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The Academic Imperfectionist
The Academic Imperfectionist combines philosophical analysis and coaching insights to help you dump perfectionism and flourish on your own terms. Your host is Dr Rebecca Roache, a coach and Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of London.
Episodes
110 episodes
#109: Productivity, golden eggs, and inner critics
What's your reaction when your inner critic tells you that what you're doing is not good enough? If you think she's right, and that it's only thanks to her that you're getting anything done at all, you're not alone. But while you're busy listen...
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Episode 109
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21:51
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#108: Your writing warm-up
Do you know how writing is supposed to feel when it's going well? If you're anything like I was a few years ago, you have some pretty bizarre ideas here, involving things like hours on end of laser-sharp flow, iron-clad willpower to resist dist...
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Episode 108
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24:59
#107: The problem with your sense of entitlement
Are you entitled? If not, you should be. No, not like that. I'm not talking about over-entitlement, which these days seems to be what people mean when they talk about entitlement. We don't hear so much about under-entitlement: peo...
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Episode 107
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15:16
#106: Do you know how much you can control?
Focus your attention on what you can control. That's what the Stoics taught us. But if you're someone who responds to every bad outcome with guilt-filled 'If only I'd ...' thoughts, you might be overestimating how much lies within your...
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Episode 106
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22:39
#105: Professor John Sellars on how to live like a Stoic
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...
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Episode 105
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1:16:55
#104: Kate Ahl on what academics talk about in therapy
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 ...
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Episode 104
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1:26:13
#103: Tony Stubblebine (CEO of Medium) on how to find, build, and engage your audience
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 b...
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Episode 103
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1:11:49
#102: Professor Stephanie Dunson on levelling up your writing process
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 i...
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Episode 102
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1:15:38
#101: Professors Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea on the absolute basics of doing research
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 bo...
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Episode 101
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1:20:26
#100: What I've learned about perfectionism
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 ...
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Episode 100
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23:45
#99: Hey! What you reading for?
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 qualifie...
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Episode 99
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22:45
#98: Guest interview! Dr Debbie Sorensen on battling burnout
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-b...
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Episode 98
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1:14:42
#97: When failure of inspiration strikes
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 s...
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Episode 97
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26:07
#96: Guest interview! Dr David Brax on the dangers and inequalities of 'hope labour'
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...
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Episode 96
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1:05:02
#95: The perfectionism-busting power of hobbies
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, b...
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Episode 95
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32:04
#94: Postcard from the Costa del Burnout
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 ...
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Episode 94
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21:21
#93: Guest interview! Professor Joli Jensen on draining the drama from writing
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 struggli...
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Episode 93
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1:08:46
#92: Your writing-anxiety Sliding Doors moment
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 wa...
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Episode 92
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23:13
#91: Sartre, 3pm, and writing off writing days
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 ...
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Episode 91
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24:52
#90: The surprising productivity of rest
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 te...
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Episode 90
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19:08
#89: Doubting your willpower is holding you back
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. Yo...
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Episode 89
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19:56
#88: How to be a quitter
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 ...
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Episode 88
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18:04
#87: You're overlooking your unique value
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 compari...
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Episode 87
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20:55
#86: Every Academic Imperfectionist episode, summarised
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. The...
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Episode 86
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19:32