If you’re writing a PhD you have come to the right place!
I’m Amber Davis and I can help you finish your PhD in a couple of focused hours a day. 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 get you out of any PhD slumps you may be in.
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 get back on track 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.
If you are wondering why I do what I do: check out my story. Please do get in touch if I might be able to be of help. (In het Nederlands kan ook: ik ben Nederlands/ Engels.) I would be delighted to hear from you.
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 mini course by leaving your email below.
COURSES & E-BOOKS
BLOG
How Many Top Publications Do You Have? or The Curse of Performance Metrics
“I don’t really believe in citations myself. I don’t really count citations. I don’t value anybody’s work by the number of citations they have. I think it’s a mistake.” A quote by Nobel Prize winner James Heckman, uttered at an unusual panel at the 2017 American Economic Association meeting. It was titled ‘Publishing and promotion in Economics: The curse of the top five’, a reference to the top five journals dominating the Economics field. One of the anecdotes told was about graduate students endlessly deferring their ‘entry to the job market’ until they were sure of a top five publication. [...]
Life (real life) is not like that
“Your basic worry is, of course, your PhD proposal. I wonder if you have made some progress in the meanwhile. Your trouble may be that you try too hard (‘do something really groundbreaking, brilliant and fascinating’). Life (real life) is not like that. However, no matter the topic you settle on, it will develop into something interesting once you get into it. You can’t expect life as a PhD to be a bed of roses...” Quoted from a letter my LSE mentor Gordon Smith sent me in 2005 (back when we still wrote letters!). During this time I was writing [...]
How Are You Unwilling to Support Yourself? (And a story about Trump)
How are you unwilling to support yourself? Answering this question (and changing my habits accordingly) was fundamental in getting my PhD process (and much else) to a better place. The question popped up in one of my feeds: it was a timely reminder. Sometimes I feel academics wear their unwillingness to support themselves as a badge of honour: how much we endure, the long hours we work, how stressed we are, seems to somehow reinforce the idea of how ‘tough’ academia is, and how ‘tough’ we are if we can ‘handle it’. It is a little like the starving artist [...]
Worst Nightmare Scenario: Failing Your PhD (and How Not To)
Failing your PhD. How does it happen? I have recently been a remote witness of a behind-the-scenes-drama: a PhD candidate who received a rejection from an external examiner. Her supervisors had approved the thesis, but a member of the committee rejected it, rightfully so as far as I can gather, judging from the report that spans over a thirty pages of why the thesis is lacking and needs at least a year’s more work. It is a tragic situation. I can’t think of many things worse, as far as PhDs go. When I was writing my PhD I never thought [...]
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.