Course Content

Course Content2018-09-11T10:57:25+00:00

Welcome

Hello!

I’m delighted to see you here! We have six weeks of improving your PhD life ahead.

Every week a new module will be released. You can find them below. I will be sending you daily emails to gently guide you through the programme.

Take it easy, pace yourself, and know that you don’t have to do everything at once, or at all. The course materials will be here for you to refer back to whenever you want, so no pressure!

COURSE MATERIALS

QUESTIONNAIRE

The Stress-Free PhD Questionnaire

This is where we start. Check in with yourself to see how you are faring when it comes to stress, mental energy & self-care, work routine, your writing habits, supervision,
and mood & mind-set.

Download

MEDITATION PLAYLIST

Let’s Meditate!

We’ll be building a daily meditation practice over the next six weeks. I’ll be sending you suggestions in the course emails, or DIY by picking one of these. Includes two meditations recorded by me…

Let’s meditate!

DAILY WORKSHEET

The ZenAcademic Worksheet

Print and use this worksheet daily to get and stay on track.
All the elements will be discussed over the weeks.
It is pretty intuitive, so follow along…

Download

WEEK 1

Stress in Academia

This week we explore why academia is such a high-stress environment, and how this might affect your performance and wellbeing. We will cover how to deal with perfectionism and overcommitment in a competitive environment. You’ll learn how to identify your stress cycle.

Welcome to week 1

WEEK 2

Brain Power Routine

This week we’ll discuss how to build a self-care routine as your best ally against PhD stress. This week is all about meditation and exercise, and other self-care habits. We will cover how to shift from focus during work hours, to getting out of your head at the end of the day.

Welcome to week 2

WEEK 3

Productivity: Work in Waves

This week focuses on productivity. You will learn how to ‘work in waves’ and manage your mental energy. The tools of this week allowed me to finish my PhD in only a couple of hours a day. I will teach you how to do the same.

Welcome to week 3

WEEK 4

Create a Writing Habit

Building a writing routine is the focus of week four. This week we bring together all the tools of the previous weeks to create your personal integrated work, writing and self-care routine. Expect a real shift in how your work is going!

Welcome to week 4

WEEK 5

Corner Your Supervisor!

Supervision! It is the source of many PhD nightmares. This week we focus on this major PhD stressor. The aim of this week’s material is to empower you in your relationship with your supervisor, and to prevent you from unwittingly becoming the victim of your PhD.

Welcome to Week 5

WEEK 6

Write a Happy PhD

The final week is about finding joy and satisfaction in your PhD life. It is about connecting with that vital part of yourself that is driven by curiosity and passion for your project. We will discuss how to use your strengths and desires to create a prolific and fulfilling academic life.

Welcome to week 6

Was It Worth It to Finish Your PhD? And Should I Finish Mine?

When a PhD researcher asked me during a coaching call whether it had been worth it to finish my PhD in difficult circumstances my answer could have been both yes and no. I could hear the debate in my mind, which wasn’t really about my own PhD, but about hers, which she too was trying to finish in difficult circumstances: It may not be worth it, was a thought I had. When you’re facing something big (she was facing something big) you realise that the PhD isn’t that important. It doesn’t really matter whether you finish the project or not; [...]

December 9th, 2023|
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Fighting the Borg. Or how to stay focused by working offline

I only vaguely realised the Borg was a Star Trek reference when the phrase ‘It’s like fighting the Borg!’ popped into my head as I was thinking about social media consumption and addiction. I googled it just now, right after I promised myself I was going to get started writing this blog post. Technically I could even say it is part of work, right? Googling for my blog is doing research! I also know it is one of the habits I was much, much stricter about when I was finishing my PhD: I was uncompromising. I didn’t work online at [...]

November 13th, 2023|
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Writing in Small Chunks: Tips from a Party with Academics

When academics party, they party hard, this is common knowledge. It is of course, also the reason I said yes to an invitation to attend a party with academics. I hadn’t expected to be confronted with my own writing tips during this evening, although this is exactly what happened! In short: we danced, drank wine, and only talked about work a little tiny bit. Which in the case of talking about writing is a delight. The party was organized by a professor friend with two teenage daughters who had pleaded with their dad: it would have to be a dancing [...]

September 13th, 2023|
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Feel like you’re underperforming? It’s not you! (It’s the system)

Sometimes I feel like a broken record when I am talking about writing a PhD: no matter what you may be struggling with, I am likely to reply: “It’s not you!” Most PhDs at some point or another think there must be something wrong with them (this once included myself), or with what they are doing, that otherwise they wouldn’t be struggling as much. Academia is a challenging environment to perform and feel well in, most of the time. It can be a relief to realise that it is not some character flaw on your part that is causing you [...]

February 28th, 2020|
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What to Do When Writing Is Hard

This blog post came about after I had to produce a piece of writing on a subject new to me. I thought I would get it done easily in a couple of days. Ehm, not so. It took me a week-and-a half before I was satisfied. And there were quite a few moments while I was writing where I thought back at my PhD, because hey I remembered this feeling! The beginning where you sit down and think: oh, this is going to be so interesting. Then when that wears off the realisation that writing an authoritative piece on a [...]

December 19th, 2019|
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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 [...]

November 17th, 2019|
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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.

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