius Foundation. You can learn more about John, and find links to his books, articles, and more, at his website.

Do you want to live like a Stoic for a week?

Find The Academic Imperfectionist on Medium!

Friends, you are going to feel so SEEN in this episode. Kate Ahl is an integrative psychotherapist who has spent her entire life living and working with academics. She spent several years as an in-house therapist at Cambridge University, where she helped researchers and other university staff work through their emotional and interpersonal challenges. You might think your struggles are uniquely weird and shameful - but Kate has seen it all before, and she's here to give her compassionate, insightful take on why things are so hard and what to do about it. 

Find out more about Kate at her website, and sign up for her free online 'compassionate productivity' course - which I personally recommend! - here.

Find The Academic Imperfectionist on Medium!

I know you love nattering about your research with your fellow nerds. But do you know how to talk about it with normal people too - without sending them to sleep or bombarding them with jargon? If this is something you'd like to be able to do but you're terrified by the idea and/or you don't know where to start, this episode is for you. My guest this week is Tony Stubblebine, CEO of the huge blogging platform, Medium. He has smart, interested, curious readers who are dying to know what you're up to, and he thinks there's nobody in the world who's more suited to giving them what they want than you. Hit the download button to find out how!

Tony Stubblebine is the CEO of Medium. Previously, he was the owner of some of Medium’s largest publications, including Better Humans, and is the co-founder and former CEO of Coach.me. He lives in New York.

References:

'How to publish your academic writing on Medium', by Zulie @ Medium

'How to Use Psychology to Solve the Procrastination Puzzle', by Tim Pychyl

Oh, and you can now find The Academic Imperfectionist on Medium too!

Professor Stephanie Dunson is an award-winning scholar with over 20 years' experience as a writing process expert under her belt. She holds positions at Yale School of Management and the University of Connecticut's Department of English - and if you're thinking, 'Wow, that's quite a mix of disciplines!', that's because Stephanie's understanding of the process and practice of writing truly transcends disciplines. Come to think of it, it transends academia too: not only does Stephanie help academics, she also helps people in business use writing as tool to unlock insight and creativity. If you think of writing merely as a tool to help you turn thoughts into publications, Stephanie is about to open your eyes to how much more you can get out of the process.

If listening to this episode leaves you hungry for more of Stephanie's writing-related insights, you're in luck! Stephanie hosts the wonderful podcast, 100 Mistakes Academic Writers Make ... and How to Fix Them. She also has a website where you can find out more about her work as a writing coach.

Do you know how to turn what you're interested in thinking about into something that other people want to read about? Do you even know what you're interested in, as opposed to what you think you should be interested in? Do you recognise that boredom and feeling lost are necessary and unavoidable parts of the research process, and that you can use them to your advantage? Do you know how to tap into your unique strengths and produce writing that's original and insightful? Do you realise that perfection is not only unattainable, but also - and this was a new one for me - boring?

If you've ever struggled as a researcher, or if you're someone who helps students or other researchers, you need to hear this interview with Professor Thomas S. Mullaney and Professor Christopher Rea. They're the authors of the incredibly helfpul book, Where Research Begins, which I've recommended numerous times on this podcast.

Thomas S. Mullaney is professor of history at Stanford University and a Guggenheim fellow. His books include The Chinese Typewriter: A History and Your Computer Is on Fire. You can find him on Bluesky or LinkedIn. Christopher Rea is professor of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. His books include Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949 and The Age of Irreverence: A New History of Laughter in China.  Where Research Begins has its own website, where you can learn more about the book, access additional (free!) resources, and contact Chris and Tom.

Two books by other authors are mentioned in this episode. They are:

Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, William T. FitzGerald. 1995: The Craft of Research, now in its fifth edition, 2024 (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press).

Umberto Eco. 1977: How to Write a Thesis, translated by Caterina Mongiat Farina and Geoff Farina, 2015 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press)

Friends, it's the 100th episode! So, isn't it about time we talked about what perfectionism is, and why it's a problem? It's over 4 years since I recorded the first episode of this podcast, and I've learnt a LOT about perfectionism from the 99 episodes I've released so far - not to mention from the many hundreds of hours of coaching people I've done. Leave that unfinished project, that untidy desk, and that incomplete task list, and join your old imperfectionist friend for some perfection-related truth bombs.

It's a familiar story. We're feeling stuck and out-of-our-depth with our writing, so we decide we'll go and do a bit more reading - just, you know, to soak up some of the wisdom out there and become better informed and therefore better qualified to continue writing. But sadly, reading for these reasons ends up making us feel less informed and qualified, not more. Sometimes, when we're stuck, we need to write, not read. And when we do read, we need to have an agenda. We need to know exactly why we're reading. Step away from the library card, and let your Imperfectionist friend talk some sense into you.

Reference:

Mullaney, T. S. and Rea, C. 2022: Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project that Matters to You (and the World) (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press).

When I came across Dr Debbie Sorensen's recent article, 'How to recover from burnout', I knew I had to get her on the podcast! Debbie is a Denver-based psychologist with nearly 20 years of clinical experience, specialising in burnout, chronic stress, and anxiety. Her own struggle with burnout, along with her experience helping others, make her an absolute goldmine of insight and actionable strategies that you can apply to your own life. Stop fantasising about how today is the day you'll finally catch up on everything, get the kettle on, and settle down to listen to what Debbie has to say. You'll be glad you did.

Debbie is the author of two books, ACT for Burnout and ACT Daily Journal, and a co-host of Psychologists Off The Clock podcast. You can find out more about Debbie by visiting her website. 

What do you do when you have no idea? When you literally can't think of anything to write about? I don't know why I'm asking. I already know the answer: you panic and run to your favourite productivity websites for a new hack to solve it, right? And you definitely, definitely don't tell anyone, because struggling to come up with ideas is a shameful secret that you must guard with your very life. 

Friend, step away from the productivity hacks. Having no idea is something we've all experienced. It's even - hear me out - a completely normal part of the writing process. To fix it, though, you need to do something very scary. You need to relax and let go.