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The Academic Imperfectionist
The Academic Imperfectionist combines philosophical analysis and coaching insights to help you dump perfectionism and flourish on your own terms. Your host is Dr Rebecca Roache, a coach and Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of London.
Episodes
123 episodes
#122: Write it down, make it happen
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 frankl...
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Episode 122
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32:08
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#121: Is your self-improvement self-rejection in disguise?
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. ...
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Episode 121
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22:39
#120: Professor Wendelien van Eerde on the science of procrastination
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 ...
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Episode 120
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1:07:29
#119: All about coaching
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 ......
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Episode 119
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29:53
#118: The Academic Imperfectionist origin story
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 thank...
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Episode 118
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27:08
#117: Intervention for inept time management
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-recog...
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Episode 117
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33:09
#116: Procrastination is a bad idea
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 for...
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Episode 116
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28:15
#115: Who cares about achievement?
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 f...
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Episode 115
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22:13
#114: Ego, resentment, and recognition
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 sam...
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Episode 114
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21:45
#113: What if you don't have good habits?
'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 th...
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Episode 113
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24:43
#112: David Hume and the battle between reason and passion
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 ca...
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Episode 112
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23:57
#111: Erving Goffman, Instagram, and the Real You
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 hi...
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Episode 111
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20:23
#110: How to sabbatical like a pro, with Professor Bethany Wilinski
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....
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Episode 110
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1:06:01
#109: Productivity, golden eggs, and inner critics
What's your reaction when your inner critic tells you that what you're doing is not good enough? If you think she's right, and that it's only thanks to her that you're getting anything done at all, you're not alone. But while you're busy listen...
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Episode 109
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21:51
#108: Your writing warm-up
Do you know how writing is supposed to feel when it's going well? If you're anything like I was a few years ago, you have some pretty bizarre ideas here, involving things like hours on end of laser-sharp flow, iron-clad willpower to resist dist...
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Episode 108
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24:59
#107: The problem with your sense of entitlement
Are you entitled? If not, you should be. No, not like that. I'm not talking about over-entitlement, which these days seems to be what people mean when they talk about entitlement. We don't hear so much about under-entitlement: peo...
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Episode 107
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15:16
#106: Do you know how much you can control?
Focus your attention on what you can control. That's what the Stoics taught us. But if you're someone who responds to every bad outcome with guilt-filled 'If only I'd ...' thoughts, you might be overestimating how much lies within your...
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Episode 106
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22:39
#105: Professor John Sellars on how to live like a Stoic
Have you ever wondered whether Stoicism might help you manage the stresses of modern life and find peace and satisfaction despite things being far more imperfect that you'd like? Have you ever wondered what Stoicism even is, other than...
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Episode 105
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1:16:55
#104: Kate Ahl on what academics talk about in therapy
Friends, you are going to feel so SEEN in this episode. Kate Ahl is an integrative psychotherapist who has spent her entire life living and working with academics. She spent several years as an in-house therapist at Cambridge University, where ...
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Episode 104
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1:26:13
#103: Tony Stubblebine (CEO of Medium) on how to find, build, and engage your audience
I know you love nattering about your research with your fellow nerds. But do you know how to talk about it with normal people too - without sending them to sleep or bombarding them with jargon? If this is something you'd like to be able to do b...
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Episode 103
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1:11:49
#102: Professor Stephanie Dunson on levelling up your writing process
Professor Stephanie Dunson is an award-winning scholar with over 20 years' experience as a writing process expert under her belt. She holds positions at Yale School of Management and the University of Connecticut's Department of English - and i...
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Episode 102
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1:15:38
#101: Professors Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea on the absolute basics of doing research
Do you know how to turn what you're interested in thinking about into something that other people want to read about? Do you even know what you're interested in, as opposed to what you think you should be interested in? Do you recognise that bo...
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Episode 101
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1:20:26
#100: What I've learned about perfectionism
Friends, it's the 100th episode! So, isn't it about time we talked about what perfectionism is, and why it's a problem? It's over 4 years since I recorded the first episode of this podcast, and I've learnt a LOT about perfectionism from the 99 ...
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Episode 100
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23:45
#99: Hey! What you reading for?
It's a familiar story. We're feeling stuck and out-of-our-depth with our writing, so we decide we'll go and do a bit more reading - just, you know, to soak up some of the wisdom out there and become better informed and therefore better qualifie...
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Episode 99
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22:45