The Academic Imperfectionist

#142: Resting is a skill you've been neglecting

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0100

How often do you take breaks? Scrolling on your phone while your eyes sting with tiredness doesn't count. Do you even know what sorts of activities you find restorative? Do you remember what being relaxed feels like? And don't give me that 'I'm much happier when I'm busy, honest!' nonsense. If you find it hard to switch off and relax, that's not because you don't need a rest. It's because you're out of practice. But it's a skill you can learn (or re-learn) and have fun along the way. And, importantly, it's something you need to do before you crash and burn. Close that laptop and have a sit down with your Imperfectionist friend. Together, we'll locate your OFF switch.

#141: Five sanity-saving microfixes

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0100

With all the self-improvement advice that's out there these days, you could be forgiven for thinking that you have no excuse for feeling like your life is a mess. Here's an article about how to identify the right sort of to-do list for your personality type! Here's a quiz to tell you what career path best fits your star sign! Here's a t-shirt design that will help calm your nervous system! Sometimes, though, wading through this information takes more time, attention, motivation, and willpower than you currently have. Perhaps you're too overwhelmed even to open your calendar to see what you've got on today. Maybe even the thought of making a sandwich makes you want to cry. If that's where you are today, I have you covered. I've boiled down some of my five best insights into little prompts that will take you 30 seconds. Dry your eyes and have a listen.

If you want these sanity-saving microfixes in a form that you can print out and stick above your desk (or crumple up and throw across the room, or rip therapeutically to shreds), you can download it here.

The BBC article mentioned in this episode is here.

#140: When everything feels too high-stakes

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0100

When was the last time you made a completely frivolous, inconsequential decision? Some of you, I know, are going to have to think hard about your answer to that. Some of you are all about the drama, in the worst possible way. Missing that deadline means sabotaging your entire career. Forgetting that colleague's name means revealing yourself as a giant buffoon to everyone you care about connecting with. Making the wrong decision about which project to work on next means squandering what remains of your potential. You're so anxious about reaching your goals that you're burning through your energy and your peace of mind. You know you can't go on like this, but you're afraid to relax because that means giving up, failure, and oblivion.

It really doesn't have to be this way, my friend. Not everything matters. There's room in your life and in your career for playfulness, whimsy, and mistakes without consequences. Make yourself a calming cuppa and settle in for some straight talking from The Academic Imperfectionist.

#139: How to say no (and be heard)

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0100

You've done the inner work, the soul searching, the assertiveness training. You're no longer a people-pleasing pushover who agrees to anything anyone asks. These days, you're someone who's not afraid to guard their own boundaries. You know the word 'no', and you're not afraid to use it. Go you! But there's a problem. Sometimes, saying 'no' doesn't work. You get pushback. It feels like sometimes people don't hear you. You don't understand why this happens. And while you've learned to be comfortable with saying 'no', you're out of your depth when it comes to fighting your corner against people who go all-out to get a 'yes'.

I've got you covered, my friend. With a dollop of philosophy of language, a side-serving of sociolinguistics, and a sprinkle of sociology, you can understand what's going on, and what you can do about it.

References:

Brown, P. and Levinson, S. 1987: Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Goffman, Erving. 1967: Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior (New York: Pantheon Books).

Grice, H. Paul. 1975: ‘Logic and Conversation’, in Cole, P. and Morgan, J. L. (eds.) Syntax and Semantics, Vol. 3, Speech Acts (New York: Academic Press), 41-58.

#138: 'So, what do you do?'

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0100

Imagine the scenario. You're hanging around the buffet at a conference, or skirting the edges of a post-seminar drinks reception, or - heaven forbid - drifting around an institutional networking event. As you're clutching your room-temperature drink and trying not to look too awkward, someone you've never met before says hello and asks, 'So, what do you do?' Do you have an answer? Is it a satisfactory one? Or are you someone who lies awake at night wondering how they can curate their career in a way that will enable them to be able to answer this question in a confident, self-assured way? It has come the attention of The Academic Imperfectionist that there are plenty of you out there who worry about this question. It's time to dial down the stress. Grab a cuppa, and get listening!

#137: How to flourish as an ADHD academic

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0100

If you're an academic with ADHD, you're probably battle-hardened from years spent struggling to do things that come easily to your colleagues: focus, resist distractions, tame exciting but messy ideas into nice coherent research papers. But no matter how good you've got at finding ways to get the work done, you're still at a disadvantage. The rules for How To Get Things Done were written for people who don't have ADHD. Living by those rules is harder for you than for other people, and it leaves you with a demoralising sense of being second-rate. My friend, it doesn't need to be like this. You can rewrite the rules to allow you to play to your strengths instead of managing your weaknesses. Your card-carrying academic ADHD imperfectionist buddy is here to set you on the right tracks.

#136: Stop chasing that 'finished my homework' feeling

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Do you often have thoughts like, 'I just need to finish X, then I can relax'? Except that when you finish X, you still can't relax, because along comes another obligation - and before you know it, you're face-to-face with burnout. If that's you, you're not alone, and you're not incompetent. You're simply approaching your work in a way that has served you well ever since you were a kid: finish your homework now, play later. That approach is not serving you any more, but it's hard to move on because it's part of your identity. Who even are you, if not the kid who gets their homework done?! There's a way through this muddle, my friend. Join The Academic Imperfectionist for a mindset reset.

#135: Do this instead of comparing yourself to others

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0100

We all have that one person, don't we, whose success makes us painfully aware of our own shortcomings? A person who serves as a reminder of all the great things we could have been, but aren't. Hearing news of their latest achievement is liable to ruin our entire day, as we rush headlong into reflecting on how flawed and disappointing we are. But what if it's not that simple? What if the reason that person is doing so well is not because they're better than you, but because the two of you have different values, and therefore different priorities? In this episode, I'm going to reframe your depressing comparisons and show you how you can use them to tune in to what you care most about. Turn that frown upside down, my friend, and settle in for some uplifting truth bombs.

You can find my Core Values exercise here, and the Wheel of Life here.

#134: Defeat perfectionism with one weird trick

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Yeah, okay, clickbaity title, but I really do want to share with you a helpful way of reframing perfectionism that I've been thinking about recently. Perfectionism happens when our lack of confidence in our ability to succeed meets our lack of knowledge about what success requires. Overcoming it requires filling in the gaps in our knowledge and finding constructive ways to respond to our lack of confidence. How do we do this? Well, by thinking about what we do when we're hungry, and also by thinking about getting wedged in an unground tunnel. Hear me out.

#133: Academia is just a job!

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Do you ever worry that you're not serious enough for academia? That you're constantly playing whack-a-mole with hiding your many frivolous and unimpressive traits as you try to convince everyone that you deserve your place at the table? That you're a big old fake because you need to curate yourself so much in order to seem like you belong? If so, you're not alone - and it's not because you're flawed. It's because you're yet to uncover academia's dirty little secret: that it's just a job. If you can get your head around that, life will be much less stressful.

References

Goffman, Erving. 1956: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (University of Edinburgh Social Sciences Research Centre).

Guignon, Charles. 2004: On Being Authentic (London: Routledge). (Bernard Williams quotation on page viii.)

Hawley, Katherine. 2019: 'What is impostor syndrome?', Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 93/1: 203–226.

Kelsky, Karen. 2021: 'Academia is a cult', TEDx Talks.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 1770: The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Lester Crocker (ed.) (New York: Pocket Books, 1957).

Sartre, Jean-Paul. 1943: Being and Nothingness (New York: Washington Square Press, 1992).

#132: Backpacks, bias, and your unrealistic summer plans

Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100

You know how, when teaching finishes for the summer, you feel all-powerful and end up vastly over-estimating how much you'll be able to get done before the new academic year? And, have you ever noticed that the opposite happens once term starts up again: you're overwhelmed, you panic because you don't think you're going to manage to do everything, but then you surprise yourself and it's all fine in the end? Yeah, well, there's a reason for that. Join your imperfectionist pal for a speculative little dive into the psychology of perception, and some ideas about how you can smooth out the bumps and make nice, sensible plans all year round.

References

Balcetis E, Dunning D. Cognitive dissonance and the perception of natural environments. Psychol Sci. 2007 Oct;18(10):917-21. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.02000.x. PMID: 17894610.

Balcetis E, Dunning D. Wishful seeing: more desired objects are seen as closer. Psychol Sci. 2010 Jan;21(1):147-52. doi: 10.1177/0956797609356283. Epub 2009 Dec 17. PMID: 20424036.

Proffitt DR, Bhalla M, Gossweiler R, Midgett J. Perceiving geographical slant. Psychon Bull Rev. 1995 Dec;2(4):409-28. doi: 10.3758/BF03210980. PMID: 24203782.

Proffitt DR, Stefanucci J, Banton T, Epstein W. The role of effort in perceiving distance. Psychol Sci. 2003 Mar;14(2):106-12. doi: 10.1111/1467-9280.t01-1-01427. PMID: 12661670.

Schnall S, Zadra JR, Proffitt DR. Direct evidence for the economy of action: glucose and the perception of geographical slant. Perception. 2010;39(4):464-82. doi: 10.1068/p6445. PMID: 20514996; PMCID: PMC3298360.

#131: Your binary thinking is trying to tell you something

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 13:00:00 +0100

Binary thinking is that horrible all-or-nothing approach that holds us back by convincing us that any positive change we consider will inevitably lead to disaster. You know the sort of thing: 'I should be more assertive, but if I try, I'll end up being an arrogant psychopath who everyone hates', or 'I should get out for a walk every day, but if I do, I will neglect all my duties and get fired', or 'If I show compassion towards myself I will give up and stop trying and never get anywhere in life'. If you catch yourself doing the binary thinking thing, then you need to stop immediately.

Even so, there's wisdom in the binary. If you can resist the temptation to let it sabotage all your plans, you can use it to help you realise those plans. By using your binary thinking as a prompt for reflection, you can turn your idea for positive change into a detailed, workable strategy.

Try out the brand new Binary thinking worksheet! Oh, and I also mention the Core values exercise.

#130: The bonkers mental gymnastics of your writing anxiety

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0100

We all know how hard you have to work to sit down and write. You'll do pretty much anything to avoid it. Have you ever noticed, though, that avoiding your writing is no less exhausting than just bloody doing it? Weird, right? Well, actually, not weird - at least, not when you understand how hard your poor, anxious brain is having to work to trick you into getting your words down. You care deeply about your writing - that's why you're so worried about getting it right. Yet, lots of the most well-known writing advice focuses on convincing you not to care so much about it. So, there you are, doing your best, trying to believe both that your writing is very important and that it's not important at all. Maybe that strategy is working for you, in which case, I am cheering for you. But if it's not, hit play and let your imperfect friend hand-hold you through what to try instead.

#129: The hidden burden of decision fatigue

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Are you frustrated with yourself because you just can't get on with the work you care most about? Do you find it easier to make progress with emails and marking than to get your writing done? Is your procrastination out of control? Are you just unbelievably lazy?

Take a pause, my friend. There's a reason why you struggle to make progress on the important things, and it's not what you think. Tasks like writing are complicated, and require a ton of decision-making in order to make progress. That's exhausting, but it becomes impossible if you refuse to recognise that it's necessary. The result is that you end up prioritising those less important tasks but easy-to-complete tasks.

Don't worry, though: help is at hand. Join The Academic Imperfectionist for a sneak peek at what's throwing you off course, and how to fix it.

References

Danziger S, Levav J, Avnaim-Pesso L. Extraneous factors in judicial decisions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Apr 26;108(17):6889-92. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1018033108. Epub 2011 Apr 11. PMID: 21482790; PMCID: PMC3084045.

Pignatiello GA, Martin RJ, Hickman RL Jr. Decision fatigue: A conceptual analysis. J Health Psychol. 2020 Jan;25(1):123-135. doi: 10.1177/1359105318763510. Epub 2018 Mar 23. PMID: 29569950; PMCID: PMC6119549.

Schwartz B, Ward A, Monterosso J, Lyubomirsky S, White K, Lehman DR. Maximizing versus satisficing: happiness is a matter of choice. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2002 Nov;83(5):1178-97. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.83.5.1178. PMID: 12416921.

#128: Professor Katrien Devolder on why you're wrong about laziness

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Is it bad to be called lazy? Prince Harry thinks so: in his memoir, he suggests that it's better to called racist than lazy. But even if you wouldn't go that far, I'm willing to bet that you care deeply about not being viewed as lazy. Perhaps you've worked when you should have taken a sick day, said yes to things that you knew were a bad idea, or pushed yourself to burnout - all to avoid the L word.

If you've ever thought you might be lazy, you're in great company. Plenty of high achievers think of themselves as lazy. People like Barack Obama and Stephen Fry. Is it possible to work hard and still be lazy? Were Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs lazy because they wore the same outfits every day? Are cats lazy? Is laziness the same thing as inactivity? And what is laziness, anyway?

Professor Katrien Devolder has been pondering all these questions, and more. She's convinced that, in many cases, what looks like laziness is in fact justified effort management: the completely reasonable direction of our time and energy to what's most important. In other cases, what looks like laziness is genuine difficulty getting things done resulting from neurodiversity, illness, or disability. And sometimes, ascriptions of laziness are plain old prejudice. Katrien swung by Imperfectionist Towers to show you why laziness is much more complicated than you thought.

Katrien Devolder is Professor of Applied Ethics and Director of Public Philosophy at Uehiro Oxford Institute, University of Oxford. She's the mastermind behind Project Lazy, an interdisciplinary project that combines academic research and community engagement to clarify what laziness is and challenge harmful assumptions about productivity.

#127: Professor Polaris Koi on why self-control is not what you think it is

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Be honest. You're here because you think you completely suck at self-control, aren't you? You're constantly disappointing yourself, and it's getting you down. The people around you seem to be able to get on with things - but you find it impossible, for some reason. And, by 'for some reason', you mean 'because I'm a terrible person'.

Help is at hand, my beautifully flawed friend. You've been hoodwinked about self-control. It's likely that you're actually much better at it than you think, and that the reason you think you're terrible at it is because you're taking an overly narrow view of what it is and what it's used for. What's more, self-control isn't simply a matter of willpower, and it's not all in the head. It's much bigger than that, and if you struggle with it, it might be for social and political reasons.

Here to spill the beans about self-control is Polaris Koi, Assistant Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Turku, Finland. He's spent years working to understand the very human experience of trying and failing to get ourselves to do the things we want to be doing. He's an interdisciplinary research who focuses on human agency, decision-making, and cognitive diversity. He's also the founder of Ronroo, a psychoeducation app that offers easy-to-reach support for people with self-control and executive functioning difficulties.

#126: Why you should care about emotional frailty

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

You know what frailty is, and you definitely want to avoid it. But have you heard of emotional frailty? No, of course not - I've just made it up. But if you've ever felt like you're completely winning at life, and then some tiny little setback knocks you sideways, leaving you wondering what's wrong with you and why you suddenly can't cope, emotional frailty is to blame. Emotional frailty is invisible, it's dangerous - and often, the culture around us encourages us to do exactly the sorts of things that exacerbate it. It's time to fight back. Your Imperfectionist friend is here to show you how.

Find the Wheel of Life exercise here.

#125: Your moral gerrymandering is hurting you

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

You're a good person. You try to be a good friend, a good colleague, and a good neighbour. You care about other people, you pull your weight, and you don't let anyone down. But, sometimes, you feel you're not enough. You're exhausted, but taking time for yourself means doing wrong by somebody else. You feel like you need to destroy yourself just to avoid being a bad person.

If this sounds familiar, you're not crazy or inadequate. The problem is that you've constructed a moral framework that unfairly burdens you, and you don't even realise, because on the surface it looks like you're following completely plausible moral principles. But don't worry: help is at hand! Your Imperfectionist friend here is going to show you what's gone wrong and how to fix it.

#124: Dr Dana Klisanin on wild willpower and drawing resilience from nature

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What comes to mind when you think about willpower? Discipline? Self-denial? Overcoming your weak, useless, lazy self? Exhausting, right? Thankfully, there's another way, and this episode's guest is here to take you there. Dr Dana Klisanin is a psychologist and one of Forbes's 50 leading female futurists. She's a researcher, an author, an artist, a TEDx speaker, and the founder of ReWilding: Lab, where she explores the untapped potential of human-nature connection to improve health and wellbeing, and to help us live more sustainably. She sat down with me to talk about how a fulfilling life needn't involve fighting and winning against our natural inclinations, and why thinking of ourselves as part of the natural world can make us happier, stronger, and more resilient.

Read Dana's article in Psychology Today, 'What if we've misunderstood willpower all along?'

Pre-order Dana's latest book, The Art of Wild Willpower: Nature-Based Invitations for Ritual, Reflection, and Reconnection.

Dana's recent TEDx talk, 'Rewilding the mind: The most endangered habitat is inside us', will soon be published here.

#123: What do you have to brag about?

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0000

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your willingness to say nice things about yourself? How about your willingness to point out your own failures and shortcomings? If the first number you came up with is higher than the second, then move along, my friend - this episode can do nothing for you. Gather round, the rest of you. You've been taught all your life that modesty and humility are virtues. But, would you know if your self-deprecation had gone too far? Could your toxic humility be holding you back? And if it is, so what? Better that than being arrogant, right?!

Oh dear, friend. What a mess. But don't worry. Your Imperfectionist friend is here to show how you can do some healthy cheerleading for yourself without turning into a boasty monster. Settle down for the final episode of 2025, and prepare to end it with a smile on your face!

Contact The Academic Imperfectionist here, or via Bluesky, Facebook, or Medium.

Read Emma Beddington's article about toxic humility here.

#122: Write it down, make it happen

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Do you get up every day and tear around trying to get stuff done, and yet still end up feeling overwhelmed and frustrated at your lack of progress? There's something very simple - so simple, in fact, that you're going to feel cheated and frankly furious as soon as I tell you what it is - that you can do to get more done and feel less frantic. Now, I know you don't have time to listen to this episode because YOU SHOULD BE WRITING, but trust me on this one. Get the kettle on, take a break, and have a listen. You'll be glad you did.

#121: Is your self-improvement self-rejection in disguise?

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0000

I know how committed you are to self-improvement. Self-improvement is a good thing, right? Well, it depends. If you're motivated to improve yourself because you don't like yourself as you are, then perhaps it's not as wholesome as you thought. But how do you tell whether you're doing the wholesome sort of self-improvement or the unwholesome sort? What even is the right sort of self-improvement? Step off your upward trajectory for a moment, friend, and let your Imperfectionist friend here decipher all this for you.

Find the 5 whys exercise here.

#120: Professor Wendelien van Eerde on the science of procrastination

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 05:00:00 +0100

If you thought you knew everything about procrastination, prepare to be humbled. Professor Wendelien van Eerde is a psychologist who has spent her entire career understanding procrastination, motivation, and time management, and helping people work more effectively. She swung by Imperfectionist Towers to share her knowledge and help troubleshoot your productivity woes. You're going to hear all about how your tendency to procrastinate depends on your personality traits, your age, how nice you are to yourself, the sort of task you're trying to do, whether anyone knows what you're doing, and more. You'll also pick up some tips about how to stop procrastination, and you'll learn that what works best for one person might not work so well for another. It's a good 'un, so get yourself a cuppa and settle in for a listen!

Wendelien van Eerde is an associate professor at the Amsterdam Business School of the University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on motivation, procrastination and other time-related behaviours at work. Her publications include several meta-analyses on these topics. You can read 'How to stop procrastinating', her article for Psyche, here.

#119: All about coaching

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 05:00:00 +0100

What's coaching, what's the difference between coaching and therapy, is a coach going to tell me what to do, what happens in a coaching session, how many coaching sessions should I have, how often should I have them, how do I choose a coach ... I get asked these questions (and more) a lot by new coaching clients. So, here I am, putting all my answers in one place. Hit play, and find out everything you never realised you needed to know about what goes on behind closed (online) doors at Academic Imperfectionist Towers!

Book a coaching session here. If you're a new client, it's free!

#118: The Academic Imperfectionist origin story

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Ever wondered how your Imperfectionist friend here got from academic philosophy to coaching? Lots of coaching clients have asked this over the years, so here I am, with an episode to bring you up to speed. I'll tell you all about how it's thanks to COVID that I ended up coaching, how the podcast was born because I realised I was incapable of uttering sentences like 'Would you allow me to offer you a powerful and transformative coaching experience?', and how I came to see that philosophical ideas don't need to be true to be effective weapons against your inner critic.

If you're curious about coaching and want to try it for free, go here to sign up for a session.

#117: Intervention for inept time management

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Do you massively over-estimate how much you can accomplish in any period of time? Do you struggle to work out how long it's going to take you to complete a particular project? Friend, same. Don't worry, though, because there are some well-recognised psychological reasons for that, and plenty of advice too. There's just one problem: when it comes to projects that are linked to your sense of self-worth, time management is even trickier, and the usual strategies might not cut it. Luckily for you, your imperfect buddy is here to throw you a lifeline.

Here's a helpful article with some tips about how to get better at planning your time.

References:

Buehler, R., Griffin, D., and Ross, M. 1994: 'Exploring the "Planning Fallacy": Why People Underestimate Their Task Completion Times', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67/3: 366-381.

Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. 1977: 'Intuitive Prediction: Biases and Corrective
Procedures', Technical Report PTR-1042-7746, Defense Advanced Research ProjectsAgency - Advanced Decision Technology, Decision Research, Eugene, OR.

#116: Procrastination is a bad idea

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 05:00:00 +0100

If only you spent more time working and less time procrastinating, your life would be so much better. Right? Friend, I know how you feel, but it's not that simple. Some forms of procrastination actually help us get our work done, while some forms of work are just a waste of your time. In fact, I've come to realise that the very idea of procrastination is pretty unhelpful, and it can stand in the way of understanding why we struggle to make progress, and how to fix it. In this episode, I'm going to share with you a more empowering way to think about how to get things done.

Brand new download! Click here for the 'Comfort vs relevance: resist the work/procrastination binary!' worksheet, or find it on the Resources page of The Academic Imperfectionist website.

References

Grant, Adam. 2016: 'Why I taught myself to procrastinate', New York Times.

Jensen, Joli. 2017: Write No Matter What (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).

#115: Who cares about achievement?

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 06:00:00 +0100

Do you ever feel that, unless you achieve the things you think you should be achieving, you'll cease to exist? That you'll fade away, become invisible, fail to be a fully-realised human? If so, you're in good company. For many of us, living a fulfilling life is inextricably linked with achievement, striving, productivity, winning.

I'm not here to tell you not to care about achievement. But I am going to tell you that you're wrong if you think that the only life worth living is a life that prioritises achievement. And not only do I have Aristotle in my corner to back me up, but there's some fascinating recent research on what Gen Z care about that ought to be a wake-up call for anyone who thinks that if they're not achieving, they're failing.

Do the Values Bridge survey here (registration required to view summary of results, payment required to view full results).

Find my Core Values exercise here (no sign-up or payment required - I'm not that fancy)

References:

Suzy Welch, 'CEO: One stunning data point explains the "Gen Z stare"—and why it's going to backfire on them', CBNC, 17 July 2025.

Melissa De Witte, 'What to know about Gen Z' (interview with Dr Roberta Katz), Stanford Report, 3 January 2022.

André Dua et al., 'What is Gen Z?', McKinsey & Company, 28 August 2024.

#114: Ego, resentment, and recognition

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Do you struggle to make sense of the jumble of attitudes you have towards your career? Perhaps you feel overlooked despite the fact that you've just been given a job. Perhaps you're striving to do well and hoping to get noticed while at the same time feeling resentful of the whole process, and critical of yourself for engaging in it. And, if you do feel these things, do you also attack yourself by telling yourself that you've got nothing to complain about, or that you're imagining things, or that you're irrational? Friend, I've heard it all before, and despite what you might think, it all makes complete sense. Put your feet up and your headphones on, and prepare for the Academic Imperfectionist low-down on why you feel this way.

#113: What if you don't have good habits?

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 05:00:00 +0100

'Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement', James Clear tells us in Atomic Habits. But what if you don't have the right habits - or at least, not yet? And how do you motivate yourself to do the thing for the 21 days that, according to legend, are required in order to establish a habit unless you already have the habit?

With all this talk of the importance of habits, you'd be forgiven for thinking that without the habits, there's no hope for you. But, in fact, motivation without habits is easier than you might think. You just need to be able to see past the psychological smoke and mirrors that you're unwittingly putting in your own way.

Reference:

Timothy D. Wilson and Daniel T. Gilbert (2003): 'Affective forecasting', Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 35: 345-411.

#112: David Hume and the battle between reason and passion

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 05:00:00 +0100

You've done the coaching and the therapy, you've read the books, you've listened to the podcasts - and finally, you can accept that you're just as worthy as the next person! You belong here! You can stand up, take up space, and be proud! You can stop carrying all that anxiety, fear, and shame! Except ... nobody told your anxiety, fear, and shame. You feel just as uncertain as you ever did. And, to make things worse, you now also feel like an irrational mess, because if all those insights you've made about yourself haven't made any difference, perhaps you're beyond help?

Don't worry, friend. We've all been there. Your imperfect friend here is throwing you a lifeline in the shape of the 18th-century Scottish philosopher, David Hume. Weird image, but still: you're normal, you're still moving forward, and all you need is a primer on what's going on when what you believe clashes with what you feel.

Reference:

Hume, David. 1739: A Treatise of Human Nature, Book II, Section III.

#111: Erving Goffman, Instagram, and the Real You

Fri, 30 May 2025 05:00:00 +0100

You know all the advice about ignoring your inner critic, avoiding comparisons, and giving yourself credit for your achievements. But you can't shake the sense that the real you is something shameful, something you need to keep hidden at all costs, and that those people who say nice things about you would be horrified if they knew what you were really like.

Friend, you've got Real You all wrong. The fact that there are parts of you that you'd hate to share with others doesn't make you wrong, or an impostor, or shameful. According to the sociologist Erving Goffman, you're completely normal. Your Imperfectionist Godmother is here to help you make friends with your secret self - and to see that everyone else has one too.

Reference:

Goffman, Erving. 1956: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (University of Edinburgh Social Sciences Research Centre).

#110: How to sabbatical like a pro, with Professor Bethany Wilinski

Fri, 16 May 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Ah, the sabbatical. Getting one is like hitting the jackpot, right? All your problems would melt away if you had one. You'd go into it a frazzled, anxious, burnt out mess, and emerge serene, rested, and with a few dazzling additions to your CV. In fact, you'd be so sorted if you got a sabbatical that it's probably never occurred to you that you might need some hand-holding through the process.

Enter our guest for this episode, Bethany Wilinski, Associate Professor at Michigan State University, sabbatical coach, and host of the Sabbatical 101 podcast. Bethany's own sabbatical experience taught her that, if you're not careful, a sabbatical can make you feel more burnt out and depleted, not less. She now works with academics to help them use their sabbaticals to rest, recharge, reconnect with what excites them, and relate to their work in a healthier way. Bethany is here to ensure that, if and when you're lucky enough to get a sabbatical, you can make it work for you.

You can find Bethany's website, including a link to her podcast, here.

#109: Productivity, golden eggs, and inner critics

Fri, 02 May 2025 05:00:00 +0100

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 listening to your inner critic, you're overlooking the fact that she's not helping you. In fact, she's making things worse. She's so greedy and impatient to get more from you that she's hurting your ability to get things done. She's killing your productivity, just like the farmer killed the goose that laid the golden eggs in Aesop's fable. Join your imperfect friend for an important fairytale lesson on the importance of self-acceptance.

#108: Your writing warm-up

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 05:00:00 +0100

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 distractions, and a mind that is drawn towards lofty ideas instead of flighty nonsense. The fact that my actual experiences with writing didn't remotely resemble this fantasy was, in my mind, due to my many shameful shortcomings. I'm not like that now, and my writing goes a lot better as a result. In large part, that's because I better understand what writing is really like. And in this episode I want to talk about an aspect of that: the writing warm-up.

When you're done with this episode, why not go and listen to Bethany Wilinski interview me on her podcast, Sabbatical 101?

#107: The problem with your sense of entitlement

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 21:00:00 +0100

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: people who allow themselves to be short-changed by life because they don't realise they should be getting more. Or, rather, we do hear about this, but we don't talk about it using the language of entitlement. Does that matter? Yes, it does, because thinking of 'entitlement' as a dirty word is holding you back.

#106: Do you know how much you can control?

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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 control. Don't worry - we can fix that. Grab a cuppa and sit down with your Imperfectionist friend for the first solo episode of 2025.

You can find the Wheel of Life exercise here, and the Core Values exercise here.

#105: Professor John Sellars on how to live like a Stoic

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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, Professor John Sellars, who is not only a scholar of Stoicism, but is also devoted to helping people improve their lives by following Stoic principles.

John Sellars is professor of philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London, and Member of Common Room at Wolfson College, Oxford. He’s a founding member of the London Centre for Ancient Philosophy and a member of two non-profit organizations aimed at bringing Stoicism to a wider audience, Modern Stoicism and The Aurelius Foundation. You can learn more about John, and find links to his books, articles, and more, at his website.

Do you want to live like a Stoic for a week?

Find The Academic Imperfectionist on Medium!

#104: Kate Ahl on what academics talk about in therapy

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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, insightful take on why things are so hard and what to do about it.

Find out more about Kate at her website, and sign up for her free online 'compassionate productivity' course - which I personally recommend! - here.

Find The Academic Imperfectionist on Medium!

#103: Tony Stubblebine (CEO of Medium) on how to find, build, and engage your audience

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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 know what you're up to, and he thinks there's nobody in the world who's more suited to giving them what they want than you. Hit the download button to find out how!

Tony Stubblebine is the CEO of Medium. Previously, he was the owner of some of Medium’s largest publications, including Better Humans, and is the co-founder and former CEO of Coach.me. He lives in New York.

References:

'How to publish your academic writing on Medium', by Zulie @ Medium

'How to Use Psychology to Solve the Procrastination Puzzle', by Tim Pychyl

Oh, and you can now find The Academic Imperfectionist on Medium too!

#102: Professor Stephanie Dunson on levelling up your writing process

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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 too: not only does Stephanie help academics, she also helps people in business use writing as tool to unlock insight and creativity. If you think of writing merely as a tool to help you turn thoughts into publications, Stephanie is about to open your eyes to how much more you can get out of the process.

If listening to this episode leaves you hungry for more of Stephanie's writing-related insights, you're in luck! Stephanie hosts the wonderful podcast, 100 Mistakes Academic Writers Make ... and How to Fix Them. She also has a website where you can find out more about her work as a writing coach.

#101: Professors Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea on the absolute basics of doing research

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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 realise that perfection is not only unattainable, but also - and this was a new one for me - boring?

If you've ever struggled as a researcher, or if you're someone who helps students or other researchers, you need to hear this interview with Professor Thomas S. Mullaney and Professor Christopher Rea. They're the authors of the incredibly helfpul book, Where Research Begins, which I've recommended numerous times on this podcast.

Thomas S. Mullaney is professor of history at Stanford University and a Guggenheim fellow. His books include The Chinese Typewriter: A History and Your Computer Is on Fire. You can find him on Bluesky or LinkedIn. Christopher Rea is professor of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. His books include Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949 and The Age of Irreverence: A New History of Laughter in China. Where Research Begins has its own website, where you can learn more about the book, access additional (free!) resources, and contact Chris and Tom.

Two books by other authors are mentioned in this episode. They are:

Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, William T. FitzGerald. 1995: The Craft of Research, now in its fifth edition, 2024 (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press).

Umberto Eco. 1977: How to Write a Thesis, translated by Caterina Mongiat Farina and Geoff Farina, 2015 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press)

#100: What I've learned about perfectionism

Fri, 13 Dec 2024 05:00:00 +0000

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 imperfectionist friend for some perfection-related truth bombs.

#99: Hey! What you reading for?

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 05:00:00 +0000

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 to know exactly why we're reading. Step away from the library card, and let your Imperfectionist friend talk some sense into you.

Reference:

Mullaney, T. S. and Rea, C. 2022: Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project that Matters to You (and the World) (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press).

#98: Guest interview! Dr Debbie Sorensen on battling burnout

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 05:00:00 +0000

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 day you'll finally catch up on everything, get the kettle on, and settle down to listen to what Debbie has to say. You'll be glad you did.

Debbie is the author of two books, ACT for Burnout and ACT Daily Journal, and a co-host of Psychologists Off The Clock podcast. You can find out more about Debbie by visiting her website.

#97: When failure of inspiration strikes

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 05:00:00 +0000

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've all experienced. It's even - hear me out - a completely normal part of the writing process. To fix it, though, you need to do something very scary. You need to relax and let go.

#96: Guest interview! Dr David Brax on the dangers and inequalities of 'hope labour'

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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, burnout, and precarity rife in academia, Dr Brax is asking: should universities be profiting from the unpaid efforts of people who may or may not end up rewarded?

Dr David Brax is a senior investigator at the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research at the University of Gothenburg. You can find him on Bluesky. Here's Google's English translation of a recent article that he wrote in Swedish about hope labour.

#95: The perfectionism-busting power of hobbies

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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 to the day, which is probably more likely). But did you also know that having hobbies helps you resist and correct your perfectionist tendencies? No? Hit the download button, snuggle up, and prepare to accept that maybe you should be taking that crash course in pole dancing after all.

There's a free, online version of William James's Principles of Psychology here.

Plucky Not Perfect podcast.

#94: Postcard from the Costa del Burnout

Fri, 20 Sep 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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 Economist, 28th July.

Hauser, CJ. 2019: 'The Crane Wife', The Paris Review, 16th July.

Announcement!

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0100

Nope, not a new episode this time, I'm afraid.

#93: Guest interview! Professor Joli Jensen on draining the drama from writing

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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 'taming techniques' that you can use to develop a consistent, sustainable approach to writing
- How our obsession with productivity is hurting us, and what we should do instead

... and lots more. It's a long one, friends, so get comfortable, bring snacks, and enjoy!

Joli Jensen is Emerita Professor of Media Studies at the University of Tulsa.

#92: Your writing-anxiety Sliding Doors moment

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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 a few minutes. Get comfortable and have a listen.

#91: Sartre, 3pm, and writing off writing days

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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 Imperfectionist is here to show you a way out of this nastiness.

#90: The surprising productivity of rest

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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 psychological well-being', UCHealth Today (https://www.uchealth.org/today/rest-and-recovery-for-athletes-physiological-psychological-well-being/)

Pang, A. S.-K. 2016: Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less (London: Penguin)

#89: Doubting your willpower is holding you back

Fri, 28 Jun 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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.

#88: How to be a quitter

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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: Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away (London: Penguin).

#87: You're overlooking your unique value

Fri, 31 May 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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 avoid comparing yourself to others: comparison is a completely inadequate and very biased tool for self-evaluation.

#86: Every Academic Imperfectionist episode, summarised

Fri, 17 May 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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

#85: The fundamental attribution error is ruining your life

Fri, 03 May 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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.

#84: The underappreciated value of waiting for success

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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 key to success that is hiding in plain sight.

Here's the tweet by Billy Oppenheimer discussed in the episode.

#83: How to be happy

Fri, 05 Apr 2024 05:00:00 +0100

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 Pavot, W. 2009: 'Happiness is the frequency, not the intensity, of positive versus negative affect', in Diener, E. (ed.) Assessing Well-Being: The Collected Works of Ed Diener, Social Indicators Research Series 39: 213-231.

Mauss, I. B., Tamir, M., Anderson, C. L., and Savino, N. S. 2011: 'Can seeking happiness make people unhappy? Paradoxical effects of valuing happiness', Emotion 11/4: 767.

#82: Stop policing yourself

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 05:00:00 +0000

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.

#81: Are you trying to live a final draft life?

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 05:00:00 +0000

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 yourself back, and your imperfect friend is here to put a stop to it.

#80: What are you so afraid of?

Fri, 23 Feb 2024 05:00:00 +0000

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're holding yourself to account and pushing yourself to aim high, but in fact you're standing in the way of your own progress. Here's what to do instead!

Check out the brand new What Am I Afraid Of? exercise.

#79: My imperfect but adequate working day

Fri, 09 Feb 2024 05:00:00 +0000

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 Simba, our community cat, who has been CATapulted to fame over the past week or so.

Donate to help look after Simba!

#78: Fix your self-compassion with the metaphysics of personal identity (and an Aeropress)

Fri, 26 Jan 2024 05:00:00 +0000

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're being nasty to is yourself? Your imperfectionist friend is lobbing a giant metaphysics truth bomb that is going to blow apart your conviction that compassion is for everyone except you.

Find Kristin Neff's website about self-compassion here.

Reference:

Parfit, D. 1984: Reasons and Persons (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

#77: Mediocrity is underrated!

Fri, 12 Jan 2024 05:00:00 +0000

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 ease back and enjoy life. We wouldn't know how. The idea of an ordinary, unremarkable life terrifies us. We like to think of our drive and ambition as positive things - but what if they're fuelled by our lack of self-acceptance? Get yourself comfortable, and let's look again at mediocrity.

Find the 5 whys exercise here.

Go here for 'The benefit of breaking your New Year's resolutions', my article for the IAI.

'Overcoming the need to be exceptional' by The School of Life can be read here (paywalled) and listened to (not paywalled) here.

#76: This is what positive change feels like

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Are you a sucker for self-improvement advice that offers to overhaul your life for the better overnight, even though you know that (unfortunately) it's not that simple? Yeah, same. There's a reason you're attracted to advice like that, and there's a way to get the life you want. It's not instant or magic or even wall-to-wall rewarding, but it is possible, and it is worth doing. Pull up a virtual chair, and let The Academic Imperfectionist explain all.

#75: Your progress tunnel vision

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 05:00:00 +0000

Yeah, I know you're diligently working towards that big goal, and that you STILL haven't got there yet. But are you stopping to reflect on your progress along the way, and to celebrate small wins? If the answer is no, then you're sabotaging yourself, chipping away at your motivation, and generally making yourself miserable. Progress tunnel vision can keep you stuck in a loop - but here's the Academic Imperfectionist with a lifeline!

For the Progress Temperature Check exercise, go here. Go here for the Goal Contract exercise, and here for the Wheel of Life.

Here's Rick Hanson's Psychology Today article, 'Recognize What Is Improving in Your Life'.

#74: When taking on more can energise you

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 05:00:00 +0000

I know. Your life needs an overhaul, but where are you supposed to find the energy to fix it? You're struggling to keep your head above water as it is. The thing is, friend, not all demands on you are equal. The demands that are imposed on you by others exhaust you and send your anxiety skyrocketing - but those that you choose autonomously can energise you. Autonomy is important: just ask Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Isaiah Berlin, and Harry Frankfurt. How do you choose autonomously? I'm glad you asked.

You can find the Identify Your Core Values exercise here, and the 5 Whys exercise here.

Read a sample of For F*ck's Sake: Why Swearing is Shocking, Rude, and Fun here, and buy it in all the usual places!

Reference

Martina Svensson, Philip Rosvall, Antonio Boza-Serrano, Emelie Andersson, Jan Lexell, Tomas Deierborg, 2016: 'Forced treadmill exercise can induce stress and increase neuronal damage in a mouse model of global cerebral ischemia', Neurobiology of Stress, Volume 5, Pages 8-18.

#73: How to practise being instead of doing

Fri, 27 Oct 2023 05:00:00 +0100

Look at you there, always striving, always becoming, always hustling. When do you ever get to pause and just ... be? Do you even know how? Plenty of us don't. We had no problem just chilling and enjoying the moment when we were kids, but somewhere along the way, we lost that ability. We don't know how to enjoy life any more. In which case, what's the point of any of this? Put your existential angst on ice, friend, because The Academic Imperfectionist has you covered.

Go here (and thank you!) if you'd like to donate to my fundraising for the brain injury charity, Headway.

Read Laura Vanderkam's short article about savouring here.

Reference:

Bryant, F. B. and Veroff, J. 2007: Savoring: A New Model of Positive Experience (Routledge).

#72: Bend so you don't break: a stress survival guide

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 05:00:00 +0100

Just as trees aren't meant to remain stiff and unyielding in the face of a storm, you aren't meant to remain efficient and relaxed in the face of mounting demands. Bending isn't a weakness; it's what you need to do to survive. But it's only your branches that need to bend - your roots need to stay put. Do you know what your roots are? Snuggle up with a cuppa for some arboreal advice from The Academic Imperfectionist.

For the 'Identify Your Core Values' exercise mentioned in this episode, click here.

To read Julia Butterfly Hill's essay, 'Surviving the Storm: Lessons from Nature', click here.

#71: The best time to write is the worst time to write

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 05:00:00 +0100

Do you tell yourself that if only you had a day of uninterrupted time ahead of you (and, of course, the right stationery), you'd finally be able to get some writing done - only to procrastinate your precious writing time away when you do finally get what you need? Thought so. Your problem is that you wouldn't know a good writing opportunity even if it walked up to you and poked you in the eye. Put down that stationery catalogue and let your Imperfectionist friend sort you out.

#70: How to write

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 05:00:00 +0100

Writing is why we all do what we do - or at least, a big part of it. But it's also a source of intense anxiety, whether we're new to it or whether we've been at it for years. So, here's another start-of-the-new-academic-year imperfectionist special for you. Your imperfect pal here set out to create a little survival guide for new students who want to get their essay-writing off to a good start - but along the way, it turns out that there are plenty of lessons about writing that are useful to revisit even for those of us who have clocked up thousands of hours of writing (and procrastinating). New pencils at the ready: let's get started!

Here are the books on writing mentioned in the episode:

Jensen, J. 2017: Write No Matter What (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
Sword, H. 2017: Air & Light &Time & Space (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).

#69: How to read

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 05:00:00 +0100

Do you ever try to read philosophy (or some other stodgy not-designed-for-entertainment text) and find yourself struggling to understand ... well, any of it? Do you finish reading a paragraph and find that you have absolutely no idea what it was about? Does it take you an entire day just to read one chapter? Of course not - you'd never admit to any of it, anyway. Even five-year-olds can read, so there's no way anyone's blowing the lid off your shameful reading troubles. But don't worry. Here's your Imperfectionist friend to lay it all bare and help make reading less of a time-consuming headache. (Spoiler: perfectionism is to blame, again.)

#68: Plato (and Barbie) on perfection

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 05:00:00 +0100

If you won't accept anything less than perfection from yourself, I have some disappointing news from Ancient Greece. Back in the 4th (ish) century BC, Plato was telling anyone who would listen that perfection doesn't even exist in the material world - so, save your energy and lower your standards. Get the kettle on and then gather round to learn what this means for you, from Plato, Socrates, and ... erm, the Barbie movie.

Here's the monologue by American Ferrera (as Gloria) in Barbie:

'It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.

'You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining.

'You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood. But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.

'I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know.'

#67: You owe your success to your flaws

Fri, 04 Aug 2023 05:00:00 +0100

I get it: you want to be less of a perfectionist, more confident and assertive, less of a procrastinator, and all the rest of it. These, after all, are things that hold us back - or so we often think. As it happens, though, things are more complicated than that. Those same traits that stand in your way are the same ones that have enabled you to achieve awesome things. Is there a way to get the 'awesome things' bit without the 'stand in your way' bit? Well, put up a chair, chum - the Academic Imperfectionist has some thoughts.

#66: The only productivity hack you need

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 05:00:00 +0100

We all love a bit of productivity porn. What could be wrong with learning about how to get better at getting things done? Well, quite a few things, as it happens. Seeking out the latest productivity tools and techniques can be a way to mask the anxieties you have around your work. To avoid the pitfalls, you need to look inward and think about how you go about getting stuff done. Gather round, friends, and let's dive in.

#65: Reflections on a recent failure

Fri, 07 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0100

We all hate failure. We're terrified of it. And so, when I chalked up a big fat failure a few days ago, I knew immediately that I needed to dissect it for you lot. The key lesson here? Our unwillingness to look failure square in the face is holding us back.

Read Costica Bradatan's Psyche essay about Emil Cioran here.

#64: Reject work/life balance!

Fri, 23 Jun 2023 05:00:00 +0100

We're constantly encouraged to strive for work/life balance. But it's a horrible, victim-blaming, damaging metaphor, and it tricks us into thinking we should take on more than we're able to cope with. And, besides, who wants to spend their entire career balancing stuff?! Your Imperfectionist friend is here with some truth bombs about how you ought to be thinking about how to manage all that stuff you have going on, and how you can view it all in a way that makes it easier to find and enforce healthy boundaries.

To find the 'Identify your core values' exercise and the 'Wheel of life' exercise mentioned in the episode, go to The Academic Imperfectionist Resources page.

#63: In defence of your comfort zone

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 05:00:00 +0100

You know that remaining in your comfort zone is basically a psychic crime, right? Like, only losers do that. Successful people are out there pushing boundaries and loving life. Bummer that, by definition, they have to spend their entire time in discomfort, but whatever. Who needs comfort when you've got self-actualisation?

Sorry pals, but this is all daft nonsense. Join your Imperfectionist friend for some truth bombs about comfort zones and a guilt-free pass to tossing that stick that you've been using to beat yourself.

#62: Guilt! Guilt! Guilt!

Fri, 26 May 2023 05:00:00 +0100

Whatever it is that you're doing and however it is that you're doing it, you're telling yourself that you're doing it wrong and anyway you ought to be doing something else instead. Right? You feel guilty even when you know you're doing the right thing. You feel guilty even before you've decided what you have to feel guilty about. Your entire mind is an immersive, surround-sound, interactive theatre of turbo-charged guilt. Take a break from your hectic schedule of self-flagellation and let your Imperfectionist friend rein that shit in for you.

#61: Your productivity standards are like a 1980s fad diet

Fri, 12 May 2023 05:00:00 +0100

You know better than to vow, after chomping your way through your fifth slice of chocolate cake, that starting tomorrow you're only ever going to eat salad and you're going to run 10 miles before breakfast every single day, forever. After all, nobody could keep that up, right? Be realistic! But plenty of you are setting your sights on productivity goals that are just as unrealistic. Come for a chat with your imperfectionist friend and have some sense lovingly knocked into you.

#60: Self-acceptance or self-improvement?

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 05:00:00 +0100

Self-acceptance is overrated, right? I mean, sure, you might feel more at peace if you could manage to accept yourself - but there's so much wrong with you, and accepting yourself would involve giving up on trying to fix all that and accepting that you're never going to be any more assertive, successful, skilled, and confident than you are now. Self-acceptance is just a fancy term for quitting. Right??

Oh dear. What if I were to tell you that if you don't already have self-acceptance, you're not going to get it through self-improvement? And that not only can self-acceptance and self-improvement happily coexist, but self-improvement is much easier when it comes from a place of self-acceptance? Get the kettle on and the earbuds in, and let your Imperfectionist friend talk some sense into you.

#59: Hold your nose and do the scary thing

Fri, 14 Apr 2023 05:00:00 +0100

It would be great if we never felt insecure or anxious or scared when we had to do things like ask for money or refuse a request or even just get on with writing what we're supposed to be writing. But this sort of discomfort can be really hard to shift, no matter how much we work on our confidence and how many affirmations we scribble on post-it notes and stick to our monitor. It can be tempting, then, to think that we need to put off doing the hard things until we've got a few more years of therapy under our belts. But - and hear me out here - what if we just did them, even though they're horrible? What if you could ignore your discomfort and just get on with life? If you're game, friend, your Imperfectionist cheerleader has some words of advice to help you get started.

Here's an (admittedly quite old) article summarising research on affective forecasting and the like: We don't know our own strength

Reference:

Wilson, T. D. and Gilbert, D. T. 2005: 'Affective forecasting: knowing what to want', Current Directions in Psychological Science 14/3: 131-134.

#58: When you're doing everything everywhere all at once

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 05:00:00 +0100

You're trying to hold down your job/studies while raising your child/pet/houseplants and maybe also doing a couple of part-time jobs but also volunteering for a handful of committees/projects/whatever. There aren't enough hours in the day to do all this well, or even adequately. How do you avoid feeling like a complete failure? Well, friends, obviously you need to drop the committee and stuff. And then you need to rethink what the problem is here (spoiler: it's not you) and what really matters (spoiler: it's not the stuff you're worrying about).

Rachel Aviv's profile of Martha Nussbaum in The New Yorker is here.

References:

Brooks, D. 2016: The Road to Character (Penguin).
Harmon, J. L. (ed.) 2007: Take My Advice (Simon & Schuster).
Palmer, P. J. 2009: A Hidden Wholeness (Jossey-Bass).

#57: Understanding your productivity shame

Fri, 17 Mar 2023 05:00:00 +0000

It's bad enough that you're nowhere near as productive as you ought to be (according to you) - but, to make things worse, you can't ever get any help with this problem, because that would involve fessing up to the shameful truth that you are a terrible human being who doesn't work as hard as they ought to work and therefore deserves to be shunned from civilised society forever. Is there any way out of this hellish situation without revealing your villainous nature? Don't worry, friend. You're in safe, non-judgmental hands. The Academic Imperfectionist is here to help you understand and overcome that shame you're dealing with.

#56: You're not weak-willed, according to Socrates

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 05:00:00 +0000

Your weakness of will is one of your inner critic's favourite topics. She can go on for days about how weak-willed you are. But, did you know that, over the centuries, philosophers have had a tough time making any coherent sense of the idea of weakness of will - and that, according to some philosophical heavy-hitters like Socrates and R. M. Hare, there is no such thing? You don't hit the snooze button or use your writing time to watch cat videos because you're weak, on this view. You do it because your values are glitching. And framing it this way opens the door to finding solutions that don't involve piling shame and guilt on yourself.

#55: Inertia and your overthinking dick brain

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 05:00:00 +0000

That positive change you need to make, which you're not making. It's because of your perfectionist anxieties, right? It's because of the intimidating hugeness of the task, because of your lack of confidence in your abilities to deal with problems along the way, because of your daddy issues and your need to maintain a work-life balance and your conscientious reluctance to commit to something you might not see through.

Sorry, pal, but that's all bollocks. Your amazing brain, which is the very reason you shine like the brilliant star you are, is tying you up in overthinking knots here. Stop wringing your hands and STFU for a second. Just make a start, and see (a lot of) your problems melt away.

#54: Soothe the overwhelm with the 1% question

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 05:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, there is such a massive gap between how things are now and how we'd like them to be that there's no point even trying to make changes because any change we make would be so insignificant in the grand scheme of things that it's too depressing even to think about. Better just to ignore the problem, because who has the energy for that shit, right? But also: how the hell are you going to get anywhere with this attitude?

Glad you asked, because there is a way. You don't have to give up on your big goals, and your efforts to reach them aren't doomed to insignificance either. You just need to change the way you think about them. It's painless, I promise.

#53: When happiness tanks your productivity

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 05:00:00 +0000

We all know to expect less of people who are dealing with something difficult like bereavement or job loss or a divorce. But what about when something great happens to us? What if we can't focus because we've just landed the job of our dreams and we're ecstatic about it? Truth bomb, friends: you might not feel entitled to take it easy when everything is going well, but happiness can make it just as hard to focus as misery.

The 'Optimize your workspace' episode of the Huberman Lab podcast mentioned in this episode is here.

#52: Hack your fear of failure

Fri, 06 Jan 2023 05:00:00 +0000

Are you supportive and compassionate and generally nice to yourself on those days when you've disappointed yourself? So many of us aren't. We have no idea whether it's even possible. We tell ourselves that either we're flawlessly successful or we're embarrassing failures, and since none of us is flawlessly successful, we all spend far too much time beating ourselves up for being embarrassing failures, which is an incredible waste because there's actually a lot of space between success and failure, and it's where we all hang out pretty much all the time. What if you could inhabit this space comfortably, and work towards your goals imperfectly and fearlessly? Wouldn't you get more out of yourself if you could do that instead of that 'I'm a failure' thing you usually do? Snuggle up and listen, and your imperfect friend here will tell you how.

#51: Is looking after yourself just another thing to fail at?

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 05:00:00 +0000

You've had 50 episodes of this podcast so far (well, 51 including this one). That's 50 bits of advice for you to absorb, think about, and implement to make yourself feel better about stuff. We've looked at what to do about procrastination, how to feel less anxious about productivity, how to deal with impostor syndrome, FOMO, your inner critic, goalpost-moving, and more. Does all this advice leave you wondering, 'Where do I even start?!'? Do you beat yourself up about not managing to implement it all, and how to fit implementing it around all those other wholesome things you're supposed to be doing like exercising and getting enough sleep? Don't worry, friend - you're 100% off the hook. Here's the low-down on how to embrace imperfectionism about looking after yourself.

Reference:
Duhigg, C. 2012: The Power of Habit (Random House).

#50: You hate doing it because you think you're doing it wrong

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 05:00:00 +0000

Have you noticed how much time your inner critic spends looking over your shoulder and telling you how you're doing everything wrong? No, I bet you haven't - instead you're just completely mystified about why you've grown to dread your writing or your reading or your teaching or whatever else it is that you used to enjoy but now don't. It's not doing the thing that's the problem here. It's what you're telling yourself about how you're doing the thing.

#49: Say no to FOMO

Fri, 18 Nov 2022 05:00:00 +0000

You know, in theory, that you have too much on your plate and that you really should stop taking on even more - but, seriously, have you seen how great this new opportunity is? It's a once in a lifetime thing! There's no way anyone could turn it down!

Friend, you need to end your FOMO before it ends you. The good news is that it's easy to do - you just need to reframe your choices a little. You need to think about not just what you'll miss out on if you don't take this opportunity, but also what you'll miss out on if you do. Hit the download button and gather round.

Here's the core values exercise mentioned in the episode.

#48: Stop trying to run a marathon at sprint pace

Fri, 04 Nov 2022 05:00:00 +0000

Do you end every day feeling guilty and ashamed because you haven't done enough? It wouldn't have killed you to send just one more email, or spend just 30 more minutes on your writing, right? Well, sure, you could go flat out. But you wouldn't last long if you did. You need to pace yourself, which means you definitely shouldn't be dialling the effort up to 11 on a daily basis. Your mistake is expecting yourself to sprint for the whole marathon - and that's just bonkers. Crack out the headphones and let your imperfect friend here talk some sense into you.

#47: Is your life story dragging you down?

Fri, 21 Oct 2022 05:00:00 +0100

Do you view your life as a narrative? If you do, you might be holding yourself back in ways you don't even realise. From seeing failures where there aren't any, to restricting your choices to those that fit the story, unhelpful views about what shape a successful life should take are happiness-deleting distractions from what's really important. Join your imperfect friend for the lowdown on how you can change the narrative to one that fits you better - or even reject the life-is-a-story thing altogether.

References:
Setiya, K. 2022: Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way (Penguin).
Strawson, G. 2015: 'I am not a story', Aeon (https://aeon.co/essays/let-s-ditch-the-dangerous-idea-that-life-is-a-story)

#46: How to ace job interviews

Fri, 07 Oct 2022 05:00:00 +0100

I've been on more job interview panels over the years than I can remember. I've developed my own insights about what makes for a successful interview, and I've talked to my fellow (often much more experienced) interviewers about their views too. This all comes in helpful when I'm coaching clients who are preparing for an interview - but finally, here I am, offering up the highlights for you to listen to through the comfort of your own headphones! Grab an emotional-support-cuppa and join The Academic Imperfectionist for a job interview masterclass.

#45: Consistency is important, but what is it?

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 05:00:00 +0100

You know you're supposed to be consistent with your writing routine. But how do you manage this, when so much of what goes into writing is so vague and unquantifiable? How do you factor in things like thinking time and discussing time and skim reading the intros of articles you won't end up using? Here's your imperfect friend to help you out. Consistency, believe it or not, looks nothing like you think it looks like. It doesn't involve willpowering through the hard days. It doesn't mean doing the same thing every day. Sometimes it means jacking in the writing and taking a break. Your passport to progress doesn't need to involve blood, sweat, and tears. Gather round the virtual campfire and all will become clear.

#44: The idea of 'quiet quitting' is dangerous

Fri, 09 Sep 2022 05:00:00 +0100

Right, that's it - your imperfect friend here can't keep quiet about this any more. This idea of 'quiet quitting' that you've been reading about is bullshit, OK? There we all were, minding our own business and struggling with our usual productivity-related guilt and the idea of a healthy work-life balance, and then along came an avalanche of media articles telling us that unless we're going the extra mile in our jobs (read: doing work for free), we're 'quitting'. It's a perfect storm for mental health. Shut that laptop and join The Academic Imperfectionist for a pep talk about why good enough is good enough.

Here's Zaid Khan's TikTok video that started it all off.

References:

Krueger, A. 2022: 'Who Is Quiet Quitting For?', The New York Times, 23rd August.
Kudhail, P. 2022: 'Quiet quitting: The workplace trend taking over TikTok', BBC News, 1st September.

#43: You don't know how you're feeling

Fri, 26 Aug 2022 05:00:00 +0100

Do you think that finding out how you're feeling is simply a matter of turning your attention inward? Oh, mate. You're so wrong. Often, we only ever reflect on how we're feeling when we're feeling bad - and when we do reflect on it, we're not genuinely interested in finding out how we feel. Instead, we're standing by ready to pounce on ourselves with nasty judgments if we dare acknowledge that we don't feel that great. We only allow ourselves two possible states: we're either fine, or we're a pathetic snowflake making a big fuss about nothing. Being able to tune in to how you feel isn't a skill that you can take for granted. You need to practise it. Here's what to do.

#42: Are you waiting for permission?

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 05:00:00 +0100

Have you ever said something like, 'If I don't get promoted this year, I'll feel justified in quitting this job', or 'If my partner cheats on me again, I'll feel justified in ending this relationship'? If so, you're guilty of waiting for permission: waiting for something to happen so that you'll feel justified to do the thing you want to do anyway. It's a way of wasting your own time, holding yourself back, standing in your own way. You don't need permission. The fact that you want to do the thing is all the justification you need. Join your old imperfect friend for a look at what's going on with us when we wait for permission, and how we can move past it.

Here's Mel Robbins' TED Talk, How To Stop Screwing Yourself Over.

#41: Dealing with uncool emotions: envy, jealousy, resentment

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 05:00:00 +0100

Do you listen to podcasts like this one and think: But this advice is for people who are much nicer than me, who deserve success; it's not for me, who secretly hopes that their more successful colleague steps on a rake at their earliest convenience? Do you simmer with resentment even while you're doing the heart-reaction-thing on your friend's Facebook post about her new job? Is envy your dirty little secret, and yours alone? This episode is for you.

References:

Protasi, S. 2018: 'Love your frenemy', Aeon.
Protasi, S. 2022: 'Beyond envy's dark side', IAI.

#40: Why I took SO BLOODY LONG to write my book

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 05:00:00 +0100

I started writing my book, on the philosophy of swearing, in 2015. The original deadline from the publisher was December 2016. I finally submitted it in June 2022, 5-and-a-half years late. Gather round the virtual campfire, friends, and I'll share with you why it took me so long (spoiler: it wasn't because I am lazy, worthless human being) and how I finally got it done (spoiler: it wasn't by being mean to myself).

Here's a link to the Goal Contract mentioned in the episode.

#39: 'Thick' ethical concepts and your sneaky inner critic

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 05:00:00 +0100

Everything's a judgment with your inner critic, isn't it? It's never 'I'm having trouble focusing today'; instead, it's 'I'm lazy'. And it's never 'I'm prioritising my own goals this morning'; it's 'I'm selfish'. Has it ever occurred to you that not every unhelpful character trait, choice, or behaviour is a moral flaw? You probably haven't noticed this, but your inner critic likes to sneak moral judgment into everything she says to you. Not only is that hurtful, but it also holds you back by distracting you from thinking strategically about how to work towards your goals. The Academic Imperfectionist is here to neutralise that shit and help you cut through the judgment and get to where you want to be.

#38: Freud, sublimation, and your toxic attachment to your inner critic

Fri, 17 Jun 2022 05:00:00 +0100

You're totally on board in theory with the idea of being kinder to yourself - it's just that your self-criticism helps you succeed, right? And while you recognise that overwork is a problem, you can't make time for rest, because then you'd fall behind, wouldn't you? Friend, don't take this the wrong way, but you have no idea what you're on about. The habits and thoughts that you think are helping you aren't doing that at all. They're making you miserable. You need to get rid of them - it's just that it's so hard to think clearly about them and what's wrong with them, and decide what to do instead. Your Academic Imperfectionist godmother is going Freudian in this episode - we're going to whip your unconscious into shape.

#37: You should spend more time thinking about your anxiety

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 05:00:00 +0100

Do you tell yourself that, in order to be a strong, successful, productive human, you need to have zero tolerance for anxiety? I thought so. You think that if you ignore it, it will go away. The problem is, that doesn't work. Ignoring it makes it worse. To stop anxiety holding you back, you need to hit the pause button - yes, including on that thing that you really should have finished last week - and take a long, hard look at your anxiety. Here's your guide on how to do that.

Here's some useful info and resources at cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

#36: What if it doesn't need to be so hard?

Fri, 20 May 2022 05:00:00 +0100

Are you one of those people who thinks that if a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing painfully? Who feels like they must be doing something wrong if it feels too effortless? Me too, friend. There are good reasons why you feel like progress needs to be difficult - but that doesn't mean you're right. Find out how to dial down your anxiety so you can work more peacefully on the stuff you care about.

‘How To Achieve Your Goals Effortlessly’: interview with Greg McKeown on Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s Feel Better Live More podcast.

Meet Kiwi!

#35: Why am I putting off doing that ridiculously undemanding thing?

Fri, 06 May 2022 05:00:00 +0100

Emails that will take 10 seconds to answer. That little pile of stuff in the corner of the kitchen that you need to take a couple of minutes to sort through. Taking 30 seconds to fill in a form that you're going to have to fill in at some point. You could just do these things, get them out of your head, and make your life a lot easier. Instead, you hide from them and devote far more mental effort to not doing them than it would ever take you to do them. What's going on? Well, friend - it's not the tasks at all. It's the emotion you attach to them. Instead of beating yourself up for all the things that you're failing to do, you need to lift the lid on your reluctance and ask what it means about your priorities, your values, and your stress levels. The Academic Imperfectionist is here to mop your brow while you face your fears.

For the 'Identify Your Core Values' exercise mentioned in the episode, click here.

#34: In praise of half heartedness

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 05:00:00 +0100

If you want something, you need to put in 110% to get it, right? Well, sure, if what you want is to turn yourself into an anxious mess. If you really want to achieve your goals, you need to take a smarter approach. You need to relax, stop trying so hard, and aim for just 'good enough'.

For the 'good enough' exercise mentioned in the episode, go here.

Reference:

Haugen, T., Seiler, S., Sandbakk, Ø. et al. The Training and Development of Elite Sprint Performance: an Integration of Scientific and Best Practice Literature. Sports Med - Open 5, 44 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-019-0221-0

#33: I'm supposed to be doing what I love - what's gone wrong?

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 05:00:00 +0100

Lucky you: you get to spend your time researching that thing you find more interesting than anything else in the whole world! So, why is it that you can't bring yourself to do it these days? Why does the thought of it make you feel anxious and overwhelmed rather than excited and energised?

Friend, you've fallen out of love with your research. It happens. And it's not just you. Unfortunately, academia (and, come to think of it, the world in general) is geared to trying to motivate you in ways that actually kill your interest in what you do. But there's a way out of this muddle, and your imperfect friend is here to tell you all about it.

For the 5 whys analysis template mentioned in the episode, click here.

References:

Greene, D., & Lepper, M. R. 1974: 'Effects of extrinsic rewards on children's subsequent intrinsic interest', Child Development 45, 1141-1145.

Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. 1973: 'Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic rewards: a test of the overjustification hypothesis', Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology 28: 129-137.

Loveland, K. K., & Olley, J. G. 1979: 'The Effect of External Reward on Interest and Quality of Task Performance in Children of High and Low Intrinsic Motivation', Child Development 50/4: 1207.

#32: You need a mindset audit

Fri, 18 Mar 2022 05:00:00 +0000

You know 'Believe in Yourself' is an important message - why else would it be emblazoned across so many t-shirts for pre-teen girls? But do you really understand why it's so important, and just how far thinking the right thoughts about who you are and what you do can take you towards where you want to be? Your imperfect pal here just discovered the astonishing work on mindsets by the Stanford psychologist, Professor Alia Crum. Get the kettle on and let's have a chat about what it all means for you and your academic (and non-academic) struggles.

Click here for Professor Andrew Huberman's interview with Professor Alia Crum on the Huberman Lab podcast.

References:

Crum, A. J., Corbin, W. R., Brownell, K. D., Salovey, P. 2011: 'Mind over milkshakes: mindsets, not just nutrients, determine ghrelin response', Health Psychology 30/4: 424-29.

Crum, A. J. and Langer, E. J. 2007: "Mindset matters: exercise and the placebo effect', Psychological Science 18/2: 165-71.

Zahrt, O. H. and Crum, A. J. 2020: 'Effects of physical activity recommendations on mindset, behavior and perceived health', Preventative Medicine Reports 17: 101027

#31: Hedonism and other paradoxes

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 05:00:00 +0000

According to the 19th century philosopher Henry Sidgwick, ‘The impulse towards pleasure can be self-defeating. We fail to attain pleasures if we deliberately seek them’.

Happiness isn't the only good thing that will elude you if you set out to achieve it. Relaxation, avoiding stress, being more productive - all these things slide further away from you the harder you try to reach them. What's going on?

The problem, friends, is that it matters how you formulate your goals. Some goals are self-defeating because they interfere with what the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has called 'flow'. They require you to both be in flow and not be in flow. Ugh, right?

That doesn't mean that you can't be happy, or relaxed, or productive. But it does mean that you don't have to try so hard. Settle down with the Academic Imperfectionist to find out how.

#30: Rejection stings less when you channel your inner toddler

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 05:00:00 +0000

Rejection stings - literally (kind of). But you can make it sting a bit less. Part of what makes it so hard is that we're so keen on kicking ourselves when we're down. We don't even realise we're doing it, let alone how to stop. Your imperfect friend is here to sort that shit out.

You're going to learn:

What makes rejection so hard
How we make it even harder for ourselves
Why toddlers are your new rejection-resistant role models
A simple mental hack to help stop your inner critic going into overdrive when rejection strikes

References:

Eisenberger NI, Lieberman MD, Williams KD. Does rejection hurt? An FMRI study of social exclusion. Science. 2003 Oct 10;302(5643):290-2. doi: 10.1126/science.1089134. PMID: 14551436.

Guy Winch's TED talk on emotional first aid: https://youtu.be/F2hc2FLOdhI

#29: You need to date your career choices, not marry them

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 05:00:00 +0000

Choosing a career is a serious business, right? It's something we do only after a lot of sombre reflection, when we're absolutely certain that we've found the thing we want to do forever. It's certainly not a place for fun, experimentation, curiosity, and frivolity.

Except ... no. Deciding that you shouldn't pursue a career unless you're really serious about it and want to do it forever is like deciding that you shouldn't date someone unless you want to marry them. Doing things that way is no fun, and it's bad for you. Your imperfect friend wants you to lighten up.

For the Core Values exercise mentioned in this episode, go here. And for the MoSCoW analysis template, go here.

#28: Moore's paradox: When what you believe about yourself doesn't make sense

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 05:00:00 +0000

Do you ever have thoughts like, 'It's ok to take breaks, but I don't believe it's ok to take breaks'? Or, 'Nobody will think less of me if my writing isn't great, but I don't believe nobody will think less of me if my writing isn't great'? If so, what on earth can you do about it? There's no point telling yourself that what you believe isn't true - you already know that. If your mental life is this sort of hot mess, then maybe there's no hope for you. You may as well give it up, go to bed, and wait for the next series of Tiger King to drop.

Except, not so fast. Dig down a bit and you'll find that your limiting beliefs about yourself are not as crazy as they seem. They're probably not even beliefs at all. They're feelings, and there's plenty you can do about them. Let The Academic Imperfectionist point you in the right direction, with a little help from those renowned self-help gurus, G. E. Moore, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and David Hume.

#27: Your new year resolutions survival guide

Fri, 07 Jan 2022 05:00:00 +0000

Is the new year a good time to make some positive changes in your life? Or are new year resolutions a bit ... you know, cliched? And if you do decide to make some resolutions, how do you choose them? Your imperfect friend is here to hold your hand and guide you through it all. We're going to look at why, psychologically, new year is a pretty good time to make some changes, and why cynicism about new year resolutions is understandable, but overblown. We're also going to look at how you can dig down into any resolutions you've been toying with and get to the heart of what you really care about, so that you can focus your new year efforts in the right place.

Find the '5 whys' exercise here.

Reference:
Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman, Jason Riis. 2014: 'The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior', Management Science 60/10:2563-2582.

#26: Why writing is like sleeping

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 05:00:00 +0000

Not an obvious comparison, I'll admit. But, trust me, you're way better at knowing how to draw boundaries around your sleep (even if you don't always put that into practice) than you are at knowing how to draw boundaries around your writing. Do you schedule meetings in the middle of the night, knowing that you'll need to interrupt your sleep to attend them? Thought not. But I bet you're guilty of scheduling meetings during time that you'd planned to spend writing. You probably even blame yourself when you find it impossible to get back to writing afterwards. It needs to stop. Now.

Dr Rhonda Patrick's interview with Dr Matthew Walker on her Found My Fitness podcast is here.

Here are the books and articles mentioned in the episode:

Newport, C. 2016: Deep Work (London: Piatkus)
Schulte, B. 2019: 'A woman's greatest enemy? A lack of time to herself', The Guardian, 21st July.
Sword, H. 2017: Air & Light & Time & Space (Harvard, MA: Harvard University Press)
Walker, M. 2018: Why We Sleep (London: Penguin)

#25: You don't know what 'success' means until you know who you are

Fri, 26 Nov 2021 05:00:00 +0000

We talk about success and failure all the time. You're probably in the habit of telling yourself that you'll never succeed, or that other people are more successful than you are. But do you actually know what you mean when you say things like this? Unless you have a clear conception of who you are and what you care about, you have no idea. Join The Academic Imperfectionist to cut through the bullshit stories we tell ourselves about success and failure, and find out how to write your own rules.

You can find the Wheel of Life and the Core Values exercises on the Resources page of The Academic Imperfectionist website.

There's a free, online version of William James's Principles of Psychology here.

Galen Strawson's Aeon article about life as a narrative (or not) is here.

#24: Your inner critic is not a videogame boss

Fri, 12 Nov 2021 05:00:00 +0000

You've read the inspirational quotes, you've got uplifting affirmations written on post-it notes and stuck to your fridge, you're fully on board with personal growth and empowerment - so why do you still have the inner critic buzzing away inside your head? It must mean you've failed, right?

Well, no, honey. You're completely normal. You've got the inner critic all wrong, that's all. The bad news is that you're stuck with her. The good news is that she's not in charge of what you think and do - you are.

#23: The way you're trying to motivate yourself is all wrong

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 05:00:00 +0100

All that beating yourself up about how lazy you are, and about how you're not achieving the things you need to achieve as fast as you need to achieve them - it's just tough love, right? It's what keeps you going and striving to succeed. Well, actually ... lol no, imperfectionists. Your well-meaning self-criticism and self-shaming are serving no purpose whatsoever. Don't argue. It's science.

Your imperfect friend is back to show you why beating yourself up not only feels bad - it's also holding you back. You can make yourself more productive and efficient by showing yourself some love. Get that kettle on and have a listen for some science-backed ways to feel good and get stuff done.

For the Goal Contract mentioned in this episode, click here.

#22: Dealing with uncertainty

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 05:00:00 +0100

Do you struggle to cope with uncertainty - about the effects of the pandemic, about your career, about your income, your relationship, and God knows what else? The Academic Imperfectionist is here to break it all down for you. You're going to learn:

That it's completely normal to feel stressed and anxious in the face of uncertainty;
That the reason uncertainty is stressful is due not only to the possibility of some nasty outcome that you fear, but also to how anticipating it makes you feel;
That coping effectively with uncertainty requires two separate strategies: one to try to avert the nasty outcome that you fear, and another to address the stress that anticipating that outcome causes you;
How to start implementing both those strategies right now.

Here are the publications mentioned in the episode:

Anderson, E. C., Carleton, R. N., Diefenbach, M., and Han, P. K. J. 2019: ‘The relationship between uncertainty and affect’, Frontiers in Psychology 10.

Loewenstein, G. 1987: ‘Anticipation and the valuation of delayed consumption’, The Economic Journal 97/387: 666–84.

Lovallo, D. and Kahneman, D. 2000: ‘Living with uncertainty: attractiveness and resolution timing’, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 13/2: 179–90.

And here's Harvard Law School's guide to BATNAs.

Click here to support the show via Patreon!

#21: Let's talk about lists, plans, and goals

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 05:00:00 +0100

Would you rather boil your head than start the day by making a task list? Does the idea of identifying your core values make you feel faint? Are you terrified to make plans because - what if you get them wrong? You're not alone. Your anxiety about writing down what you need to do and what's important to you is understandable, but misplaced. Join The Academic Imperfectionist for the low-down on all the things you have to gain from embracing imperfect planning.

Find the 'Identify Your Core Values' exercise on the Resources page of The Academic Imperfectionist website.

Here are a some other list-based resources I find useful:

The One Thing website has some really useful exercises for long-term planning and prioritisation - I especially like the 411 and the GPS.

Try the bullet journal method for making effective task lists. You don't need a special journal to do it (although if you really want one, you can buy one). Find instructions about it here.

And of course, for getting clear about exactly what sort of life you want to be living, and working out how to get there, go listen to #5: Bitch, do you even dream? and #6: Live the dream! You can find the exercises mentioned in those episodes - the Wheel of Life and the Ideal Life Instruction Manual - on the Resources page.

#20: Don't just write it - ferment it!

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 06:00:00 +0100

So, you heard the last episode, and you're completely on board with not writing being an essential part of writing. But what sort of not-writing is best? Some not-writing activities allow our best ideas to ferment away in the background, growing in goodness like a good batch of sauerkraut. Other not-writing activities, however, grind the whole mental fermentation process to a halt.

The bad news is that, at the moment we decide to take a break from writing, we're especially vulnerable to plumping for the wrong sort of not-writing activities. The good news is that The Academic Imperfectionist is on hand to shut that shit down.

Here are the readings mentioned in this episode:

Kethledge, R. M. and Erwin, M. S. 2019: Lead Yourself First (Bloomsbury).
Newport, C. 2020: Digital Minimalism (Penguin).
Schroder, H. 2021: 'Set yourself free by developing a growth mindset toward anxiety', Psyche.

#19: Not writing is an essential part of writing

Fri, 03 Sep 2021 05:00:00 +0100

Yeah, I know - you should be writing. Same here. Not writing enough is one of the worst sins a researcher can commit - and we're all committing it almost all of the time. But what if we've got 'not writing' all wrong? What if those procrastinating hours you spent trying to decide which font to use and what colour to paint your bedroom were actually important parts of your writing process? What if, without plenty of time spent not writing, you wouldn't be a writer at all - at least, not one that anyone would want to read? Shut that laptop and let your imperfect fairy godmother blow your writing guilt out of the water.

Here are a couple of summaries of the research on the role of day-dreaming and mind-wandering in creativity:

Kaufman, S. B. and Singer, J. L. 2011: ‘The origins of positive-constructive daydreaming’, Scientific American, 22nd December.

Kaufman, S. B. and Singer, J. L. 2012: ‘The creativity of dual process “system 1” thinking’, Scientific American, 17th January.

And here's the Adam Grant article mentioned in the episode:

Grant, A. 2016: 'Why I taught myself to procrastinate', New York Times, 16th January.

#18: There is no such thing as self-sabotage

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 05:00:00 +0100

Do you have a battle going on inside every time you try to achieve something important - a battle between the part of you that's trying to do well and your inner saboteur, who is determined to mess things up for you? Have you ever wondered why you work against yourself in this way? I mean, it's exhausting, right?

The answer, my imperfect friends, is that your inner saboteur isn't a saboteur at all - at least, not intentionally. She wants you to do well. It's just that she's afraid of what might happen if you do. If you want to go places, doing battle with her isn't the answer. You need to tune in to your inner saboteur, work out what makes her tick, and then get her on side. I'm going to show you how.

Download your Self-Sabotage Worksheet here.

#17: The importance of wasting your time

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 05:00:00 +0100

That productivity you care so much about: what's it for? For too many of us, it's not for anything. It's the ultimate end. Unless we're being productive, we feel like we're wasting our time, like we're being lazy, selfish, immoral, a loser. We can only bear to take a break because we think that not taking a break might harm our productivity.

That's not what we tell ourselves, of course. We tell ourselves that being productive is a means to attaining our goals: finishing a thesis, getting a job, getting promoted. Except we're pathological goalpost-movers who never attain our goals. Too often, our goals are just the excuses we need to keep on keeping on. We're wasting our lives with our pointless productivity.

The antidote? Make peace with wasting time. Yeah, I know it's uncomfortable. I know sitting around doing nothing makes you feel more evil than the devil. Embrace it. Get good at it. It's worth it, I promise.

Here are the readings mentioned in this episode:

Camus, A. 1942: 'The Myth of Sisyphus' (a nice person has made it available here).
Headlee, C. 2020: Do Nothing (Piatkus).
Keller, G. and Papasan, J. 2013: The ONE Thing (Bard Press).
McKeown, G. 2014: Essentialism (Random House).
McKeown, G. 2021: Effortless (Random House).
Russell, B. 1932: 'In Praise of Idleness', in In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays (George Allen & Unwin, 1935).

#16: Stop moving your goalposts

Fri, 23 Jul 2021 05:00:00 +0100

You know what I’m talking about. You set out to achieve something important, you manage to achieve it (because you’re awesome and of course you did) - but instead of celebrating, you tell yourself it was no big deal and that you probably weren’t aiming high enough anyway and omg how are you ever going to get anywhere if you keep chasing such tiny, piddling little goals? Goalpost-moving is one of the main perfectionist weapons we use against ourselves. Doing it means that, by definition, we can never succeed. But there’s a way you can stop. In this episode, I’m going to:

Explain how you’re harming yourself when you move your goalposts
Talk you through how to set goals in a way that makes later goalpost-shifting more difficult
Show you how to set goals in a way that helps you become the sort of person you want to be
Explain why celebrating your successes is important

To download the Goal Contract template mentioned in the episode, go here.

#15: Help! I have brain fog!

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 05:00:00 +0100

Last week, you were storming it. Hitting your writing targets. Keeping up with emails. Getting everything done (well, more or less). So, why is everything suddenly such a struggle? Why is it that you can barely remember your own name, let alone find anything intelligent to say about ... well, anything?

Congratulations, you have brain fog. But also, your reaction to it is probably causing you some problems too. Don't worry, though - The Academic Imperfectionist has fought through her own brain fog to pull you out of your mental swamp.

In this episode, you're going to learn:

how to sidestep the self-blame that is making it hard for you to see a way out of the fog,
how your idea of what sustainable productivity looks like is unrealistic, and how to reset it,
how to switch into 'safe mode' so that you can troubleshoot your productivity problems without dropping any balls,
how to protect what's important from what's urgent, even when you're feeling depleted.

Here are the references mentioned in the episode:

#14: Become your own biggest advocate, with Immanuel Kant

Fri, 25 Jun 2021 05:00:00 +0100

How many times have people told you that you should believe in yourself, and how many times have you responded by thinking, 'Pfft, how can I believe in myself when I see evidence of my inadequacy everywhere I look?'?

Sorry, friend, but you see no such thing. Not only are your negative beliefs about yourself doing a great job at holding you back, they're also doing a great job at their own PR - by filtering the way you experience the world so that you think you see evidence for them where there is none. The truth is - as Kant taught us - you don't see the world as it really is. You see a filtered version. The good news is that you can change the filters so that instead of seeing evidence of your inadequacy, you see evidence of your worth. Your imperfect fairy godmother is here to show you how.

#13: How to work as efficiently as you procrastinate

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 05:00:00 +0100

Q: Why is it that you manage to find all the focus, enthusiasm, and dedication you need when it comes to explaining why some dude on Reddit is NTA, but you can't bring yourself even to make a start on what you're actually supposed to be doing?

A: It's because the way you think about what you're supposed to be doing is not the same as the way you think about what you're doing instead.

In this episode, we'll take a look at why your attitude to work is making it difficult for you to work and why your attitude to procrastination makes procrastination so easy - and at how approaching work in the way you approach procrastination can help you worry less and get more done.

#12: Delete your scarcity mindset

Fri, 28 May 2021 05:00:00 +0100

HURRY! Listen now! This episode will expire in 13 hours, 49 minutes, and 37 seconds! You know that’s nonsense, right? Okay, but do you also realise that it’s nonsense that those other opportunities you’re considering - that not-quite-right project, that far-from-ideal job - are scarce resources that you’d better grab before they’re gone, or regret it forever? Join the Academic Imperfectionist to find out why it’s okay to hold out for what you really want, and for the lowdown on how to tell when your scarcity mindset is standing in your way.

#11: Why you have impostor syndrome, and what to do about it: remembering Katherine Hawley

Fri, 14 May 2021 05:00:00 +0100

Your desk is covered with self-affirmations on Post-It notes, you spend 5 minutes every morning visualising yourself as Queen of the Universe, and you try not to stick your fingers in your ears whenever people say nice things about you. So why is it that you still struggle to believe that you're good enough?

It's commonly thought that people with impostor syndrome ignore evidence of how great they are. But that's not always true. Katherine Hawley argued that people often have good reasons to believe that they're not good enough, even when they're wrong. Join the Academic Imperfectionist for a quick skate through Hawley's argument and round-up of how you can apply her insights to manage your own impostor syndrome.

Katherine Hawley, professor of philosophy at the University of St Andrews, passed away in April 2021. Her intellect, kindness, and all-round awesomeness are fondly remembered and much missed.

Read Katherine Hawley's 2019 article, 'What is impostor syndrome?' (Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 93/1: 203–226), here.

And here's The Onion's alarmingly vivid portrayal of what impostor syndrome feels like.

#10: Dealing with your inner reviewer 2

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 05:00:00 +0100

Does writing make you anxious? Is having any original idea immediately followed by a nagging voice in your head telling you that it's probably rubbish? That's your inner reviewer 2. Here's how to deal with her.

In this episode, you're going to learn 4 useful strategies for responding to your inner reviewer 2:

Acknowledge that she's there and that she's making things hard for you
Recognise that she's actually trying to help - it's just that she's not very good at it
Rethink the relationship between your inner reviewer 2 and your motivation and growth
Schedule her criticism: tell her to come back later, when she won't cause so much chaos

#9: Cancel your productivity anxiety

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 05:00:00 +0100

We get into a vicious circle when we’re anxious about our productivity. We get anxious about falling behind, our anxiety interferes with our work, and then we worry about falling even further behind. We tell ourselves we’d feel better if only we could work a bit faster - but instead we end up watching cat videos on YouTube. It doesn’t have to be like this. Your wise, imperfect friend is here to tell you how to break the cycle.

The blog posts mentioned in the episode, which summarise some of the research on the role of daydreaming in writing, are:

Kaufman, S. B. and Singer, J. L. 2011: ‘The origins of positive-constructive daydreaming’, Scientific American, 22nd December.

Kaufman, S. B. and Singer, J. L. 2012: ‘The creativity of dual process “system 1” thinking’, Scientific American, 17th January.

Here’s my Twitter thread describing the first steps I took towards cracking my own productivity anxiety.

#8: The nostalgia illusion

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 05:00:00 +0100

Do you ever find yourself caught up in nostalgia, reliving the past, convinced that nothing the future holds can possibly live up to the good times you've already experienced? There are reasons why it's easy to think fondly about the past and to be fearful about the future. The good news is that it's all an illusion - and it's one you can ditch. Here's how.

#7: How can I flourish in an unjust world?

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 05:00:00 +0000

No amount of coaching is going to turn a sexist, racist, ableist society into a just and fair one. So, there's no point in even trying to flourish, right? Wrong, actually. Flourishing is a marathon - an unfair one - in which some of us are carrying heavier burdens than others. You can't make the competition fair, but you can lighten your load.

Click here for the Wheel of Life exercise mentioned in this episode.

Read Ephrat Livni's Quartz article, 'All career advice for women is a form of gaslighting', here.

The research mentioned in the episode is Rigoni, D., Kühn, S., Sartori, G., and Brass, M. 2011: 'Inducing disbelief in free will alters brain correlates of preconscious motor preparation', Psychological Science 22/5: 613–18.

#6: Live the dream!

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 01:00:00 +0000

So, you've dreamed up your ideal life. What now? You go and get it, that's what now. There's just one problem: there's only one person who knows how to get it, and that person is not talking. Also, that person is you. Here's the strategy you need to get yourself to spill the beans.

For the Ideal Life Instruction Manual mentioned in the episode, click here.

The research mentioned in the episode is Riis, J., Simmons, J.P., and Goodwin, G.P. 2008: ‘Preferences for psychological enhancements: the reluctance to enhance fundamental traits’, Journal of Consumer Research 35: 495–508.

#5: Bitch, do you even dream?

Fri, 19 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Suppose that your Academic Imperfectionist Godmother could wave her magic wand and give you the life of your dreams, right now. What would you ask for? If you need to hesitate even for a second before knowing how you’d answer that, you need to stop what you’re doing and listen to this episode.

For the Wheel of Life exercise mentioned in the episode, click here.

#4: How to hack your assertiveness with Aristotle

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

You know you need to say no more, right? And you know that, in theory, there must be a way to do it without coming across as the world's most arrogant, selfish, and uncooperative person - but you just don't know how to get there from where you are now. Well, actually, you do know. You prove it every time you think wistfully about how that confident, fearless colleague of yours would never have agreed to that daft commitment that you just said yes to. Assertiveness is easier than you think. To find out more, let's go back a couple of thousand years and try Aristotle's bitch boots on for size.

#3: Rage against the positivity

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Turn that frown upside down! Don't be a Moaning Minnie! Nobody likes a Debbie Downer! Oh, give yourselves a break, my emo friends. All that positivity can be exhausting. You have negative feelings - deal with it. Being in touch with your negative side is an important part of taking care of yourself. And moaning, done right, can help you connect with others and even build motivation to get the life you want. Join The Academic Imperfectionist for some Heaven-Knows-I'm-Miserable-Now insights into the positive side of negativity.

#2: But I haven't earned a rest!

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0100

What do you do when you're ready to collapse but you haven't done enough to earn a rest? Answer: you take a rest, and while you're doing it you have a long, hard think about the crazy idea that rest is something that needs to be earned. Rest is a physiological need - you no more have to earn it than you have to earn the oxygen you breathe. Get the kettle on, put your feet up, and spend your next 16 minutes chilling with The Academic Imperfectionist.

#1: Toxic gratitude

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0100

It's good to be grateful, right? Well, maybe ... but maybe not. Sometimes our gratitude is toxic: we use it to suppress and ignore negative feelings like anger, resentment, frustration, and dissatisfaction. Those negative feelings can hold the key to making important changes in our lives. You're as entitled to your negative feelings as you are to your gratitude. Put that gratitude journal down, and listen to your anger!