
The PhD Life Coach
Whether you're a PhD student or an experienced academic, life in a university can be tough. If you're feeling overwhelmed, undervalued, or out of your depth, the PhD Life Coach can help. We talk about issues that affect all academics and how we can feel better now, without having to be perfect productivity machines. We usually do this career because we love it, so let's remember what that feels like! I'm your host, Dr Vikki Wright. Join my newsletter at www.thephdlifecoach.com.
Latest episodes

Apr 3, 2023 • 48min
25. How to curate your PhD Life with Jamie Pei
Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!In this episode we have another special guest! This time we're talking to Jamie Pei, the "messy" PhD coach about how to curate your PhD Life. We talk about what we mean by "curating" and why we mean your all elements of your life and not just your PhD. Jamie has a great perspective on how this approach puts you in the driver's seat, and enables you to guide and create the life you want. You also hear us demonstrating how little we actually know about fine art curation in an attempt to make useful analogies....Links from this episodeJamie's link tree: linktr.ee/jamiepei Subscribe to my PhD mailing list: jamiepei.com/phdmail Instagram: @verymessyjamieTwitter: @verymessyjamieWe also reference some work on values from Caroline Kay. You can hear more about her here! https://carolinekay.co/ Her podcast is called Snippets of Genius. Listen via her website (https://carolinekay.co/podcast/) or any preferred podcast platform****I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464 I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Mar 27, 2023 • 26min
24. How Winnie the Pooh can help you manage your mind
Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!In this episode we think about our own inner dialogue. How do you speak to yourself? Are you critical? Quick to judgment? Pessimisitic? Put yourself under pressure? All of these things are so common in academia yet we never really get shown how to manage our minds. Instead we either indulge these thoughts (ie we believe them and look for evidence they're true) or we admonish ourselves for having them (ie we tell ourselves "we're our own worst enemy"). In this episode I'll give you a very practical (and slightly silly) technique to help you develop a more kind, compassionate, and firm inner voice. And it involves Winnie the Pooh...****I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464 I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Mar 20, 2023 • 26min
23. How to make decisions you love
Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!There are so many big decisions to make in academia, from what to research, what conferences to go to, what admin roles to do, where to submit your work, and even how long to stay in academia. Everyone is keen to give us their opinion on what we "should" do or what will be "good for our CV", but no one seems to ever help us figure out how to make our own decisions. In this episode, I share some frameworks and reflective questions that will help you make the best decisions for you.****I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464 I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

6 snips
Mar 13, 2023 • 27min
22. What to do when you're feeling a bit bleurgh
Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!What do you do when you feel disappointed, stressed or overwhelmed? These are such common emotions in academia yet most of us don't really know how to respond to these emotions. In this episode, I'll guess what you probably do at the moment when you're experiencing an emotion you don't like, and suggest some things you do instead. Emotions are part of the human existence and we can learn how to look after ourselves a little more. In this episode I mention the emotion wheel. There are loads if you search online but here's one I like - https://www.purewow.com/family/feelings-chartFor the transcript, check out www.thephdlifecoach.com/podcast. You can also find all the different ways of working with me on the same website.****I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464 I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Mar 6, 2023 • 25min
21. Why I want to coach your supervisor (and what that means for you)
Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!In this episode, I consider the downside of always assuming that our seniors "have it together" (whatever level of academia you're at). Often we create a story where, if they haven't replied to our email or changed their mind about our study, it means that we're not important or our study is wrong. I'll be discussing why it's almost certainly not about you and what we should do differently as a sector. If you'd like to find out more about working with me, check out www.thephdlifecoach.com/work-with-me. The transcript to this episode can be found at www.thephdlifecoach.com/podcast ****I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464 I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

10 snips
Feb 27, 2023 • 36min
20. What to do when you have too much to do
Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!In this episode, we accept a universal truth. We have too much to do. We'll explore what happens when you accept that as a fact and challenge instead the notion that we have to do it all (and especially the notion that we have to do it all this week). I teach you about boss mode and worker mode, introduce you to my plate spinning analogy, and explore how the project management triangle can be used when we're really up against it. We're also going to celebrate that this is my 20th episode! Yay! Thanks for your continuing support :)You can find a transcript at www.thephdlifecoach.com/podcast and find out more about working with me at www.thephdlifecoach.com/work-with-me****I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464 I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Feb 20, 2023 • 36min
19. What to do (and think) if you have a toxic relationship with your supervisor
Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!In this episode, we’ll think about how to look after yourself if you think you have a toxic relationship with your supervisor. We’ll consider what that means, what effect it could have on you, and most importantly, how to manage your thoughts so that you can make decisions about this difficult situation. I’ll talk about some of the most common thoughts that I see students having and help you find some other thoughts that might help you more. If you find yourself in this situation, please do reach out to the wellbeing services at your university and make sure that you are also getting the professional help that you need. If you'd like to find out more about working with me, come to www.thephdlifecoach.com/work-with-me. You can find a transcript of this episode at www.thephdlifecoach.com/podcast****I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464 I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Feb 13, 2023 • 25min
18. How to have a great relationship with your supervisor
Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!In this episode I discuss five ways that you can improve your relationship with your PhD supervisor. This relationship is one of the most important aspects of your research experience yet we so often leave it to chance. The good news is that you can improve things so much without expecting them to change at all - find out how in this episode! ***NOTE - this is NOT talking about abusive, problematic and/or unacceptable supervision. I will talk about this more next week, but the strategies in this episode are mainly focused on enhancing supervisory relationships that just don't feel as good as they could right now. Find the YouTube version of this podcast here: https://youtu.be/gvCuQvAskMg****I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464 I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Feb 6, 2023 • 16min
17. Why you should never cross things off your to do list and what you should do instead
Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!In this episode I talk about the way PhD students and academics spend so much time looking what they need to do next that they forget to recognise what they've done. I introduce the "well done list" and show you how it can help you build confidence and productivity. To find out more about working with me, check out www.thephdlifecoach.com/work-with-me****I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464 I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.

Jan 30, 2023 • 22min
16. How to tell your story and get the recognition you deserve (part 3)
Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show!In the final part of this theory, we think about the story you tell about yourself. What story do you really believe about yourself? Perhaps you believe you're slow at writing. Perhaps you believe that you always get distracted. We'll work through why these stories can lead to some really negative consequences and how you can challenge them and build different stories about yourself. This isn't about "positive thinking", it's about focusing on the stories that make you feel good and help you build the life you want. You can find out more about working with me at www.thephdlifecoach.com/work-with-me****I'm Dr Vikki Wright, ex-Professor and certified life coach and I help everyone from PhD students to full Professors to get a bit less overwhelmed and thrive in academia. Please make sure you subscribe, and I would love it if you could find time to rate, review and tell your friends! You can send them this universal link that will work whatever the podcast app they use. http://pod.link/1650551306?i=1000695434464 I also host a free online community for academics at every level. You can sign up on my website, The PhD Life Coach. com - you'll receive regular emails with helpful tips and access to free online group coaching every single month! Come join and get the support you need.