The PhD Life Coach

Episoder

• 
  4.65 GREATEST HITS - How to use a Do Know Don't Know list 16.09.2026 25min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! One of the things I hear clients say most often is that they don't know what to do. They either don't know what decision to make in their life, they don't know how to do something, they don't know how to present their argument, how to structure their paper, they don't know which study to do, they don't know, they don't know, they don't know. It comes up all the time at every level of the academic journey, whether you're a PhD student o...
• 
  4.64 GREATEST HITS - What to do if you already feel behind 14.09.2026 22min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! In this episode, I talk about feeling behind! It's easy to spend a lot of time telling yourself that you're behind your own plan or you're behind other people. Neither feel good and neither help us make more progress. I'll talk through why these sort of thoughts hold us back and give some ideas about what to do instead. None of this needs us to be a super human - the tips are simple and achieveable, and help us move towards our g...
• 
  4.63 GREATEST HITS - Eight ways you’re secretly procrastinating 09.09.2026 32min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! Procrastinating is when we scroll social media instead of working, right? No! Procrastination is anything that we do to avoid the emotions associated with doing the task we intend to do. In this episode, I will share eight things that I think are often used as procrastination and help you figure out what to do if you recognise yourself in this! I suspect we all will... If you liked this episode, you might also like this episode o...
• 
  4.62 GREATEST HITS - How to work out why you procrastinate 07.09.2026 31min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! Pretty much every PhD student struggles with procrastination yet the advice is often very generic. In this episode, I talk about a theoretical framework that helps us better understand why each of us, as individuals, procrastinate so that we can make more tailored plans to support ourselves. I also explain why it’s totally understandable that you procrastinate and why we know it’s a modifiable behaviour – i.e. you can change! ***...
• 
  4.61 GREATEST HITS - How to Stop Wasting Time by Trying to Be Too Efficient 02.09.2026 17min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! In this episode, I explain why chasing ‘perfect efficiency’ is actually making your PhD harder. Many students think that taking flawless notes or writing excellent first drafts will save time — but this mindset often leads to procrastination and stress. Instead, I reveal why starting imperfectly is the key to progress. Writing is part of the thinking process, reading evolves with your understanding, and connecting with others can be th...
• 
  4.60 GREATEST HITS - How to make your week more effective 31.08.2026 30min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! If you start your weeks strong but usually end disappointed, then this episode is for you! I’m going to be sharing how everything improved for me when I separated “boss me” from “implementer me” and used that idea to understand why I felt so frustrated at the end of the week. I’ll identify the most common issues so you can see which resonate most with you and give you some specific ideas to try out this week! If you liked this e...
• 
  4.59 GREATEST HITS - Why I’m banning highlighters 26.08.2026 12min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! In this episode, I make a feisty case for why we should ban highlighters! I’ll give you four reasons they’re not helping you and tell you what you should be doing instead. Forward this to all your favourite stationery-obsessed friends! If you liked this episode, you might also like this episode on Ten lessons I learned about doing PhDs by playing Stardew Valley **** I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and ...
• 
  4.58 GREATEST HITS - How to take better notes 24.08.2026 27min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! Pretty much all PhD students have a vague (or very strong) sense that they’re not taking “good enough” notes. Yet for most of us, we’re not really clear what good enough notes would actually be like, and often have really unrealistic expectations about what function our notes should serve in the future. In this episode, I don’t give you new systems or softwares to improve your notetaking - instead, I talk about how notetaking is your f...
• 
  4.57 GREATEST HITS - Why you should never read when you're writing 19.08.2026 22min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! Do you keep getting distracted when you’re writing? Settle down to actual draft something, then decide to just look something up, and then two hours later you’re still down the rabbit hole and nothing is written. If so, this episode is for you! This has blown my clients minds many times. I’ll tell you why you shouldn’t read when you’re writing and what you should do instead! If you liked this episode, you might also like th...
• 
  4.56 GREATEST HITS - How to read academic papers more quickly 17.08.2026 41min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! One of the most common comments I hear from PhD students is that reading always takes longer than they expect. In this episode, I share four elements that you need to take into account when deciding how much time you are going to give an article, book or other piece of writing. By being more intentional in considering these elements, you can be much more accurate in how long each piece will take to read and often read it in less time. ...
• 
  4.55 GREATEST HITS - How to edit your work without hating yourself 12.08.2026 33min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! One of the most frustrating moments in a PhD or academic career is reading through your first draft—only to realise it’s a mess. It doesn’t flow, the arguments feel clunky, and now you’re stuck figuring out how to fix it. In today’s episode, I’m sharing practical techniques to help you transform that rough first draft into a polished manuscript—without the overwhelm and self-criticism. Whether you’re writing a thesis chapter, journal a...
• 
  4.54 GREATEST HITS - How to write when you’re confused 10.08.2026 27min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! Writing can feel like you’re banging your head against a wall sometimes. Trying to craft sentences, when you’re not entirely sure where you’re going, and then spending hours working and ending up with nothing to show for it. In this episode I unpick the self-talk that makes this more painful than it needs to be, I introduce the concept of “thinking writing” and give you some specific tasks to experiment with. I don’t promise to stop yo...
• 
  4.53 GREATEST HITS - How Winnie the Pooh can help you manage your mind 05.08.2026 29min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! In this episode we think about our own inner dialogue. How do you speak to yourself? Are you critical? Quick to judgment? Pessimisitic? Put yourself under pressure? All of these things are so common in academia yet we never really get shown how to manage our minds. Instead we either indulge these thoughts (ie we believe them and look for evidence they're true) or we admonish ourselves for having them (ie we tell ourselves "we're our ow...
• 
  4.52 GREATEST HITS - How to be your own best supervisor 03.08.2026 26min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! There is no voice you hear more often than the voice inside your head, yet we often spend very little time thinking about HOW we speak to ourselves and the effect it has. When did you last call yourself useless? Lazy? Stupid? In this episode we think about how we can notice our negative self-talk and start to be our own best supervisor. If you liked this episode, you might also like this episode on how do I stop beating myself u...
• 
  4.51 GREATEST HITS - How to prepare for a difficult meeting 29.07.2026 32min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! If you put off having difficult conversations or get frazzled just thinking about it, then you need to bookmark this episode! I am going to give you my three step process for preparing for a difficult meeting. You’ll learn how to manage your own worries, strategize for success, and leave feeling proud of yourself. If you liked this episode, you might also like this episode on what to do if you fail an annual review or milestone....
• 
  4.50 GREATEST HITS - How to have a great relationship with your supervisor 27.07.2026 26min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! In this episode I discuss five ways that you can improve your relationship with your PhD supervisor. This relationship is one of the most important aspects of your research experience yet we so often leave it to chance. The good news is that you can improve things so much without expecting them to change at all - find out how in this episode! ***NOTE - this is NOT talking about abusive, problematic and/or unacceptable supervision...
• 
  4.49 GREATEST HITS - What to do if you’re lonely in academia 22.07.2026 29min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! This is the second episode this week focused on community and relationships. Loneliness in academia is so common yet so rarely talked about. In this episode I’m going to get honest about some of my experiences of loneliness, share why I think academia can be a particularly lonely place, and give some tangible tips that you can use to make it all feel a bit better. If you liked this episode, you might also like this episode on se...
• 
  4.48 GREATEST HITS - How to build your own academic community 20.07.2026 36min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! This week we’re thinking about community and relationships! So many people feel isolated in academic and like they "should" have more of a community than they do. In this episode, I talk about the benefits of having a community inside and outside of academia and the barriers there might be to building a community. I then go through some really simple tips to help you build an academic community, step by step. If you liked this ep...
• 
  4.47 GREATEST HITS - How to prepare for your academic summer - structure and freedom 15.07.2026 30min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! This is the second of my two part series about thriving in our academic summer. This time we consider the balance between structure and freedom and how to plan a summer that meets all of our needs. I chose these episodes for my greatest hits because I think there’s a lot to learn here not just for how we organise our summers but also how we plan our time and our priorities more generally. If you liked this episode, you might also like ...
• 
  4.46 GREATEST HITS - How to prepare for your academic summer - acceptance and resistance 13.07.2026 32min

  Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! This is the first of my 24 favourite episodes, repeated for you this summer! The summer period can be particularly stressful for academics, whether it's because you miss the structure of "normal" term or because you don't feel like you even GET a summer any more. This is the first of two episodes considering how we can make the summer ours again and enjoy this part of the academic year. Today we're talking about the benefits of combini...