Wellbeing Archives | Research Coach UK

Building an effective writing habit 2
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Building an effective writing habit 2

Academic Life, Productivity, Wellbeing, Writing

Building an effective writing habit 2

In this second blog on building effective writing habits, I explore what can help effective writing. I’m going to look at what happens in individual writing sessions, and use this to consider how to build good habits. What do you need for a successful writing session? Here are some questions to get started: Do you set yourself writing goals or intentions? (Do these help or hinder you?) How do you judge when you have been productive? How sustainable is the way that you work? Goals: By asking these questions, I’m not advocating for [...]

By Jo Collins|2022-07-26T12:35:14+01:00July 22nd, 2022|Academic Life, Productivity, Wellbeing, Writing|0 Comments

Embracing challenge
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Embracing challenge

Academic Life, Personal development, Productivity, Wellbeing

Embracing challenge

Embracing challenge sounds like an oxymoron. When challenging situations rear their heads, it can be easier to default to some of the following thinking styles: Catastrophizing: “This is going to be a disaster!” Interestingly – if we look at the medical effects of catastrophizing– patients who catastrophize a higher pain expectation have worse pre-operative pain than non-catastrophizers. However, after the procedure, pain for both is similar. The implication here then is through magnification, rumination and a sense of helplessness, we can tend to make the situation worse for ourselves. [...]

By Jo Collins|2022-02-21T18:10:09+00:00February 21st, 2022|Academic Life, Personal development, Productivity, Wellbeing|0 Comments

Refocussing: Goals and resolutions
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Refocussing: Goals and resolutions

General, Personal development, Productivity, Wellbeing

Refocussing: Goals and resolutions

A lot of us try to set goals and resolutions for change. However, it can be really tough to get these to stick. Höchli et al (2019) suggests this is because often these goals are often broad and abstract, requiring sustained behavioural change. In this blog I’m curious about setting and adhering to goals and resolutions and I’m going to explore some ideas and research to help navigate through this. Firstly, in order to stick a goal has to matter to us. Neale et al (2011) explain this by distinguishing between our values, our beliefs and our attitudes, using the metaphor of the [...]

By Jo Collins|2023-06-28T17:42:38+01:00January 28th, 2022|General, Personal development, Productivity, Wellbeing|0 Comments

Focusing on your values as a pathway to success
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Focusing on your values as a pathway to success

General, Personal development, Wellbeing

Focusing on your values as a pathway to success

What are values? Our values are absolutely key to who we are. Values are deeply embedded ideas about how things should work, what matters, and as such they shape the decisions that we make and our behaviours. Take for example my bugbear about selfish drivers. I get irate about selfishness in general as I have a deep-seated expectation that social interaction should be based on people respecting each other. I feel that consideration for each other is a kind of glue that keeps us all knitted together and functional as a society. If someone cuts me up whilst driving, for [...]

By Jo Collins|2022-01-28T11:08:01+00:00January 28th, 2022|General, Personal development, Wellbeing|0 Comments

It’s OK not to be OK, whatever the time of year
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It’s OK not to be OK, whatever the time of year

General, Wellbeing

It’s OK not to be OK, whatever the time of year

‘Tis the season when we are bombarded by messages of jollity – ‘Merry’ Christmas, ‘Happy’ New Year, Tidings of ‘Joy’, and we are surrounded by imagery of fun, laughter, festivity, friendship and family. But what about if you’re not feeling jolly? What if you are far from being anywhere in the realms of joy and happiness? What then? Truth is, this time of year can be even more difficult than any other. You might be grieving, you might be unwell, you might be having relationship problems or be separated from loved ones by thousands of miles, you might be [...]

By Natalie James|2021-12-16T15:41:20+00:00December 15th, 2021|General, Wellbeing|0 Comments

Giving ourselves permission to rest
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Giving ourselves permission to rest

Academic Life, General, Personal development, Wellbeing

Giving ourselves permission to rest

As I write this blog, we are in the run up to the Winter break at Universities. I wanted to focus on this break particularly, because many of us have a manic autumn term, and the break is our chance to rest and recuperate. Except, actually, it becomes a time to cram in all those other things we just didn’t manage to fit in during the term. Vitae’s ‘Impact of COVID-19 on Researchers’ survey (Feb-Mar 2021) showed that 58% of those surveyed found it impossible to do the research they had planned during COVID, and so now, many of [...]

By Jo Collins|2024-01-22T12:10:58+00:00December 10th, 2021|Academic Life, General, Personal development, Wellbeing|0 Comments

Stand tall: Academic Authenticity
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Stand tall: Academic Authenticity

Academic Life, Personal development, Wellbeing

Stand tall: Academic Authenticity

What is authenticity? The other week I found myself telling my class a familiar anecdote about submitting my PhD for what must have been the seventieth time in 7 years (this is not an exaggeration: 10 classes per year x 7 years). I’ve always used anecdotes as a way to try to connect to students and coachees, as I believe they express something authentic about attitudes, values, or motivations. Yet I found that I had reused the anecdote to the point that I felt the phrasing speak for me, and I wondered then if the story was still truly [...]

By Jo Collins|2021-12-16T15:40:24+00:00November 12th, 2021|Academic Life, Personal development, Wellbeing|0 Comments

Managing the ‘Imposter Gremlin’
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Managing the ‘Imposter Gremlin’

Academic Life, Personal development, Wellbeing

Managing the ‘Imposter Gremlin’

Why do 'Imposter' thoughts show up? Right now I’m in the middle of making a bunch of exciting (and scary) changes to my business. Starting to blog, launching a new look website and new coaching programmes, planning a podcast, and taking on a new employee! It’s all great stuff, but with all this ‘newness’ comes a ferocious comeback of my Imposter Syndrome, aka the ‘Imposter Gremlin’. (Yes, coaches suffer with it too, even though we are supposed to know what to do with it!). Imposter syndrome is estimated to affect at least 70% of us at some point in [...]

By Natalie James|2021-12-16T14:14:46+00:00October 21st, 2021|Academic Life, Personal development, Wellbeing|0 Comments

Responding to change
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Responding to change

Personal development, Wellbeing

Responding to change

As I write this piece, our world is in the midst of COVID-19, which has seen us having to rapidly respond to one of the most major global changes in generations. Whilst this change is unprecedented, the range of responses we are experiencing ourselves and witnessing in our colleagues, friends and family are natural human reactions to change. As a cognitive species, we are often (consciously or subconsciously) resistant to change, wanting to do everything in our power to maintain stability, fearful of the uncertainty that accompanies change. Our own and others’ emotional responses to change can often be [...]

By Natalie James|2021-12-16T14:18:23+00:00October 21st, 2021|Personal development, Wellbeing|0 Comments