It's Monday morning.

You open last week's plan, and most of it didn't happen. The chapter is where you left it. The feedback is still unread.

On Thursday, you had one good afternoon and wrote more than in the rest of the week put together, and nobody saw that either.

Week by Week is private PhD coaching built around weeks like that one.

• Every Monday you send me your plan.

• Every Friday you send me what got done. I answer both, in a voice note, within a working day.

• Every two weeks we talk for half an hour.

Some weeks the PhD moves. Some weeks it doesn't.

Either way, someone notices.

In my experience, the hardest part of coaching is the Tuesday after the session, when the plan meets a real week, and nobody is there to see what happened.

So this program is built around the week instead of the call.

You don't have to save things up for a session or remember what you meant to say. A three-minute voice note on Monday is enough, and you hear back from me before the week has got away from you.

The calls are still there, every two weeks, on the same day and time.

The voice notes are what keep the work going in between.

This is for you if...

• You are doing a PhD or research degree, at any stage from proposal to corrections.

• You can plan well enough. What breaks is the week, usually around Wednesday.

• You lose a few days, then lose a few more feeling bad about the first ones.

• You want someone outside your department who will notice your progress every week, including the progress that doesn't show up in a word count.

• You'd rather send a voice note on the bus than find an hour for a call.

If your PhD doesn't run in straight lines, you're in the right place.

This is probably not for you if...

• You want someone to write or edit your thesis. This is coaching. I don't ghostwrite, and I don't proofread.

• You need academic supervision in your field or your methods. I am not an academic. I work on how the PhD gets done week to week, and I'll say so if what you need is something I don't offer.

• You are looking for therapy. I am a coach, and if what you bring needs a clinician, I'll tell you.

• You have one specific stuck thing and don't want ongoing support. One Stuck Thing is the better fit for that.

Monday: your plan.
You send me a photo of your week on the fortnight sheet and a voice note of up to three minutes. What the milestone is, which anchors you've set, and what you're dreading.

Within a working day: my reply.
A voice note of up to five minutes, plus three written lines: keep this, change this, try this. Sometimes "try this" is one of the Pick Three cards. Sometimes it's a single sentence to send your supervisor.

Friday: your done-list.
One photo of what got done. No commentary needed, however small the list looks.

Then: what you're not counting.
A short voice note back from me on what you did that week that you haven't given yourself credit for. Most researchers can't see their own progress. This is where you hear it from someone who can.

1. The intake form.
After you join, you get a form about how you plan, how you start, where you get stuck, and how you come back. Voice notes are welcome for every question. It takes about fifteen minutes.

2. The welcome call.
Forty-five minutes on Zoom. We fill in your first fortnight sheet together: one milestone with a date, two or three anchor sessions, a task menu for full days, medium days and fog days, a floor for the days you have very little, a panic plan, and a restart line. You leave the call with the next two weeks on one page.

3. Your first Monday.
The rhythm starts the Monday after the welcome call.

A 30-minute call on Zoom, on the same day and time each fortnight. We look at the last two weeks, adjust the sheet, and build the next fortnight. Camera on or off, your choice.

After every call, you get a five-line recap in writing: what we decided, your next step, and when it happens. You don't have to hold any of it in your head.

The slot is fixed on purpose. A call you have to book is the one that doesn't get booked in a bad week.

One piece of writing, read.

Up to five pages of a chapter, a section, or an abstract, read by someone outside your field. I read for clarity and argument, and for whether a tired examiner could follow it. Or, if it matters more that month, we draft the supervisor email you've been putting off.

They're built in.

If your Monday note doesn't arrive, you get one line from me on Tuesday: "Sheet when you're ready, no explanation needed." That's all. Late is fine. Skipped is fine. The rhythm picks up again the next Monday, and nobody asks you to explain the gap.

This is the part most programmes leave out, and most PhDs need it.

The Writing Week workbook.
The six-page fortnight sheet we use every two weeks, plus the audio version when it is released.

The Pick Three deck.
All 100 doctoral strategy cards, sorted by the feeling you're stuck in, with the lock-screen cards.

The ABC for your PhD.
Twenty-six short entries for the weeks the work won't move.

Resources for your stage.
Supervisor message scripts from the start. Viva preparation once you get there.

Your "how I work best" manual.

A short written guide to how you plan, start, get stuck, and come back, built from three months of fortnight sheets, done lists, and voice notes. Yours to keep, whether you continue or not.

Week by Week, €397 a month

Weekly voice-note coaching: your Monday plan and Friday done-list, each answered within a working day. A 30-minute call every two weeks with a written recap. One document read each month. A deadline voice note each fortnight. The Writing Week workbook, the Pick Three deck and The ABC for your PhD. Your "how I work best" manual at three months.

The first three months are the commitment, because that's how long the manual takes to build. After that, it's month to month, and you can stop whenever you like.

Eight places at a time.

Coming from One Stuck Thing? If you join within 14 days of your session, the €397 you paid counts as your first month

• Voice notes and messages go through Voxer, a separate app used only for this program.

• I reply Monday to Thursday, within one working day. Notes sent on Friday after midday or at the weekend get an answer on Monday.

• Your voice notes are up to three minutes, mine up to five. Short enough to send on the bus and to listen to while the kettle boils.

• Everything you send stays between us.

I'm worried I'll stop sending the notes.

Most people do, at some point. That's why the Tuesday line exists, and why it is one line and nothing more. You don't have to explain where you went. The next Monday is a normal Monday.

What if I can't face the fortnight sheet?

Send the voice note without it. "I didn't do the sheet; here's roughly what this week is" is a perfectly good Monday. We fill in the gaps on the next call.

Is every two weeks enough contact?

The calls are every two weeks. Between them, you hear from me at least twice a week, plus the deadline note when you need it.

Do I have to use voice notes?

No. Written messages work the same way. Voice notes are there because many people find them easier on a bad day.

What stage of the PhD is this for?

Any stage. Proposal, fieldwork, the long middle, writing up, corrections. The weekly rhythm stays the same, and the resources change with your stage.

Can I pause?

After the first three months, yes. We pause, then pick up when you're ready, if a place is free.

What's the difference between this and One Stuck Thing?

One Stuck Thing is one hour on one stuck thing, plus seven days of support. Week by Week is ongoing for three months or more. If you're not sure which you need, book the free PhD & Coffee Chat, and I'll tell you honestly.

I am Maria Stefanidi, a PhD coach based in Athens. I coach doctoral researchers through the parts of a PhD that don't show up in a progress report: the lost weeks, the feedback you haven't opened, the plan that worked on Monday and fell apart by Wednesday.

I am not an academic. I work on how the PhD gets done week to week, and I've built Week by Week around what actually keeps researchers moving: someone who notices, every week, and a plan that expects the bad ones.