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
Five steps to handle low confidence ‘my PhD will never be finished’ days
“I have bad days where I lose my confidence or am really unfocused and just tell myself that my paper will never be finished. Have you got any advice on what to do on those days?” Everybody ever who has written a PhD has been there. Those days where you doubt everything you have done, and everything you will ever do. Those days where it feels you should have done everything differently from the start, and now your work is too late to ‘save’. Those days where you know you will never finish your PhD on time, or even ever. [...]
Read MoreFour keys to building an effortless work routine
“How do you push yourself to start every day on time? I never seem to be able to start at my planned time, even if I plan to start only at 10 or 11.” Getting into a routine can seem like an elusive goal, that is until you manage to do so, and once it’s a routine, it’s a routine! The key to routines is that they take the decisionmaking out of it. You are not busy deciding whether you are going to start at 9, or, 10 or 11. Or whether to start at all. It is decision fatigue [...]
Read MoreWorried about deadlines? Try this.
“Is there any point in having a deadline? I have tried so many times, but failed to meet them, so I stopped. Then again, I feel like I miss having a deadline as it may motivate me to focus more.” The short answer: deadlines are useful until they are not. The main use of deadlines is to set an end point. It helps focus the mind, it gives you a shot of adrenalin in the run-up to the set date which helps us get stuff done. It also allows you to draw a line: academic work is never finished so [...]
Read MoreQuitting your PhD doesn’t make you a quitter
About one in three PhDs decide not to finish their PhD. These decisions aren’t taken lightly. And sometimes they aren’t taken at all, and you might keep plodding along even though you have come to the conclusion you’d rather not, because there is tremendous pressure to finish. Once you have started you have to ‘keep going’, or so it seems. Because now it is ‘too late’ to stop. Quitting means failure. You didn’t ‘make it’, and everyone will judge you for it… it won’t look good. I have a question for you: what if quitting your PhD could be an [...]
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.