The Best Thing Today podcast series

Fierce Self-Compassion in Practice 

Why is self-compassion especially important in places like universities? As we demand a lot of ourselves, we also tend to demand a lot of others, too. We tend to think that when we are demanding towards ourselves, we perform better, and that self-compassion leads us to lower performance, laziness and too much comfort. But fierce self-compassion means learning to harness our anger and transform it into qualities like courage and strength. Instead of being emotionally reactive, it means finding space to work the anger out, transforming it into actions. Psychologist Paula Sjöblom meets with her colleague Merita Petäjä, the manager of the Oasis of Radical Wellbeing at Aalt

Time-management - a skill everyone can learn with time

Maria Törnroos and Maija Taka dive into one of academics’ besetting sins: time management. How to plan your day when most requests you get are things you can’t prepare for? How to learn how much time certain tasks take? How to accept that certain things are out of your control, like the schedule of journals? Join Maria and Maija on this treasure hunt and hear how you can improve your time-management skills. We also talked to doctoral student Ville Kukkonen to hear how he manages his time between doctoral studies and an industry job.

Recovery in academia – are we too busy to recover?

The academic environment challenges recovery in many ways. Always being available, the "publish or perish" culture, and being passionate about one's work, makes it more difficult to find time (or permission) for recovery. However, recovery is critical for a sustainable, healthy and successful work life. In this podcast episode Maria Törnroos and Maija Taka present research and practical tips on how to balance productivity, recovery, and wellbeing. We also get to hear great advice on recovery from Associate Professor Olli-Pekka Kauppila. If you feel that you're too busy to recover, this episode is especially for you!

Academic workload - no time to manage energy and no energy to manage time

In this episode Maria and Maija talk about academic workload. Academics are constantly bombarded with tasks and duties on top of their regular work - sometimes even tasks that are not in any way related to their work. The increasing workload has led to an increase in exhaustion, especially among doctoral students. How could we become better at managing the workload and take care of ourselves? How can supervisors support doctoral students and act as good examples themselves? We asked two Aalto scientists, Assistant Professor Caterina Soldano and University Lecturer Elina Kähkönen, to share their tips on managing time, uncertainty and energy, for young researchers.

Academic supervision - a superpower or just common sense?

In this podcast episode Maria Törnroos and Maija discuss the paradox of academic supervision. A supervisor is supposed to be a unicorn but at the same time, is not being rewarded or incentivised to do the job well. Supervision is considered to be the most essential factor influencing doctoral student wellbeing, motivation and completion. How could we, as a research community, help make supervision a valuable and sought-after skill? Listen to this episode to hear some advice on the topic and pick some low-hanging fruits from professor Jani Romanoff.

Remote Work: Are We Thriving or Barely Surviving? Part 2 of 2.

The topic of this episode is remote work. In this second part of the two-part podcast, your host Maria Törnroos and Maija Taka discuss how to manage remote work and give some advice - low-hanging fruits to try! Maria Törnroos, is the psychologist for doctoral students at Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. Maija Taka is a postdoc & project manager in doctoral education project Majakka in the Water and Development research group at Aalto University.

Remote Work: Are We Thriving or Barely Surviving? Part 1 of 2.

The topic of this episode is remote work – it’s been one year, are we thriving or barely surviving? The host, Maria Törnroos, is the psychologist for doctoral students at Aalto University, Helsinki. Her guest is Maija Taka, a postdoc & project manager in doctoral education project Majakka in the Water and Development research group at Aalto. In the first part of the two-episode podcast, they focus on defining the background and the problem itself.

Audio columns

Maria Törnroos’s Audio column 6/Research highlight: Impostor syndrome, belongingness and wellbeing in academia

Studies show that impostor syndrome is common, especially among highly educated and high-achieving individuals, such as doctoral students. Doctoral students who suffer from impostor syndrome avoid new and challenging opportunities because they are afraid of failure and of being exposed. What a waste of intelligent minds. But how does impostor syndrome develop and what does belongingness have to do with it?

Maria Törnroos's audio column 5: "Don't Panic, Just Listen"

We, as humans, have an innate need to fix and solve problems. So, if someone comes to talk to you about their issues, you might panic, because you don’t know how to fix it. And then, instead of listening, you might start thinking about ways to solve the issue. But here’s the catch – you don’t need to fix it. You just need to be there, and listen. Without judgment.  Based on the blog PhD Pathfinder by Maria Törnroos.

Maria Törnroos's audio column 4: "I'll Do It Tomorrow"

Everyone postpones their duties or chores at some point. But when does postponing turn into procrastination? Based on the blog PhD Pathfinder by Maria Törnroos.

Maria Törnroos’s audio column 3: Find Your Superpower!

What are your strengths and your weaknesses? This is a question most often heard from a recruiter’s mouth. But it’s a question that everyone should think about once in a while. The answer to this question is not as straightforward as you might think. In this audio column you’ll learn how to find your superpower among your strengths and weaknesses. Based on the blog PhD Pathfinder by Maria Törnroos.

Maria Törnroos's audio column 2 / Research highlight.Phases of doctoral studies.

Audio column by Maria Törnroos, the psychologist for doctoral students at Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. Based on the blog PhD Pathfinder by Maria Tönroos.

Maria Törnroos' audio column 1:How to help your brain survive virtual work. .

Audio column by Maria Törnroos, the psychologist for doctoral students at Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. Based on the blog PhD Pathfinder by Maria Tönroos.