Friends, you are going to feel so SEEN in this episode. Kate Ahl is an integrative psychotherapist who has spent her entire life living and working with academics. She spent several years as an in-house therapist at Cambridge University, where she helped researchers and other university staff work through their emotional and interpersonal challenges. You might think your struggles are uniquely weird and shameful - but Kate has seen it all before, and she's here to give her compassionate, insightful take on why things are hard and what to do about it. 

I know you love nattering about your research with your fellow nerds. But do you know how to talk about it with normal people too - without sending them to sleep or bombarding them with jargon? If this is something you'd like to be able to do but you're terrified by the idea and/or you don't know where to start, this episode is for you. My guest this week is Tony Stubblebine, CEO of the huge blogging platform, Medium. He has smart, interested, curious readers who are dying to know what you're up to, and he thinks there's nobody in the world who's more suited to giving them what they want than you. Hit the download button to find out how!

Professor Stephanie Dunson is an award-winning scholar with over 20 years' experience as a writing process expert under her belt. She holds positions at Yale School of Management and the University of Connecticut's Department of English - and if you're thinking, 'Wow, that's quite a mix of disciplines!', that's because Stephanie's understanding of the process and practice of writing truly transcends disciplines. Come to think of it, it transends academia too: not only does Stephanie help academics, she also helps people in business use writing as tool to unlock insight and creativity. If you think of writing merely as a tool to help you turn thoughts into publications, Stephanie is about to open your eyes to how much more you can get out of the process.

Do you know how to turn what you're interested in thinking about into something that other people want to read about? Do you even know what you're interested in, as opposed to what you think you should be interested in? Do you recognise that boredom and feeling lost are necessary and unavoidable parts of the research process, and that you can use them to your advantage? Do you know how to tap into your unique strengths and produce writing that's original and insightful? Do you realise that perfection is not only unattainable, but also - and this was a new one for me - boring? 

If you've ever struggled as a researcher, or if you're someone who helps students or other researchers, you need to hear this interview with Professor Thomas S. Mullaney and Professor Christopher Rea. They're the authors of the incredibly helfpul book, Where Research Begins, which I've recommended numerous times on this podcast.

Friends, it's the 100th episode! So, isn't it about time we talked about what perfectionism is, and why it's a problem? It's over 4 years since I recorded the first episode of this podcast, and I've learnt a LOT about perfectionism from the 99 episodes I've released so far - not to mention from the many hundreds of hours of coaching people I've done. Leave that unfinished project, that untidy desk, and that incomplete task list, and join your old imperfectionist friend for some perfection-related truth bombs.

It's a familiar story. We're feeling stuck and out-of-our-depth with our writing, so we decide we'll go and do a bit more reading - just, you know, to soak up some of the wisdom out there and become better informed and therefore better qualified to continue writing. But sadly, reading for these reasons ends up making us feel less informed and qualified, not more. Sometimes, when we're stuck, we need to write, not read. And when we do read, we need to have an agenda. We need to know exactly why we're reading. Step away from the library card, and let your Imperfectionist friend talk some sense into you.

When I came across Dr Debbie Sorensen's recent article, 'How to recover from burnout', I knew I had to get her on the podcast! Debbie is a Denver-based psychologist with nearly 20 years of clinical experience, specialising in burnout, chronic stress, and anxiety. Her own struggle with burnout, along with her experience helping others, make her an absolute goldmine of insight and actionable strategies that you can apply to your own life. Stop fantasising about how today is the day you'll finally catch up on everything, get the kettle on, and settle down to listen to what Debbie has to say. You'll be glad you did.

What do you do when you have no idea? When you literally can't think of anything to write about? I don't know why I'm asking. I already know the answer: you panic and run to your favourite productivity websites for a new hack to solve it, right? And you definitely, definitely don't tell anyone, because struggling to come up with ideas is a shameful secret that you must guard with your very life. 

Friend, step away from the productivity hacks. Having no idea is something we've all experienced. It's even - hear me out - a completely normal part of the writing process. To fix it, though, you need to do something very scary. You need to relax and let go. 

Have you ever thrown far more time and energy into your work than you get paid for? Have you ever said yes to a request to be on a dull and time-consuming committee because you want to show what a great colleague you are? Have you ever done too much for too little, because you hope that it will all pay off in the end when you get that secure job, that PhD position, or that grant? If so, my friend, you've been engaging in hope labour, and Dr David Brax is worried about you. With stress, burnout, and precarity rife in academia, Dr Brax is asking: should universities be profiting from the unpaid efforts of people who may or may not end up rewarded for their efforts?

I know you think you shouldn't be making time in your life for hobbies, what with being so shamefully behind on your writing and everything. And I know that you know that, despite this, you probably should be making time for hobbies, because in theory you do actually need to relax sometimes, you suppose, so maybe you'll consider taking up chess or macrame or ice skating just as soon as you've caught up with everything you're behind on (or as soon as someone adds a 25th hour to the day, which is probably more likely). But did you also know that having hobbies helps you resist and correct your perfectionist tendencies? No? Hit the download button, snuggle up, and prepare to accept that maybe you should be taking that crash course in pole dancing after all.

So, that last episode that didn't happen. What was going on there, then? It was burnout, friends. Followed by trying and failing to take some relaxing time off. It wasn't all in vain, though. Here are some reflections on burnout, the battle to relax, and the dangers of disconnecting from our own needs.

Nope, not a new episode this time, I'm afraid.

Your Imperfectionist pal here has lost count of the times she's recommended Joli Jensen's mind-bogglingly helpful book, Write No Matter What, to struggling, anxious academics. So, she was the perfect (sorry) choice for this podcast's very first guest interview! She's here to tell you about: 

- Three 'taming techniques' that you can use to develop a consistent, sustainable approach to writing

- How our obsession with productivity is hurting us, and what we should do instead

... and lots more. It's a long one, friends, so get comfortable, and bring snacks.

Remember that movie, Sliding Doors? Gwyneth Paltrow's character lost her job and then we saw how her life unfolded in dramatically different ways, depending on whether she missed her train or not. Your writing anxiety is a bit like this. The way you respond to your writing anxiety determines whether you'll find writing much easier or much harder tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. The stakes are high, but making the right choice is easier than you think. It only takes a few minutes. Get comfortable and have a listen.

Does your writing time ever turn into a stressful nightmare? You don't make the progress you hoped in the morning, which means you need to be even more productive in the afternoon, but then you end up too stressed to start, and then it gets so late that you write the day off as a failure and promise to do better tomorrow ... except you start tomorrow stressed about how little you accomplished the day before, and the cycle repeats itself. Take a deep breath, friends. The Academic Imperfectionist is here to show you a way out of this nastiness.

Athletes know that if they want to improve their performance, they need to incorporate rest into their training. You, on the other hand, are absolutely certain that if only you could write for 25 hours a day (which you can't because you're a terrible person) you'd be at the top of your game. Luckily for you, your Imperfectionist friend is here to talk some sense into you.

Do you ever tell yourself that it's your own fault that you don't have what you want in life, because you just don't have the willpower do get it? If so, willpower is not your problem, and thinking otherwise is stopping you from flourishing. Your problem is your lack of clarity and focus about what you want. Yes, really. Now, download the shit out of this episode and have a listen.

Never give up, right? Winners never quit and quitters never win! All nonsense, I'm afraid. The sensible advice is much more measured and boring: quit when it's appropriate to quit. But how do you know when it's appropriate to quit? And have we really got quitting all wrong? Listen on, friends, and find out.

Did you know that your brain never devotes more than 0.5% of its power to important things like finding food, avoiding predators, thinking, perceiving, and feeling? And that this is because you're always bloody using the other 99.5% for comparing yourself unfavourably to other people? Admittedly, I just made that up - but you do spend far too much time and energy on comparison. You know you shouldn't, because it makes you feel bad. But there's another, seldom-recognised reason to avoid comparing yourself to others: comparison is a completely inadequate and very biased tool for self-evaluation.

I've been thinking: how might someone summarise the main bits of advice from all 85 (so far) episodes of this podcast? Gather round the virtual campfire, friends, and let's talk about those things that I can't seem to stop banging on about. They are:

• The reverse Golden Rule (don't treat yourself in a way that would be too disrespectful or unkind to treat another person)

• Understand your inner critic

• Being mean to yourself doesn't help you

• Reject binary thinking