Have you ever wondered whether Stoicism might help you manage the stresses of modern life and find peace and satisfaction despite things being far more imperfect that you'd like? Have you ever wondered what Stoicism even is , other than a source of motivational poster slogans and the inspiration for 4-minute-read online articles called things like 'Use These 3 Stoic Hacks to Put Out Your Bin Fire of a Life'? You have? Then this is the episode for you. I interview my colleague, Pro...
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Ep 105•Transcript available on Metacast Friends, you are going to feel so SEEN in this episode. Kate Ahl is an integrative psychotherapist who has spent her entire life living and working with academics. She spent several years as an in-house therapist at Cambridge University, where she helped researchers and other university staff work through their emotional and interpersonal challenges. You might think your struggles are uniquely weird and shameful - but Kate has seen it all before, and she's here to give her compassionate, in...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Ep 104•Transcript available on Metacast I know you love nattering about your research with your fellow nerds. But do you know how to talk about it with normal people too - without sending them to sleep or bombarding them with jargon? If this is something you'd like to be able to do but you're terrified by the idea and/or you don't know where to start, this episode is for you. My guest this week is Tony Stubblebine, CEO of the huge blogging platform, Medium . He has smart, interested, curious readers who are dying to kno...
Feb 07, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep 103•Transcript available on Metacast Professor Stephanie Dunson is an award-winning scholar with over 20 years' experience as a writing process expert under her belt. She holds positions at Yale School of Management and the University of Connecticut's Department of English - and if you're thinking, 'Wow, that's quite a mix of disciplines!', that's because Stephanie's understanding of the process and practice of writing truly transcends disciplines. Come to think of it, it transends academia t...
Jan 24, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep 102•Transcript available on Metacast Do you know how to turn what you're interested in thinking about into something that other people want to read about? Do you even know what you're interested in, as opposed to what you think you should be interested in? Do you recognise that boredom and feeling lost are necessary and unavoidable parts of the research process, and that you can use them to your advantage? Do you know how to tap into your unique strengths and produce writing that's original and insightful? Do you rea...
Jan 10, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep 101•Transcript available on Metacast Friends, it's the 100th episode! So, isn't it about time we talked about what perfectionism is, and why it's a problem? It's over 4 years since I recorded the first episode of this podcast, and I've learnt a LOT about perfectionism from the 99 episodes I've released so far - not to mention from the many hundreds of hours of coaching people I've done. Leave that unfinished project, that untidy desk, and that incomplete task list, and join your old imperfectionis...
Dec 13, 2024•24 min•Ep 100•Transcript available on Metacast It's a familiar story. We're feeling stuck and out-of-our-depth with our writing, so we decide we'll go and do a bit more reading - just, you know, to soak up some of the wisdom out there and become better informed and therefore better qualified to continue writing. But sadly, reading for these reasons ends up making us feel less informed and qualified, not more. Sometimes, when we're stuck, we need to write, not read. And when we do read, we need to have an agenda. We need t...
Nov 29, 2024•23 min•Ep 99•Transcript available on Metacast When I came across Dr Debbie Sorensen's recent article, ' How to recover from burnout ', I knew I had to get her on the podcast! Debbie is a Denver-based psychologist with nearly 20 years of clinical experience, specialising in burnout, chronic stress, and anxiety. Her own struggle with burnout, along with her experience helping others, make her an absolute goldmine of insight and actionable strategies that you can apply to your own life. Stop fantasising about how today is the da...
Nov 15, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep 98•Transcript available on Metacast What do you do when you have no idea? When you literally can't think of anything to write about? I don't know why I'm asking. I already know the answer: you panic and run to your favourite productivity websites for a new hack to solve it, right? And you definitely, definitely don't tell anyone, because struggling to come up with ideas is a shameful secret that you must guard with your very life. Friend, step away from the productivity hacks. Having no idea is something we&apo...
Nov 01, 2024•26 min•Ep 97•Transcript available on Metacast Have you ever thrown far more time and energy into your work than you get paid for? Have you ever said yes to a request to be on a dull and time-consuming committee because you want to show what a great colleague you are? Have you ever done too much for too little, because you hope that it will all pay off in the end when you get that secure job, that PhD position, or that grant? If so, my friend, you've been engaging in hope labour, and Dr David Brax is worried about you. With stress, burn...
Oct 18, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 96•Transcript available on Metacast I know you think you shouldn't be making time in your life for hobbies, what with being so shamefully behind on your writing and everything. And I know that you know that, despite this, you probably should be making time for hobbies, because in theory you do actually need to relax sometimes, you suppose, so maybe you'll consider taking up chess or macrame or ice skating just as soon as you've caught up with everything you're behind on (or as soon as someone adds a 25th hour t...
Oct 04, 2024•32 min•Ep 95•Transcript available on Metacast So, that last episode that didn't happen. What was going on there, then? It was burnout, friends. Followed by trying and failing to take some relaxing time off. It wasn't all in vain, though. Here are some reflections on burnout, the battle to relax, and the dangers of disconnecting from our own needs. References: Cohen, Josh. 2016: ' Is there more to burnout than working too hard? ' The Economist , 29th June. Cohen, Josh. 2016: ' The way out of burnout ', The Econo...
Sep 20, 2024•21 min•Ep 94•Transcript available on Metacast Nope, not a new episode this time, I'm afraid.
Sep 06, 2024•1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Your Imperfectionist pal here has lost count of the times she's recommended Joli Jensen's mind-bogglingly helpful book, Write No Matter What , to struggling, anxious academics. So, Joli was the perfect (sorry) choice for this podcast's very first guest interview! She's here to tell you about: - The damaging myth that academia is a writing-supportive environment - How adopting a 'craftsman' approach to writing can make it less stressful, and even pleasant - Three &ap...
Aug 23, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep 93•Transcript available on Metacast Remember that movie, Sliding Doors? Gwyneth Paltrow's character lost her job and then we saw how her life unfolded in dramatically different ways, depending on whether she missed her train or not. Your writing anxiety is a bit like this. The way you respond to your writing anxiety determines whether you'll find writing much easier or much harder tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. The stakes are high, but making the right choice is easier than you think. It only takes ...
Aug 09, 2024•23 min•Ep 92•Transcript available on Metacast Does your writing time ever turn into a stressful nightmare? You don't make the progress you hoped in the morning, which means you need to be even more productive in the afternoon, but then you end up too stressed to start, and then it gets so late that you write the day off as a failure and promise to do better tomorrow ... except you start tomorrow stressed about how little you accomplished the day before, and the cycle repeats itself. Take a deep breath, friends. The Academic Imperfectio...
Jul 26, 2024•25 min•Ep 91•Transcript available on Metacast Athletes know that if they want to improve their performance, they need to incorporate rest into their training. You, on the other hand, are absolutely certain that if only you could write for 25 hours a day (which you can't because you're a terrible person) you'd be at the top of your game. Luckily for you, your Imperfectionist friend is here to talk some sense into you. References: Ansorge, R. 2022: 'Rest and recovery are critical for an athlete's physiological and psy...
Jul 12, 2024•19 min•Ep 90•Transcript available on Metacast Do you ever tell yourself that it's your own fault that you don't have what you want in life, because you just don't have the willpower do get it? If so, willpower is not your problem, and thinking otherwise is stopping you from flourishing. Your problem is your lack of clarity and focus about what you want. Yes, really. Now, download the shit out of this episode and have a listen.
Jun 28, 2024•20 min•Ep 89•Transcript available on Metacast Never give up, right? Winners never quit and quitters never win! All nonsense, I'm afraid. The sensible advice is much more measured and boring: quit when it's appropriate to quit. But how do you know when it's appropriate to quit? And have we really got quitting all wrong? Listen on, friends, and find out. Here 's Annie Duke talking sense about quitting on The Spark podcast. Download the Core Values exercise here , and the 5 Whys exercise here . Reference: Duke, A. 2022: Qui...
Jun 14, 2024•18 min•Ep 88•Transcript available on Metacast Did you know that your brain never devotes more than 0.5% of its power to important things like finding food, avoiding predators, thinking, perceiving, and feeling? And that this is because you're always bloody using the other 99.5% for comparing yourself unfavourably to other people? Admittedly, I just made that up - but you do spend far too much time and energy on comparison. You know you shouldn't, because it makes you feel bad. But there's another, seldom-recognised reason to ...
May 31, 2024•21 min•Ep 87•Transcript available on Metacast I've been thinking: how might someone summarise the main bits of advice from all 85 (so far) episodes of this podcast? Gather round the virtual campfire, friends, and let's talk about those things that I can't seem to stop banging on about. They are: The reverse Golden Rule (don't treat yourself in a way that would be too disrespectful or unkind to treat another person) Understand your inner critic Being mean to yourself doesn't help you Reject binary thinking...
May 17, 2024•20 min•Ep 86•Transcript available on Metacast Perhaps you're already familiar with what social psychologists have had to say about the fundamental attribution error, but did you know that it has a secret role in magnifying your anxieties about your worth? If you're prone to worrying about how everyone else in your field is more talented and smart than you are, then gather round. Your Imperfectionist friend is here to give you the real explanation - and the antidote.
May 03, 2024•16 min•Ep 85•Transcript available on Metacast Where did we all get this idea that if we want to succeed, we need to go faster? And that if we haven't succeeded yet, that must mean that we're probably not good enough? Sometimes, the reason we haven't succeeded isn't that we're not good enough, but that we haven't waited long enough. And that means that doing better doesn't necessarily require being better - it means holding on for longer. Swallow your impatience, friends, and gather round to hear about a ke...
Apr 19, 2024•20 min•Ep 84•Transcript available on Metacast No, not like that . I'm not talking about how to achieve the ultimate happiness, eudaimonia, or enlightenment. I'm simply talking about how to enjoy your down-time without feeling like you're doing it wrong. If you've ever looked forward to a well-deserved day off and then settled down for some serious relaxation only to find yourself consumed by anxiety about whether you're enjoying yourself enough , this episode is for you. References: Diener, E., Sandvik, E., and Pavo...
Apr 05, 2024•23 min•Ep 83•Transcript available on Metacast How well do you know yourself? Are there feelings that you have, or things that you care about, that you're in complete denial about? Trust me, there probably are - you just haven't noticed. And it's a problem, because until you can acknowledge the things that make you happy (or unhappy) and the things you care about, you can't even begin to build the life you want. Get the kettle on and join your Imperfectionist chum for some self-policing troubleshooting.
Mar 22, 2024•20 min•Ep 82•Transcript available on Metacast Are you hesitant to make certain changes in your life, like changing careers or ending a relationship, because you don't want the time and energy you've invested in your life so far to be wasted? If so, you're not alone - but you're wrong. Recognising that aspects of your life aren't working for you doesn't mean your efforts have been wasted. Your life isn't an essay draft, where bad choices and wrong turns get cut from the final draft. You're holding your...
Mar 08, 2024•19 min•Ep 81•Transcript available on Metacast When you're procrastinating, reluctant to knuckle down and get on with your work, taking way too long to do what ought to be a straightforward task, do you respond with self-compassion and non-judgmental curiosity as you try to work out what the problem is? Thought not. Instead, you tell yourself that you're lazy and disorganised and shouldn't even have been allowed to graduate from primary school, don't you? There's a problem with that, though. You might think you'...
Feb 23, 2024•16 min•Ep 80•Transcript available on Metacast I keep getting asked what my working day looks like. You know, as if I've cracked this whole productivity thing. I definitely haven't, but I have managed to make positive changes over the past few years as a result of making the sorts of changes I talk about on this podcast. Let me tell you about how it's all gone - not so that you can do things the way I do them (please don't!), but so you can see that change really is possible. Oh, and I'm also going to tell you about ...
Feb 09, 2024•28 min•Ep 79•Transcript available on Metacast Your problem with self-compassion: the one that leads you to be kind and supportive to other people, but nasty and vindictive to yourself. One reason you struggle with the 'self' part of 'self-compassion' is that you view yourself as separate from other people. But what if you aren't? What if the gap between you and others is simply too small and inconsequential to support your difficult-to-shake belief that it's wrong to be nasty to people, unless the person you&ap...
Jan 26, 2024•25 min•Ep 78•Transcript available on Metacast Here we are, a third of the way through January. Have you slipped up on your new year resolutions yet? Will you be kind to yourself if you do? Or will you tell yourself that you're a failure, you can't do anything right, you should just do everyone a favour and give up now? The thing is, friend, there's a dark side to positive change. Too many of us are motivated to change for the better because we don't think we're acceptable as we are. We don't feel entitled to ea...
Jan 12, 2024•17 min•Ep 77•Transcript available on Metacast 
