Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!

One of the most annoying phrases I hear is “my supervisor only gives feedback on polished drafts”. This is usually accompanied by stories of wasting weeks stressing about whether the work is polished enough, only for the supervisor to later declare it “missing the point” or other such criticisms. In this episode I discuss (ok, I rant about) why waiting for a polished draft is a fundamentally flawed policy and what we should do instead. I give advice for supervisors who think that this is the easiest/best way (I know you’re not doing it to be unhelpful!) and for students whose supervisors still do this. Check it out if you’re in this position, or if you just want to hear me get a bit feisty! 

If you liked this episode, you should check out my episode on how to edit your work without hating yourself. 

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I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464

I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!

Lots of people struggle to get work done because they feel like they’re always interrupted, whether that’s by colleagues, friends or family. In this episode I discuss how we can explore this with curiosity, and give some tangible tips about how to reduce the likelihood of interruptions as well as reducing the impact on your work. There’s some hard truths in here too, so be ready to get called out (in a loving and compassionate way as usual!)  

If you liked this episode, you should check out my episode on how to spot, and stop, all or nothing thinking.

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I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464

I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!

It’s easy to feel like our academic work has taken up permanent residence in our brains! Recently a member told me they woke up thinking about their PhD, went to bed thinking about it, and were fed up of not thinking about anything else. In the episode, I help you work out whether it’s a problem that you’re thinking about your work and, if you think it is, you’ll get some concrete advice about how to nudge your brain away from the topic. 

If you liked this episode, you should check out my episode on how to use role-based time-blocking.

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I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464

I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!

Lots of PhD students and academics feel unable to make decisions about their time management because of a series of beliefs that feel very true. They simultaneously tell themselves “I can’t fit in writing during the day because I have other commitments” AND “I can’t write more in the evenings and weekends because I’m tired” AND “I can’t reduce my commitments during the day because they’re fixed” AND “I have to (and should be able to) find more time for my writing”. In today’s episode, I discuss how believing those four statements trap you in a box, and what you can do to find a way out.  

If you liked this episode, you should check out my episode on what to do when you have too much to do.

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I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464

I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!

If you are stuck on a difficult task, then this is the episode for you! So often we get caught up on a task that we’re finding difficult, and then we struggle to see a way forward. Unfortunately we often then start making it mean something about ourselves - that we’re not good enough to be able to do the task, or that other people would find it easy, or that it “should” be achievable and it’s a problem that it’s not. In this episode we’ll think of different reasons why a task might be difficult, and go through some simple steps forward that both reframe how we think about these tasks and help us navigate a way forward.

If you liked this episode, you should check out my episode on what to do if you feel stuck.

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I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464

I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!

In this coaching episode, podcast listener Claire is exploring career options, but worries she lacks the lateral thinking skills to come up with possible ideas. I am not a career coach, but we use this example as an opportunity to explore how limiting beliefs can prevent you finding solutions and how there are many routes to creative ideas. Listen in as we discuss her situation and identify a path forward. If you want to be on the podcast in the future, make sure you’re on my newsletter to hear about future chances to volunteer! 

If you liked this episode, you should check out my episode on How to make decisions you love and this episode on how PhD Students Can Network Smarter & Avoid Career Panic with Dr David Mendes from Beyond the Thesis

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I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464

I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!

If you end the week somehow having been busy but not having done the things you intended, then this episode is for you. I’m going to help you make more intentional decisions about how to deal with tasks that land in your lap during the week, so that you can feel more in control and accomplished. I’ll also share why adding tasks to your to do list retrospectively can be a great strategy for your motivation, organisation, and future development. Let’s get control of our tasks and our weeks so that WE decide what gets done. 

If you liked this episode, you should check out my episode on Why you should never cross things off your to do list and what you should do instead.

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I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464

I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!

Do you have a piece of work that is taking way longer than intended? This episode will help you figure out why AND what to do about it. When things take longer than we thought they would, it throws off our schedule and other tasks, and can lead to us spiralling into a panic. Often we feel like we can’t stop long enough to decide what to do - we “just” need to get it done. In this episode I’ll explain why it’s not that easy, and I’ll give you a series of quick questions to ask yourself to understand what has happened, why and what options will help you address it. Crucial listening for anyone who finds their timelines get out of control and/or for anyone who supervises someone with these issues. 

If you liked this episode, you should check out my episode on What to do when you can't judge how long things take.

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I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464

I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!

Everyone I know in academia somehow simultaneously believes that they’re working far too much AND that they’re not working enough to get it all done. That leads to a horrible situation where we feel unsatisfied and exhausted, and we often don’t get to enjoy our downtime because we feel guilty too. In this episode, I answer a very common question - how much should I be working - with a more nuanced answer than you will get from most people! If you worry you do too much or not enough, then this is the episode for you.

If you want to find the Randy Pausch lecture that I mentioned, it’s here.

If you liked this episode, you should check out my episode on how to stop wasting time by trying to be too efficient.

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I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464

I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!

A critical inner voice is one of the most common and difficult experience as a PhD student or academic. In this episode, you get to hear me coaching TWO of my current students in the PhD Life Coach membership, who are both part time PhD students while holding down demanding careers in our National Health Service. It runs like one of our group coaching sessions, where they each get coached AND hear each other get coached on self-talk, prioritisation, and compassion. If you have a critical inner voice, or if you’ve ever wondered about the benefits of group coaching, then you’re in the right place!

If you liked this episode, you should check out my episode on How Winnie the Pooh can help you manage your mind.

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I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464

I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.