The PhD Life Coach

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

In this episode, I share a fresh approach to planning for PhD students and academics that doesn’t rely on perfection. If you’ve ever felt like planning isn’t for you because you “never stick to it,” this episode is for you. We’ll explore imperfect planning: creating flexible time structures that make it easy to pick back up after things go off track.

Tune in to learn:

• Why expecting perfection derails most plans
• How to make plans that support your goals without guilt
• Simple tips for sticking with your goals in a flexible, realistic way

Perfect for anyone balancing research, deadlines, and the unpredictable journey of PhD life!

Links I refer to in this episode 

How to use role-based time-blocking

How to plan when you hate planning 

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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!

Whether you’re a regular AI user or prefer to keep your distance, understanding AI’s role in academia is becoming essential. In this episode, I chat with Dr. Jessica Parker, founder of the AI platform MoxieLearn, about the when, why, and how of using AI as a PhD student. We explore where AI can genuinely enhance your research—and where it might fall short. From the best benefits to the biggest pitfalls, and even some thought-provoking questions about the future of higher education, we delve into both the philosophical and the practical sides of AI. Tune in for insights, real-world advice, and an honest look at what AI means for the PhD journey.

Links I refer to in this episode 

Moxie

Moxie's Research 

Dr Jessica Parker’s LinkedIn Profile 

Ethan Mollick's Substack "One Useful Thing" 

The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI 

Dr Sarah Eaton – Six tenets of post plagiarism 

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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!

I don’t know about you but my brain has so many ideas and thoughts of things I should do, shouldn’t do, mustn’t forget, want to change, or need to make a decision about. I needed a system to get them out of my head but where I knew I would come back to them. In this episode, I’m sharing a system I’ve been testing to help capture and crucially organise and act on ideas more effectively. This process is all about easing mental overload, holding onto those fleeting insights, and spotting patterns in our thinking to boost clarity and problem-solving. I’m still experimenting at the moment, so I’d love to hear your feedback and ideas—perhaps there are tweaks that could make this even more useful for researchers and PhD students!

Links I refer to in this episode 

How to plan your week (with special guest and ex-client Marie)  

How to use role-based time blocking

How to manage your tasks

Second Brain by Tiago Forte

Zettelkasten Method

Obsidian

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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 struggle to get back into work after a big deadline? Have issues connecting with your supervisor? Or feel like you don’t even know whether your work is good enough or not? Then this episode is for you! In my second client Q&A episode, I answer three questions from listeners on these topics and give actionable advice if you find yourself in these situations. I even give a little controversial advice to supervisors so make sure you listen out for that too! 

Links I refer to in this episode 

What to do if you want more reassurance

How to manage your supervisor or boss

How to have a great relationship with your supervisor

What to do and think if you have a toxic relationship with your supervisor

How to improve your writing 

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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 make unrealistic plans and get impatient that you’re not progressing more quickly, then this is the episode for you! I’m going to give you specific tips about how to be more realistic and more patient so that you can be a better boss to yourself! I’ll talk about when you need to be realistic and patient, what thoughts will help and what feelings, actions and results we can then generate. If you like it, check out the rest of the five part series where I talk about 8 other qualities – compassionate, curious, strategic, ambitious, intentional, resourceful, encouraging and accepting. These all come from my online course, how to be your own best boss, which you can find on my website if you want more support! www.thephdlifecoach.com

Links I refer to in this episode 

Why we all need to be more intentional and resourceful

Why we all need to be more encouraging and accepting

Why we all need to be more compassionate and curious

How to be more strategic and ambitious

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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 a tough world at the moment. I’ve had lots of clients struggling with job insecurity, family or personal health issues, and the direct or indirect effects of all the bad stuff that’s happening in the world right now. In this podcast, I give some ideas about how you can show yourself compassion, decide what (if any) work you are capable of, and how to support yourself through these challenges times. The emphasis is always on compassion - it’s OK to find this difficult. When we can reduce the self-judgment, we can then spend time thinking about how to support ourselves.

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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 remember what fascinated you about your PhD topic? Sometimes when we’re stuck in the middle of endless studying it can be hard to recall why we even chose this programme. This week in the podcast I’m talking to Rosa Smith from the Brilliant Club about how sharing your research with schoolkids can inspire everyone involved! Rosa talks about how the Brilliant Club works with less advantaged young people in non-selective, non-feeing paying schools in the UK and improves critical thinking skills, academic performance and university prospects. In addition, we hear about how the PhD student tutors in turn develop their communication skills, organisation, confidence and teaching skills, all while getting to share their research with others. You can find out more about the Brilliant Club here - https://thebrilliantclub.org/

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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 struggle to get stuff done when you don’t feel like working, this episode is for you! I’m answering three questions from my listeners:

• Q1 How do I go from rough notes to writing sentences?
• Q2 How do I edit when I’m scared I’ll realise it’s rubbish? 
• Q3 How do I get stuff done when I feel unmotivated? 

I’ll tell you all the ways this is totally normal AND what you can do about it! 

BTW Do you ever have questions that you’d love to have answered by someone understanding and knowledgeable? Drop questions in the comments and I’ll answer them in a future episode! 

Links I refer to in this episode

How to write the thing when you’re struggling to write the thing

How to improve your writing with Dr Katy Peplin

How to plan your academic writing with Dr Jo VanEvery

How to work with the version of you that shows up

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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!

Sometimes in academia being “strategic” and “ambitious” can feel like criticisms – like we’re building our career at the expense of others or being too “corporate” for a university setting. In reality, being strategic and ambitious is just about deciding what contribution you want to make to the world and why. If you often underestimate yourself, or feel like however hard you work other people are progressing more quickly, then this is the perfect episode for you. It’s another in my Be Your Own Best Boss series, helping you to be the exact boss to yourself that you need. We’ll think about the circumstances in which it’s useful to be strategic and ambitious, what thoughts and feelings will help you, what actions you need to take and what results you will get. This will help with goal setting, prioritisation and decision making – there’s even some inspiring motivation for you at the end! 

Links I refer to in this episode

Why we all need to be more intentional and resourceful

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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 lot of PhD students and academics struggle to get started on a task or believe that they can’t start until they’ve got lots of time. In this episode, I show you how to get started on a task, so that you can complete work even when you’re busy, with less drama and stress. I show you how some of your thoughts are holding you back and give you three ways to get started on your key tasks. 

Links I refer to in this episode

How to use the Do Know Don't Know List

How to break your work down into chunks

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.