This post is inspired by a journaling prompt from my Flown Take-off session yesterday (Flown is a place where people working alone or remotely can go to be part of a community focussed on helping each other do deep work and be creative). Pause - a still and calm moment. A cessation of sound, noise… Continue reading What does the word “pause” mean to you?
Author: elliehighwood
Coach, Diversity and Inclusion Consultant, STEM Ambassador and Parent. Former Climate Scientist
Coaching space
Last week I took part in a coaching supervision session (something we coaches do to bring and discuss aspects of our coaching practice with other experienced coaches). We spent quite a bit of time thinking about space, which sent this former physicist immediately into a thought train of space-time continuum and parallel universes in one… Continue reading Coaching space
Led by values.
"Value-led", "value-driven" - I'm sure we have all seen a number of claims to be whatever this means by individuals or by organisations. It's one of those terms that feels a bit "meh" and meaningless. Management-speak bingo cards at the ready. However, feeling out of sync with the values of an organisation is a top… Continue reading Led by values.
What else can I do? Academics and identity
It seems to me that academics have a particularly strong tendency for "academic" to be a dominant part of their identity. It goes beyond their professional identity and is far deeper. Not a problem, unless you decide that the "what" of doing the identity "academic" is no longer compatible with other things in your lives.… Continue reading What else can I do? Academics and identity
What’s in your stress bucket?
I love a good model or framework - they help me make sense of things and to plan next steps. This week I've been doing my Mental Health First Aider training and have come across the "stress container" model. I thought it would be useful to share here as often people turn to coaching at… Continue reading What’s in your stress bucket?
Workload overload alert!
I'm in one of those phases where I am perennially saying to those around me "it will calm down after the end of this week". Only it doesn't seem to be doing so. Sometimes we get into a cycle of being very busy and therefore dealing with the urgent things on a just in time… Continue reading Workload overload alert!
On taking holiday
"I have booked a day of leave for childcare and now I realise I don't need it. I don't really want to go to work - I really need some downtime, but I feel guilty not going." When I managed postdocs and academics, I used to spend quite a lot of time encouraging and checking… Continue reading On taking holiday
Imposter syndrome and research
"Did you know that you have more citations in the 2 years since you left academia than in the previous 5 years?" My thoughts went: 1. "wait what?" (it's true according to Google Scholar) 2. "well that's because I was working with some fantastic people in the last couple of years on some very relevant… Continue reading Imposter syndrome and research
Can anybody hear me?
How do you know that you have been heard? How does it feel when you know that you have truly been listened to and really heard? And when was the last time that you felt or knew that you had been heard? A common (and welcome) bit of feedback from the people I work with… Continue reading Can anybody hear me?
Maintaining focus
This week has been a bit of a slog at times to be honest. Work is interesting and needs doing soon but for some reason it's felt a bit like wading through mud this week and I've been easily distractable. Which then ends up with me being frustrated with myself come Friday. I've found a… Continue reading Maintaining focus
Ellie Highwood - Leadership, Career and Personal Development Coach 