You’re not alone. Scroll through Reddit and you’ll see thousands of researchers quietly burning out while telling themselves they’re just “lazy” or “not smart enough.” The reality: you’re running marathon effort on sprint expectations. That’s not a personal flaw. That’s a broken culture. In my 15 years in academia and 70+ papers, the one thing I wish I knew earlier is this: impostor syndrome rarely disappears, but you can stop it from driving the car. Here’s what I recommend: 1. Set a minimum viable day: 30–60 minutes of deep work on your most important task (methods, results, or revision). Once that’s done, you’ve already had a “successful” day. Everything else is a bonus. 2. Keep an “evidence file”: every acceptance, kind email, positive comment from a supervisor, or good result goes in one document. On bad days, don’t trust your feelings—read your evidence. 3. Reduce hidden expectations: write down what you think your supervisor, examiners, or PI expect from you this month. Then reality-check it with them in one short meeting or email. Most of the time, you’re carrying expectations no one actually asked for. 4. Protect one non‑negotiable boundary: sleep, a weekly day off, or exercise. Burning two extra hours at night is not what gets papers published; consistent, clear-headed work does. If this resonates, don’t try to “fix your whole life” this week. Pick one of these changes, apply it for seven days, and see how your stress shifts. 😊 What’s one small promise you’ll make to yourself this week so impostor syndrome doesn’t run the show? Drop your answer below 👇

I’m about to finalise the training programme for this community - this is your last chance to share your input. Tell me what aspects of academic publishing and building your expert profile would you like to develop.