Are You Hiding Behind the Literature?
Are you hiding behind the literature? It's tempting, you know. Making academic work all about what others have done. And true, learning about what others have done is one of the core activities in doing your own research. Yet do not forget, your research has a reason to exist in its own right. It must do. Why else bother? And why else would anyone seek your work out? It's so tempting to swing between feeling like you have to design some grand theory that explains everything, to somehow integrate all the literature in a way that makes sense; and feeling [...]
Never There, Never Good Enough: How to Escape the Academic Rat Race
Are you there yet? Is the paper you want to write finished, are your deadlines met? Your data crunched, your analyses lucid, your argument convincing? Are you on top of things? What about your publication record? How many top publications can we count? Oh - is it too early to think about publications? It is never too early to think about publications. You need publications. What about the rest of your cv? Are you ticking the boxes, doing enough? Are you. Doing. Enough? Academia, at its worst, is a machine that runs on numbers. In an attempt to quantify the [...]
When Pianos Fall from the Sky: How to Deal with Illness and Other Life Disasters while Writing a PhD
Many of the struggles of PhD life pertain to invisible, imaginary pianos that might fall from the sky: feeling like you’re behind, writing struggles, fear of criticism, of not meeting a deadline...the list goes on. Most pianos don’t fall. And if they do, you find out they are quite innocent cute little pianos you are well equipped to handle, after all. Sometimes we are not so lucky, and a real whopping big piano drops right on top of us. (That's some of us. Count your lucky stars if you cannot relate!) These type of pianos tend to drop so fast [...]
‘Feeling Insecure Is Part of the PhD Process’ & How to Minimise Feeling Insecure Obsession
Feeling insecure is part of the PhD process, but it’s not the part people tend to prefer to talk about. If you have ever tried asking your peers about how they feel about their PhD, and where it stands, you’ve probably encountered one of three responses: 1. an over-exuberant exclamation of how well everything is going and how fascinating their research is (if American - and they may well be American if this is their response type - add to that that they went to the gym at 6 am this morning, before their massively productive research sessions, which all [...]
How to Stay Positive in Academia – Strategy 1 Notice What Is Already There
When you enter the world of academia, you enter the world of critical thought and rejection. It is an art academics are trained in: progress through falsification. At its best it is exhilarating, the challenge of standing your ground amidst criticism, of using it to make your argument shine. At its worst it is deflating, draining you from any enthusiasm you ever felt for your work, and allowing your self-confidence to sink. Criticism is with you every step of the way. Both externally, when you receive feedback on your work, and internally, when you are in the laborious process of [...]
I Love My Yoga Practice
I have been practicing yoga for many years, for about fifteen to be precise. I got into yoga when a friend bought a series of power yoga DVDs on TellSell. (I know. Always take the classy route.) I would go over to her house weekly and we would practice together, and lounge about on her sofa, chatting and drinking tea in post-yoga bliss afterwards. For me, bliss it is. Yoga really does bring me back to my center, my core. It makes me feel strong and clear, and soft and surrendered at the same time. When I started my practice [...]
LIBRARY
Free Resources Library
I have compiled some free resources for you to download. An e-book, a short course with encouraging emails to nudge your writing productivity alive, and a worksheet with a mini-course to create an effective and very zen work routine.
Leave your email to get access.