Self-care Archives - PhD Pathfinder

ADHD in doctoral studies

With this blog post I wish to increase awareness of (high-functioning) ADHD in doctoral studies, reduce the stigma around it, and help doctoral students with ADHD (or suspecting having ADHD) find tools, that can help them succeed on their doctoral journey. I also want to spread the word that ADHD…

Which ghost are you listening to?

Have you ever thought about how much time you spend thinking about the past or fantasizing about the future? It’s been suggested, that we spend only half our time focused on the present. And when we wander around in the past or in the future, we tend to be less…

How to help your brain survive virtual work

I’ve written about Zoom Gloom in a previous post (see here) but since issues with remote work are only getting worse, I believe it’s good to revisit that subject. A recent article in Nature revealed some depressing figures about academic burnout during the pandemic. Stress and anxiety, caused by remote…

“I’ll do it tomorrow” – procrastination in doctoral studies

While talking to doctoral students about self-leadership the other day, one student brought up the topic of procrastination. As this is an important topic, that many struggle with, especially during remote work, I thought a blog post would be in order. What makes procrastination so prevalent in academia? The academic…

Find your superpower

What are your strengths and your weaknesses? This is a question most often heard from a recruiter’s mouth. But it’s a question that everyone should think about once in a while. Because you might be surprised by what you discover about yourself – if you keep an open mind. A…

Let’s talk about burnout in academia

In academia, it’s easy to think that the next break is just around the corner. “I can focus on my writing next month when the teaching is over.” It’s easy to tell yourself that the amount of workload is normal. “Everyone else seems to manage the same workload so I…

Whether you need support to survive and thrive on your PhD journey or you want to improve your self-management skills as a scientist, the PhD Pathfinder is the right place for you.

Serving as your PhD Pathfinder is me, Maria Törnroos, a work and organizational psychologist (PhD) with plenty of experience and expertise of all the ups and downs of doing a PhD. At the moment, I am working as a psychologist, advancing wellbeing for doctoral researchers and early career researchers at Aalto University in Finland. You can read more about me, my academic past and my visions for the future in the ‘About me’ section.

The Best Thing Today

The Best Thing Today is a podcast series by Aalto study, career and advanced study psychologists. With their guests they discuss issues like remote working, social distancing, the effects of the Covid pandemic on studies, and much more. They also give advice for the everyday life in Aalto. The Best Thing Today is – naturally – in English, and the podcast’s counterpart in Finnish is called Paras hetki päivässä. Maria Törnroos's Audio columns are based on her blog PhD Pathfinder, www.mariatornroos.fi

The academic environment challenges recovery in many ways. Always being available, the “publish or perish” culture, and being passionate about one’s work, makes it more difficult to find time (or permission) for recovery. However, recovery is critical for a sustainable, healthy and successful work life. In this podcast episode Maria Törnroos and Maija Taka present …

Continue reading “Recovery in academia – are we too busy to recover?”