Your Productivity Practice is Unique to You
that’s why you deserve specialized support
You can listen to an audio version of this newsletter above. Please note that this is unedited and there may be some natural stumbles, as I’m recording in my home office.
Saturday Free Workshop Reminder
I’m excited to offer a free Reflection and Planning workshop on Saturday December 16th from 1-2:30pm EST. It will be recorded for folks who can’t join live. You can learn more and sign up here.
Here’s what I wish someone had told me when I was finishing my PhD: it’s okay if your productivity practice looks different than everyone else.
At the time, “work/life balance” sounded like a cruel joke, a privilege reserved for royalty, or at least something inaccessible to me while I was learning to live with chronic illness. I knew I wanted to finish my PhD and start a coaching business, but the workaholism that had fueled me for so many years was no longer an option.
After searching for support and struggling to locate a sustainable way forward, I decided to build one myself with the intention of sharing what I discovered with my community. I spent the final two years of my PhD relearning how to be productive through researching, experimenting, and writing about a different productivity approach each week at my blog The Tending Year.
While the ways our institutions normalize—and sometimes celebrate—overwork, burnout, and workaholism haven’t changed, I’m proud to now share my expertise 1-on-1 with academics, entrepreneurs, and writers, so they don’t have to navigate the road to a sustainable productivity practice alone.
When I summarize my work as a coach, I often say that my clients outsource their executive functioning to me. While this is meant partly in jest, I created Success & Accountability Coaching to help overwhelmed knowledge workers find ways to check off their to-do lists without unnecessary overwork. As one of my long-time clients shared, our coaching sessions “looked like me rattling off the millions of things on my plate, and Kate listening calmly and then beautifully organizing tasks into manageable pieces. She was very insightful, often hearing and drawing attention to my own values and needs even when I wasn’t sure what they were.”
Everyone is different, so I tailor my approach to your unique goals, strengths, and obstacles. Still, based on what I’ve witnessed from my clients, here’s what you can expect to gain from Success & Accountability Coaching:
An increased sense of self-compassion as we undo our culture’s narratives of hyper-productivity, perfectionism, and workaholism
The clarity and confidence to manage obstacles by making proactive plans for potential pitfalls you may encounter, including generating menus and “if X happens, then I should do Y” lists
A greater capacity to practice pause when we come across unhelpful patterns, behaviors, and thoughts that crop up around your productivity
The skills to reflect on your experience with personal resources (time, energy, focus, spoons, etc.) so you can infuse our lessons into your work life moving forward
More insight into what kind of schedule, boundaries, and rhythms work specifically for you
…and more!
When you sign up for Success & Accountability Coaching, I’ll ask you to complete a questionnaire so I can learn more about your goals, strengths, and wishes for our work together over the next six months. Our initial coaching session is 90 minutes, giving us time to dive deep into your current productivity approach and chart out the path forward together. After that, we’ll meet roughly every other week in 75-minute coaching calls, where we’ll continually refine your task lists and practices. I’ll synthesize and share notes from our coaching calls with you within 48 hours. Between calls, I offer accountability and momentum through weekly check-in emails and invite you to respond with updates and questions via an email or voice memo.
I have been privileged to support my coaching clients in achieving a wide range of personal and professional goals over the years, including academic publications, business and sabbatical plans, dissertations, professional promotion and tenure materials, creative writing projects, and graduate school applications. All while prioritizing rest, self-care, and boundaries amidst their overlapping responsibilities!
If you’re ready for six months with a compassionate, knowledgeable, and hands-on coach in your corner, click here. I have THREE spots open for Success & Accountability Coaching clients starting in January 2024.
If you have any questions, feel free to respond to this email directly. I’ll share more information about my other offerings on Friday and be back next Wednesday with a post about resolutions.
Take care and talk soon,
Dr. Kate
