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
Past the Breaking Point: The Myth of Competition and Performance in Academia
A few weeks ago a to-remain-unnamed director of graduate studies uttered the following statement: "Unless about 25% of your PhDs drop out, your PhD programme isn’t competitive enough." What? Did I hear that correctly? What did he say?! It wasn’t a mistake. When asked again, and given a chance to perhaps come up with some nuance or disclaimers, he said: “I stand by that. I mean it! If you can’t handle it you shouldn’t be in academia.” Right. This is a problem in academia: people in charge talk ‘excellence’ and ‘performance’ and 'competition' but they don't think it through. Instead [...]
Procrastination Part Two: Nine Suggestions
Procrastination. I am still on the topic. As I shared with you in the previous blog post, changing your procrastination habit involves changing your tiny daily actions. It is the smallest, subtle, incremental changes that produce the eventual substantial change in productivity. I am keen on this idea. It makes overcoming procrastination doable. You are no longer mentally fighting the huge imaginary procrastination beast (aka PhD monster), depleting all your resources, but instead see its ability to impress shrink one small action at a time. Nine anti-procrastination suggestions: 1. Create a minimal, doable schedule Start small. If you have gotten [...]
Procrastination No More
I am currently working with someone I'd call the Queen of Procrastination. Let me just say that her workday tends to start after midnight, and that only if she has a deadline. Not just any deadline, but a deadline that CANNOT BE MET unless she gets something on paper that very night. She emailed me asking for 'sage advice'. (I love her.) The first week we worked together I recommended she set up a minimal work schedule. Minimal, so it would be doable (we agreed on two hours of work per day); and scheduled so it would be practical. It [...]
Say Goodbye to Burnout: 6 Tricks
It seems to be a natural law that when you get whacked over the head by something, difficulties increase exponentially rather than linearly. As one PhD commented in a conversation we had: “It requires strength when you least have it.” It does. It forces you to become smarter than you were, to do things more cleverly. (Some people call this the ‘gift’ or the ‘lesson’. I don’t know about that, but I do know there are few alternatives). Sometimes there is a trick, a new way of thinking about things, of doing things, that makes all the difference. Not a [...]
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.