The Career Reset
Private Career Coaching for Overwhelmed Academics
Work less.
Reconnect with purpose.
And create a career that doesn’t shortchange your life!
Hey there! Are you an academic who’s been searching for work-life balance that’s nowhere to be found?
Let me guess: you used to love your work, but now there’s WAY too much of it.
You spend all your time putting out fires and attending to everyone else’s needs except your own.
Burnout has become a regular state, and it’s taking a toll on your health and relationships.
It’s so frustrating because you know the difference you could make if you just had some time and space for yourself!
But how and when are you supposed to fit this
into your never-ending to-do list?
You’re in a professional rut and don’t know how to get out of it.
But through the haze of overwork, one thing has become crystal clear: things are unsustainable.
You’ve probably read every book out there on productivity and creating better habits.
You might be working with a therapist to reduce stress and anxiety.
You’re trying to take better care of your health too. Maybe you’ve started clean eating, an exercise routine, or a meditation practice.
But none of that matters when all you have the energy to do when you come home is lie on the couch and binge Netflix.
And when you DO have some free time or are on vacation, you feel guilty that you’re not working.
At this point you’re not sure if you need a life coach, a sabbatical, or a new career entirely (or all three!)
Yet, you’ve also sacrificed so much and worked so hard to get to where you are now.
You want to do work that’s rewarding, intellectually stimulating, and pushes you to grow and excel… but doesn’t drain you of every single bit of life force.
Yet with everything you’re juggling at work and at home, it’s hard to figure out what to fix first.
I mean, how can you concentrate on your own needs when there’s students, colleagues, kids, partners, aging parents and the completely messed-up state of the world all competing for your time and attention?
You don’t have the space to just BE, so it’s no wonder you haven’t found a solution.
The whole time I was a grad student, then a postdoc, and then a faculty member, I felt overwhelmed as well.
Everything came second to my job, including my dreams for my personal life.
I wanted to work less and have more time and space for myself, but I also felt extremely guilty when I wasn’t working.
I truly had no idea how to get unstuck.
Back then, I would have benefited so much from coaching with someone who really understood the ins and outs of the academic journey… so I became that person!
As a certified life coach, I’ve worked with hundreds of scholars at every stage of their careers to reconnect with their own passions and sense of internal purpose.
Getting back on track requires
radically centering your own needs, values, and priorities.
Yes, you and your dreams need to come first!
After carrying such a heavy load for so long, you might have lost touch with what most inspires you or why you got into this in the first place.
Don’t worry—by doing a deep reset, you can find your way back to yourself and the things you love.
Through my years of coaching academics, I’ve created tried-and-true strategies that get people unstuck and living with more ease and fulfillment.
I was once in your shoes, so I deeply understand what you’re going through.
Change is hard, but staying stuck is even harder.
Let me help you create a satisfying, sustainable path within (or even beyond) the academy.
“I felt overworked and wanted to find a plan to address this so I could have a more sustainable situation post-tenure. I felt much more clarity about the sources of my burnout and much more empowered to change things. A huge part of that was clarifying what my values are and aligning my time usage to make sure my values are being lived out. I became more satisfied with my work because we came up with ways for me to recognize my progress; this reduced my internalized pressure to overwork. Leslie is great to work with and I highly recommend her as a coach. Leslie is a great listener and very much focused on helping you find your own best answers, not just imposing solutions on you.”
Sign up for a free 30-minute consultation to tell me your career goals and challenges. Let’s talk about how private coaching can help you reset your career:
The Career Reset Coaching Program
- We’ll align your career goals with your overall life priorities.
- You’ll solidify your core values and define your personal mission statement.
- You’ll get clear on what you want your life to look like a year from now and start taking steps toward making that a reality.
- We’ll take stock of everything you have on your plate and figure out what can be deleted, delayed, or delegated.
- You’ll make better decisions about what to say yes to and where to use your limited time and energy.
- You’ll start implementing bulletproof boundaries with work that will make room for your own life.
- We’ll manage the fears and insecurities keeping you from creating clear boundaries with work.
- You’ll learn how to manage your inner critic and move past mental blocks.
- You’ll learn how to tap into your own intuition as a trusted source of guidance.
- You’ll create a personalized definition of success and start making this a reality.
- We’ll figure out what kinds of work allow you to thrive the most and design your schedule around them.
- You’ll gain a clear sense of exactly what you want to do and how you want to show up in both work and life.
It’s time to stop living for academia. It doesn’t love you back.
This program is for scholars who feel stuck and want make their careers more satisfying and sustainable.
A FOUR-MONTH, 1:1 COACHING PROGRAM TO HELP YOU:
- Get clarity on where your career has gone off track and how to get it back on.
- Create goals that are inspired by your own needs, values, and priorities.
- Assess what work is most aligned with your own purpose and vision for your career and your life.
- Figure out what to take off of your plate and how to have difficult conversations with others to be released from obligations that don’t benefit you.
- Become re-inspired by your job through investing more time and energy in your personal life and interests.
- Identify and change the internal narratives that are keeping you frazzled and overworked.
- An in-depth questionnaire that will help you determine meaningful and realistic goals
- 6, hour-long private coaching sessions on Zoom where we will go deep into your specific challenges and come up with personalized strategies (meeting roughly every 3 weeks)
- Email accountability and support between sessions.
- Exercises to help you envision your ideal future, befriend your inner critic, and get back in touch with your core values and internal wisdom.
- A system for taking stock of all of your work obligations that will serve as your guide for decision-making moving forward.
- A final reflection document integrating all the lessons you’ve learned along the way that will help you maintain progress and momentum.
Sign Up for a Free 30-minute Consultation
Frequently Asked Questions
Most of my clients use grants or institutional funds to cover coaching sessions. Career coaching is increasingly considered part of academic professional leadership development. Please use this handy funding letter template that you can tailor to request funding from your institution. (And even if you have existing funds, I always recommend asking your dean or department chair before you dip into it!)
I have coached a number of people through this process (and have also gone through it myself successfully.) Coaching can help you figure out whether to stay in your current position, find another academic job, or leave this path altogether. The process is similar to career coaching. You’ll envision possible paths aligned with your values, life priorities, and ideal future vision. We will take stock of what is on your plate and radically restructure your work so it benefits YOU the most. If you do all this and are still unhappy, you have your answer!
If you already know your goal is to leave academia, we will come up with a concrete plan to exit. I will also help you manage the difficult emotions of leaving and navigate the loss of your professional identity and community. I’ve recorded a podcast series on this topic so you can get a sense of how I approach it (Episode 45, 50, 51, 56, 78, 88). Please note that I DON’T help with things like job searches, resumes, LinkedIn profiles, or interviewing techniques. I have a list of other great coaches I can refer you to who do.
Coaching is a powerful, ongoing relationship that helps you identify your values and realize your larger life vision. I give my clients tools and support to remove internal obstacles and facilitate deep change. Unlike some forms of therapy, the work we do together is future-oriented and geared towards action and achieving goals. Many of my clients work with a therapist at the same time and do very well with the combination. (Click here to read more about the differences between coaching and therapy.)
I recommend speaking to different coaches to find the right fit before making a commitment. That said, there aren’t many other career coaches who understand the world of academia like I do. On top of that, very few folks who work with academics are also trained life coaches. As a coach, I hold you in the realm of infinite possibility. I approach our work together from the conviction that there is nothing wrong with you. The system itself is to blame. It’s natural that your work and life are not currently aligned with your own needs and values. Luckily, I can help you change that!
Leslie Wang is a writing and career coach for academics. She’s the creator of Your Words Unleashed, a signature coaching program that helps scholars master their writing habits and publish books that matter. A certified life coach and former tenured professor of Sociology, Leslie is also an ethnographer and the author of two scholarly books. She has helped hundreds of women scholars gain more clarity and purpose in their academic careers. Her coaching brings together an intimate understanding of the pressures of higher education and scholarly publishing.
