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The PhD Life Coach
Whether you're a PhD student or an experienced academic, life in a university can be tough. If you're feeling overwhelmed, undervalued, or out of your depth, the PhD Life Coach can help. We talk about issues that affect all academics and how we can feel better now, without having to be perfect productivity machines. We usually do this career because we love it, so let's remember what that feels like! I'm your host, Dr Vikki Wright. Join my newsletter at www.thephdlifecoach.com.
Episodes
155 episodes
4.16 Why you should notice the paradox of imposter syndrome
Imposter syndrome often affects the most high achieving people yet it can still feel so true that you’re “not good enough” and “conning” other people into believing you’re better than you are. In this episode, I discuss a paradox that I see a l...
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Season 4
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Episode 16
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28:19
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4.15 What to do when you don’t know what to do
One of the most paralysing thoughts in academia is “I don’t know what to do”. Whether it’s about your next career move or how to analyse your data or what argument you want to emphasise, we can get stuck in the “don’t knows” for weeks or months...
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Season 4
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Episode 15
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25:29
4.14 What to do when the **** hits the fan
Short one this week - I am using a current example from my own life to talk you through how to look after yourself when it all goes wrong. I talk through how I decided what work I am and am not going to do, and how I am looking after myself in ...
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Season 4
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Episode 14
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11:06
4.13 How to celebrate big wins without getting too big for your boots
We’ve talked before about celebrating tiny wins, so now we’re talking about big wins. If you feel uncomfortable celebrating papers being accepted, finishing your PhD or getting a job, or any of the other big objective successes, then you’...
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Season 4
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Episode 13
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26:56
4.12 What the Celebrity Traitors taught me about imposter syndrome
THIS EPISODE CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS!! Imposter syndrome is top of my mind at the moment because it’s the focus of my membership this quarter. I’m also utterly obsessed with The Traitors and have been loving the UK Celebrity Traitors which ju...
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Season 4
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Episode 12
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26:12
4.11 Why my phone addiction confession might help you too
This week I’m confessing my dirty secrets. Have a listen and compare your screen time to mine! I talk through why I’m unhappy with my current phone usage, why I’m not beating myself and what I’m doing instead. If you’ve ever felt like you can o...
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Season 4
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Episode 11
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21:25
4.10 Why we should celebrate tiny silly wins
If you’re bored of reading people’s “I’m happy to announce…” posts on LinkedIn, where they only seem to celebrate big wins like “I got a new job” or “my paper’s published”, then this episode is for you. I’ll tell you why big wins aren’t as moti...
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Season 4
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Episode 10
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16:07
4.09 Why you are more than a Gantt chart
Sometimes it can feel like the only thing that matters is whether you are “on track” or not. We measure our self-worth in progress, we report to our supervisors about where we are against our plans, and the only answer we can think of to “how’s...
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Season 4
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Episode 9
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22:26
4.08 How to stay focused when a lot’s going on - a special coaching episode
In this episode, I talk with Gabriela, a student in my PhD Life Coach membership. She is taking a few weeks off to get married and is struggling with getting distracted, worried that she’ll feel guilty while she’s away, and that she’ll dread co...
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Season 4
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Episode 8
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52:26
4.07 Why you need an instruction manual
When you buy something like a car or a piece of technology, you get a manual - it explains what you need to do routinely to keep the product running well and helps you troubleshoot common issues. Today we consider what would go in YOUR instruct...
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Season 4
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Episode 7
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25:42
4.06 I answer listener questions
Today I’m answering listener questions in the same way that I answer questions for students in my memberships. People have submitted questions about all aspects of PhD Life and I’ve selected 7 to talk about today - for each question, I help you...
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Season 4
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Episode 6
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48:37
4.05 How to send that scary email
Today I’m sharing a real life coaching experience we had in the membership this week. One of the members came to an online coaching session because she had a “scary” email to send and she realised she’d been procrastinating for what felt to her...
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Season 4
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Episode 5
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24:51
4.04 How to prioritise when you have competing challenges - a coaching session with Predrag
In this coaching episode, I’m chatting with a part-time, international student who is juggling full time work, a family, a disability, and a PhD that started many years ago. Predrag contacted me for help with prioritisation and time management....
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Season 4
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Episode 4
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1:01:01
4.03 How to mentor anyone in academia with Dr Maria Lamonaca Wisdom
Whether you’re a PhD student or an academic, we need to be thinking about how to make mentoring more effective and enjoyable for everyone involved. This week I’m talking with author and university leader Dr Maria Lamonaca Wisdom about her new b...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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54:13
4.02 How to take better notes
Pretty much all PhD students have a vague (or very strong) sense that they’re not taking “good enough” notes. Yet for most of us, we’re not really clear what good enough notes would actually be like, and often have really unrealistic expectatio...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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24:10
4.01 How to use your existing expertise when you feel like an imposter
Feeling like you know absolutely nothing is perhaps the worst part of doing a PhD. You know you need to become an expert but often you feel like a complete imposter. One great strategy is to identify areas of your life where you DO feel more co...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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22:42
3.48 What to do when you don’t make time for yourself (special coaching episode with Gillian)
Today I’m coaching Gillian who is a member of The PhD Life Coach membership! She has been making great progress on her procrastination during Q2 of the membership, but asked for coaching around making time for herself. She lives with her parent...
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Season 3
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Episode 48
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1:02:11
3.47 What to do if you’re lonely in academia
Loneliness in academia is so common yet so rarely talked about. In this episode I’m going to get honest about some of my experiences of loneliness, share why I think academia can be a particularly lonely place, and give some tangible tips that ...
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Season 3
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Episode 47
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26:34
3.46 How to prepare for a difficult meeting
If you put off having difficult conversations or get frazzled just thinking about it, then you need to bookmark this episode! I am going to give you my three step process for preparing for a difficult meeting. You’ll learn how to manage your ow...
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Season 3
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Episode 46
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29:37
3.45 How to write your discussion when you don’t know how (special coaching episode with Becci)
Today I’m coaching Becci who is writing her final thesis discussion chapter. She told me “I feel like I don't really know what I'm doing and I'm just flailing around in the dark spewing out thousands of words and wondering what my point even is...
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Season 3
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Episode 45
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57:23
3.44 Understanding how power affects student-supervisor relationships
Today we’re thinking about the relationships we have with our supervisors/advisors. These are one of the most complex and important elements of your PhD experience yet we rarely consider the nature of the relationships. In this episode, we thin...
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Season 3
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Episode 44
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27:30
3.43 Answering your questions – balancing different commitments, academic role models and surviving publish or perish culture
Today I’m answering listener questions! We hear from people who are feeling pulled in different directions for a variety of reasons, a student who feels she lacks academic role models, and another feeling pressured by a publish or perish cultur...
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Season 3
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Episode 43
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31:06
3.42 What to do if you are considering leaving your PhD – a special coaching episode
Today you get to hear a real coaching session with a listener, Ruth, who is considering not finishing her PhD. We talk through the reasons and I take her through a process to help her make a decision that works for her. This is a great episode ...
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Season 3
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Episode 42
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46:55
3.41 Thriving with autism in academia: Advice for students and universities
In this episode, I’m joined by Jess Dineen, who is both a PhD student and a neurodivergent consultant, speaker, coach, and founder of NeuroNatives. We discuss the strengths and challenges of being in academia with autism, how autistic people ca...
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Season 3
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Episode 41
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52:24
3.40 How to read academic papers more quickly
One of the most common comments I hear from PhD students is that reading always takes longer than they expect. In this episode, I share four elements that you need to take into account when deciding how much time you are going to give an articl...
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Season 3
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Episode 40
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39:59