If you’re writing a PhD you have come to the right place!
I’m Amber Davis and I’m on a mission to make PhD stress a thing of the past. I believe productivity and self-care go hand in hand, especially so in the academic world. I teach an online programme and provide coaching to help you increase your productivity and boost your wellbeing.
Maybe you are feeling overwhelmed and behind, and are spending long days staring at your screen without making much progress. Perhaps you are unsure whether your work is ‘good enough’, and ‘far enough ahead’ (whatever that means). Maybe you are stuck with a particular chapter or article. There are always difficult stretches along the way. It is part of the process.
The Stress-Free PhD 6-Week Programme to the rescue! It will help you optimise your work routines and write your PhD (almost) effortlessly. Join me for 6 weeks of focus, productivity and self-care.
While you are here you can also read the blog, download the ZenAcademic Worksheet, and check out the other free resources.
I’m delighted you’ve found your way here. Let’s create a fulfilling academic life and let’s get some work done…
Hello, I’m Amber Davis. Let me help you write a more inspired, productive and happier PhD. Get started right now! Get access to my free resources including the ZenAcademic Worksheet by leaving your email below.
Create a superfocused workday with the ZenAcademic Worksheet!
COURSES & E-BOOKS
6-WEEK PROGRAMME
The Stress-Free PhD
Does your PhD need a boost? What if focus became a habit, and you could leave worry and PhD guilt behind? In this six-week course we will be developing essential productivity and self-care habits for a stress-free PhD.
COACHING
Coaching Sessions
Feeling stressed, demotivated, or overwhelmed? Maybe your progress has come to a halt. Difficult stretches happen to everyone on the PhD path. I offer Skype coaching sessions to work it through.
FREE E-BOOK
Finding Your
Academic Voice
My e-book Finding Your Academic Voice covers all the familiar topics: developing your core argument, research design, using the literature, finding your place in the field, the writing process. It just does it differently.
ENCOURAGING EMAILS
The Nudge
Does your academic workday seem to be never-ending? It doesn’t have to be this way. You can work shorter hours, get more done and feel better too. Sign up to receive a week of free daily email guidance to shorten your workday.
BLOG
Should I quit my PhD? Hitting a wall and answering the big questions
Have you read Joan Bolker’s “Writing your dissertation in 15 minutes a day”? I was reminded of a passage in that book when I was talking to a PhD researcher about whether or not to continue and finish the project, or alternatively drop the whole thing and embark on something entirely different. The passage in Bolker’s book goes as follows: “There’s another kind of hitting the wall that sometimes happens to thesis writers: you feel an impossible barrier between you and the finish line, the bottom falls out of your hopefulness and ambition, and your spirits border on despair and [...]
Read MoreFive tips to feel more in control of your PhD
PhDs are slow and slippery projects, it is not at all uncommon for them to feel completely out of control, at some or many stages of the process. Feeling in control of what you are doing may be right up there at the top of your lists of wishes and wants! Feeling a lack of control is the twin sister of feeling helpless, and the two of them are not the cheeriest of company. A few tips to help dodging them: 1. PhDs are uncertain creatures The first thing to note is that feeling a lack of control is normal, [...]
Read MoreNew Academic Year Ahead! And New Free Mini Course
I have been working on a free mini course to help you develop excellent work habits (hello to getting those papers written!) but wanted to wait until I was sure the holidays were over. Now it is September, and the light has turned golden, and our gaze is once again firmly on our laptops. So it is time for an announcement! The ZenAcademic Worksheet (which you can find on my free resources page) now comes with a free mini course! It is an introduction to implementing the worksheet, which will help you: Create a work (and self-care) routine that is [...]
Read MoreSupervision Woes and Tips to Cope
Sometimes synchronicity happens. And this time it happened with a good cry. About supervision. A few weeks ago I found myself walking through the park - the Amsterdam Vondelpark (far too touristy) - in tears. This was completely unexpected: I hadn't thought about my own PhD for years. It is an awful story: my supervisor died in the last year of my PhD. He had a heart attack. And I was suddenly sad about it. Really, really sad. This hadn’t really happened before in this way, and it is 8 years ago that he died, so it completely took me [...]
Read MoreWORKSHEET
ZenAcademic Worksheet
Use the ZenAcademic worksheet to create your optimal workday. It will help you focus, prioritise, and get work done. It will also help you balance the stresses of academic life. Self-care included!
Leave your email to download the worksheet.