This will be officially announced tomorrow, but I couldn’t help myself to share it with you all. This is too big to keep a secret anymore. I’m in Top 10 Most Read Thought Leaders of the Year in Green Tech by Illuminem - world’s largest sustainability network. It wasn’t my papers that got me this recognition. It’s what I do with the insights outside academic circles. Needed this win now!

Hiya all, Just a reminder that I run this session tomorrow - there are still a few places left to join me live via Google Meet (https://office.motivatedacademic.com/academic-development). If you cannot do so or prefer to watch it on YouTube, I've embedded the live link in this post. Either way, see you tomorrow!

Have you ever sat at your desk, staring at your screen, unsure whether what you’re doing even matters? I have. And I bet you have too. Here’s something nobody tells you when you start your research journey: feeling lost is not a sign you’re failing. It’s a sign you’re doing real research. Think about it. If the answer were already obvious, someone else would have found it. The confusion, the dead ends, the “what am I even doing here?” moments — that’s the territory of discovery. You’re not lost. You’re exploring somewhere nobody has been before.

It’s time to be proactive in sharing your work. Here’s what you don’t need: 1. Endless hours spent waiting for citations that may never come. 2. Anxiety over whether your research will even reach the right audience. 3. Believing that simply publishing your paper is enough - newsflash, it’s not! 4. Assuming that social media is just for fun when it can be a powerful tool for academic outreach. Here’s what you do need: → A strategy for sharing your findings across various platforms. → Active participation in discussions relevant to your field. → A network of peers who support and amplify each other’s work. → Consistent engagement with the academic community through blogs, social media, and webinars. Stop hoping that your paper will be discovered by chance. Stop neglecting the power of storytelling to make your research compelling. Stop thinking that a single publication is the pinnacle of your work. The academic landscape is changing, and visibility doesn’t have to be a passive process. Take charge of your research narrative and watch the doors of opportunity swing wide open. What proactive steps do you take to ensure your research gets the attention it deserves?

You've probably seen this. “New paper.” “New project.” “New award.” And then they wonder why collaboration invites don’t follow. Here’s the lesson I learned the hard way: visibility doesn’t come from posting more. It comes from showing up where the right people already pay attention. Try this 15‑minute routine for the next 30 days: - Build a “Comment List” of 15 people: 5 in your niche, 5 adjacent, 5 decision‑makers (industry, funders, policy, lab heads). - Leave 5 comments/day that add value (not “Great post”): 1 insight, 1 implication, 1 practical example from your work. - When you comment, write for the room, not just the author (assume 500 silent readers). - Once/week, write 1 post that turns a paper into outcomes: Problem → What we did → What changed → Who it helps. - When someone replies to your comment, send 1 simple DM: “Thanks for the discussion—are you working on X as well? Happy to share a relevant resource.” If you did this for 30 days, what topic would you want to be known for on LinkedIn?