The Academic Imperfectionist
Rebecca Roache
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.
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Top 10 The Academic Imperfectionist Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Academic Imperfectionist episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Academic Imperfectionist for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Academic Imperfectionist episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
#77: Mediocrity is underrated!
The Academic Imperfectionist
01/12/24 • 16 min
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.
#68: Plato (and Barbie) on perfection
The Academic Imperfectionist
08/18/23 • 18 min
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.'
#63: In defence of your comfort zone
The Academic Imperfectionist
06/09/23 • 17 min
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.
#61: Your productivity standards are like a 1980s fad diet
The Academic Imperfectionist
05/12/23 • 20 min
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.
#56: You're not weak-willed, according to Socrates
The Academic Imperfectionist
03/03/23 • 19 min
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.
#10: Dealing with your inner reviewer 2
The Academic Imperfectionist
04/30/21 • 17 min
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
#35: Why am I putting off doing that ridiculously undemanding thing?
The Academic Imperfectionist
05/06/22 • 20 min
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
The Academic Imperfectionist
04/22/22 • 14 min
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
#28: Moore's paradox: When what you believe about yourself doesn't make sense
The Academic Imperfectionist
01/21/22 • 17 min
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.
#22: Dealing with uncertainty
The Academic Imperfectionist
10/15/21 • 20 min
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.
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Academic Imperfectionist have?
The Academic Imperfectionist currently has 99 episodes available.
What topics does The Academic Imperfectionist cover?
The podcast is about Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Podcasts, Self-Improvement and Education.
What is the most popular episode on The Academic Imperfectionist?
The episode title '#83: How to be happy' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The Academic Imperfectionist?
The average episode length on The Academic Imperfectionist is 20 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Academic Imperfectionist released?
Episodes of The Academic Imperfectionist are typically released every 14 days.
When was the first episode of The Academic Imperfectionist?
The first episode of The Academic Imperfectionist was released on Oct 16, 2020.
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