Guts and Goals UK 
Mondays 12 noon- 1pm and Fridays 1.30pm-2.30pm UK time

The Guts and Goals Programme for Doctoral students helps you on a daily basis, to clarify, commit to and implement your goals.

It works like this: For six days every week you get a brand new training from Chartered Psychologist, Dr Natalie Lancer. She walks you through prompts, strategies and psychological principles of motivation and perseverance to rev you up to implement your goals and help you remove any internal obstacles for why you shouldn’t follow through on them. The trainings are about four minutes long. Short, sharp and to the point.

How do you implement your goals? We meet every Monday and Friday for 10 weeks in a small group on Zoom, to set our goals for the week, announce our goals for the next week, look back to the past week to celebrate our success and to reflect on the prompts in the videos.

In our WhatsApp group we communicate daily on our progress and cheer each other on. We hold each other accountable to our goals – making it easy for you to show up and make steady progress.

If you have any questions about this programme please email [email protected]

We are taking a short break to focus on writing a book – we will be back soon. For enquiries, please email [email protected]

Guts and Goals Feedback

“Fair to say that the past two rounds of G&G were a primary catalyst in me finally handing in the thesis. I am so, so happy that it happened. I honestly never thought it would. I started my PhD in November 2017 as a three year full time programme. I did not succeed in writing it during that time due to many things: learning to navigate neurodivergence, dealing with the aftermaths of a very emotionally difficult ethnographic fieldwork, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. I got some extension (with pay) due to the pandemic but as that ran out half way through 2021, I have had to work to support myself, and trying to do that while doing the PhD was just not that feasible for me personally. In summer 2025 I decided that it was now or never. Up until December I worked a tiny bit while getting into the PhD again (thanks to G&G) and then I took three months completely off to finish it. And it happened!!!!
I have to say, returning to the thesis after such a long break was really difficult – it helped that I was motivated by the topic and my research, I had lovely support from my mother (who kindly paid for the G&G) and my new supervisor who is amazing – and then enrolling in this programme! I’m thankful to a lot of people, including Natalie and all the G&Gers. Fair to say that I completely met my gutsy goal this round!
I have learned a lot about planning my days, prioritising, also being pragmatic and to accept the whole range of emotions that writing up for real brings up. In the final weeks of writing, it helped me a lot to think of the 5 minute rule (just do 5 minutes, if you can do that, you can do 5 more), to remember another G&Ger’s advice about considering who I am doing this for (me) and why I am doing it and that it is important to me to do it – otherwise I could just not do it, and then to also put some effort into, if not ignoring then at least postponing, some of the feelings of crisis and hardship. All of that gave me the right perspective to re-focus and re-align. Furthermore, I have realised that in general working in these sprints of no more than 25 ish minutes are great (for me) because if I drift, I don’t drift for hours and hours but get regular reminders to get back into what I was working on. Also just to say, none of this is foolproof – some days are just not great, and that is also fine – but I will try and keep in mind that there are tools that are useful for me.”

PhD graduate, Humanities, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

I would like to share my feedback on the Guts and Goals (G&G) programme, which I joined earlier this year. The programme ran for three months, and although I was initially unsure what to expect, I decided to take part to see whether it could support me further—especially as I am currently undertaking a doctorate while working full time.

This is my first time completing a degree alongside a full-time, highly intensive job. In the past, I studied full-time without additional family and work commitments. Managing a research degree while being employed full-time has been extremely challenging, and as someone who is neurodivergent, I have always struggled with deadlines and tended to complete work at the last minute.

Since joining G&G, however, I can genuinely say that I have built new habits and strengthened my “productivity muscles.” I particularly valued the structure of the programme:

• Twice-weekly group meetings at the start and end of each week
• Daily goal setting
• A comprehensive workbook to guide progress
• Bite sized videos available each day
• Regular “Brain Fuel” sessions for reinforcement
• Optional co-working sessions with fellow participants

This structure helped me stay focused, consistent, and—most surprisingly—ahead of my deadlines, something I previously found almost impossible. On two separate occasions, my supervisor has expressed surprise (and delight!) at receiving work early. During the final week of the programme, I submitted a full draft of my literature review ahead of schedule—an achievement that felt incredibly rewarding and very unlike my usual last-minute pattern.

At the moment, I am actually ahead of the rest of my cohort in my doctoral programme, and I fully intend to maintain this momentum. I will definitely be enrolling in further rounds of G&G for the remainder of my degree, alongside the Study Hubs and Brain Fuel writing sessions. The ability to continue working with peers, even informally via shared Zoom rooms, has also been invaluable.

Overall, G&G has been an excellent investment. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their consistency, stay ahead of their workload, or build confidence in their academic or professional progress. As someone who is neurodivergent, the programme has made a meaningful difference—I am no longer tiptoeing toward my goals; I am now moving toward them with momentum.

I’m extremely grateful that I signed up, and I look forward to continuing with future G&G cycles as I work toward completing my doctorate—perhaps even ahead of schedule.

Thank you.

Doctoral Student, Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust/University of Essex

“I thought as a mom I was great at multitasking. I’m not when it comes to myself. G&G has really helped me to get my act together.”

Eileen, PhD student

“Guts and Goals has been an unbelievable asset for my PhD journey. Natalie has created a real sense of community and support in addition to helping me break down tasks into manageable goals that I can actually meet and also reflect on my writing process. I recommend it to everyone!”

Lizy Blake
School of Politics and International Relations,
Queen Mary University of London

“When I first approached Natalie my goal was to complete a thesis, but I didn’t really know how. I was in a state of paralysis. Natalie’s approach helped me learn how to restructure my day and how to align my actions with my ultimate goal. I’ve really gained a lot from Guts and Goals: the programme created a positive environment for me to work on my goals, I relearned how to be accountable, and more importantly, that I always have the power to begin and begin again.”

PhD student
University College London

“The Guts and Goals programme helped me to plan long-term, something I’ve always had a problem doing. I feel much more confident now about the remainder of my PhD, and I know I’ll enjoy the process more because that’s been my experience since engaging with the programme. I’ve now got direction, and I’ve got the guidance and accountability of the programme to keep moving in that direction. Thank you, Natalie!”

Ann McIntyre
UWE

“My first contact with Natalie was when my university offered doctoral students the opportunity to participate in her three-month Smart Self-Care and Personal Growth Programme. As a mature student, I thought I was great at multi-tasking. My spouse’s job meant that we had frequent family relocations to various parts of the world. I could handle this, help the children adjust to school systems in different languages, etc. And as a part-time distant student, I believed that I had LOTS of time to work my way through my studies and that my multi-tasking skills and life experiences gave me an advantage that many of my younger colleagues might not have. I was wrong. To the point that I became completely overwhelmed and had to temporarily put my studies on hold.

Natalie’s Smart Self-Care programme re-booted my studies. It was my very first contact with a psychologist and, even more importantly, within a coaching context. It helped me understand myself, my way of studying and how to be a more effective researcher. It was such an eye-opener (I really recommend it), that I went on to do her Guts & Goals programme which has truly been a game-changer for me!

The ‘Before G&G Me’ avoided my supervisor, went down multiple research rabbit holes, stalled on data collection (due to MY insecurities and belief that I was doing everything wrong), got easily distracted by life admin and had perfected the ‘productive procrastinator’ label. The ‘Post G&G Me’ is a completely different person! With my participation in the Guts & Goals programme, I not only found a supportive community of like-minded individuals (each one facing their own challenges at different stages of the research process) but also learnt so many tools and techniques to help me develop focus, accountability and even initiative. The accountability factor has been integral to my new and improved Researcher 2.0 mindset. The twice-a-week group meetings and Natalie-hosted study sessions, the daily WhatsApp study goal announcements/check-ins, the various logs to document what does/doesn’t work and different goals, hosting and/or attending Zoom study sessions, etc.: all of this has made me feel like I finally control my PhD! And this has led to a major boost in both my self-confidence and productivity.

Natalie sends daily motivational videos which are short and sweet, so it doesn’t feel like a burden to watch them. This feels like daily coaching as it is like she is talking to us which means we are supported outside of the group meetings. The videos get us thinking about the question/task of the day…which we may not actually have reflected on/done without this type of prompt and they help clarify/bring up matters that might have been niggling away at the back of our minds. I’ve been logging all my daily reflection worksheet answers in Google Keep. This includes my thought-out, written answers to these video questions. Now it’s really easy to scroll back through all the different days and weeks and have those visible signs of my thought process.

I know both that both my PhD research and self-awareness are works in progress. And different tools will work at different stages of this journey. But, thanks to Natalie’s Guts & Goals programme and my new support ‘tribe’, I’m actually extremely motivated and excited for the challenges ahead.
So, again (and a million times), THANK YOU!”

PhD Candidate
Durham University

“Natalie’s Guts & Goals programme has been invaluable to me. The combination of practical advice, daily reflections and accountability within a supportive group setting has been perfect. Doing a PhD is a very lonely and challenging journey, and it is important to have a well-functioning support network. I just wish I had joined Natalie’s programme much earlier during my PhD journey. I highly recommend the Guts & Goals programme for any stage of a PhD, but especially during thesis writing.”

Larissa Slaney,
PhD student, Heriot-Watt University

“Attending the Guts & Goals programme provided a supportive, motivating environment to complete my PhD thesis. The daily coaching and goal setting instilled long-term habits which ensured I made progress every day, even on my most unproductive, disengaged days. This was the just the boost I needed. I am grateful to Natalie and my new Guts & Goals friends for their encouragement and support which helped get me over the finish line.”

PhD student