Alda Sabalic

When I was in the middle of my PhD, I used to admire people who were “finished with lab work” and already writing.


In my mind, that stage meant freedom — the final stretch when everything is more or less figured out, when the data finally makes sense and you can almost see the finish line.

I thought writing would feel peaceful.

That it would finally be the moment when I could slow down, think clearly, and just… put it all together.

Except it was nowhere near figured out for me.

When I finally reached that longed-for writing stage, my results were a mess.

Some models worked only once and never again.
Collaborators still wanted “just one more simulation”.

We were missing that one piece that would connect everything — the one result that would make the narrative click. And when my supervisor asked, “What’s the main story here?” I realized I didn’t know anymore.

My newsletter is finally out!

If you’re a PhD student in the writing/figuring-it-out stage and everything feels like a mess… you’re exactly who I write this for.

Read the full story + subscribe here:
open.substack.com/pub/aldasabalicphd/p/why-finishi…

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 0

Alda Sabalic

"How can you decide what goes in or out of your dissertation without your supervisor?"

That's the kind of question I get a lot when people hear I help PhD students turn years of research into a finished thesis.

And it's a valid concern.
After all, your supervisor is the one who signs off in the end.

But here's what I've learned after working with 50+ researchers with (mostly) absent supervisors:

Supervisors are rarely completely gone.
Students still email and send drafts…

The real issue is that they often don't have the time (or interest) to help with the deeper thinking:

→ What story your research actually tells
→ How your data fits together
→ What results make sense for your thesis

And that's exactly what I help you with.

We organize what's there, find the main message and create a coherent version of the project, something a supervisor can actually respond to.

At the end of the day, you can't force someone to care.
But you can make it easy for them to give you feedback.

And busy (or absent) supervisors are much more likely to engage when you're not asking:

 "What should I do next?"
and instead say:
"I'm thinking of going in this or that direction. What do you think?"

If your supervisor disappeared but your deadline hasn't, schedule a call in the link in bio and let's turn your research into a written thesis now.

3 months ago | [YT] | 1

Alda Sabalic

PhD thesis written and submitted in less than 3 months.

Here’s how:

J reached out to me in panic mode after trying to “make a thesis out of her mess” for several months already.

There was research done (plenty of it, actually), drafts written, data collected, but it just wasn’t clicking.

The thesis was always at the bottom of her to-do list, replaced by “urgent” things like emails, small admin tasks or helping her Master’s students in the lab.

Here’s exactly what we did together:

→ Pulled together all the notes, drafts, folders, everything where her data was hiding.

→ Figured out the main story of her research, got her supervisor on board (!) and confirmed the direction before diving in (the timeline was tight, so redoing things later wasn’t an option).

→ Decided what stays and what goes, and built a plan that actually fit her real schedule (including teaching, mentoring two Master’s students and running experiments for a side project).

→ Went into the tiny details of how exactly it would get done, so there was zero guessing when she sat down to work. She could finally focus on doing instead of thinking about what she was supposed to do next.

The result?
A thesis submitted and a massive sense of relief that this chapter is finally over.

If this is you, schedule an intro call through the link in bio and let’s talk about how to get that thesis done and submitted.

3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 1

Alda Sabalic

"I feel invisible at work."

That's exactly what my client said during our first session.

She told me how she did everything "right" — studied hard, became an engineer, got a good job…

And yet.

She still struggles to speak up.
She still feels unseen.
Her work doesn't get recognized (certainly not in proportion to how much effort she puts in).

She likes the job itself, but the lack of recognition is slowly draining her motivation.

"I keep working more and more and yet I feel like I'm running in circles instead of moving forward in my career."

Working hard and getting the job done is just one part of the equation.
(And let's be honest, we got plenty of that drilled into us in uni and grad school.)

The other part is knowing how to make your work make sense to others.
(No one ever taught us how to do that.)

And if you're thinking, "I'm just not the kind of person who's going to shout about my expertise..."

The good news is you don't need to.

You just need a clear plan to share your wins, speak up in meetings and explain how your work solves real problems.

Want to learn how to do that? Schedule a call here and let's talk about it: calendly.com/asabalic-contact/intro-call

7 months ago | [YT] | 2

Alda Sabalic

Some topics my clients brought up in our recent coaching sessions:

→ How do I explain this algorithm when my boss only cares about the outcome?
→ How do I make my results clear without walking through every step of the method?
→ How do I explain my part of the project when no one else understands my domain?
→ How do I share my data without sounding like I'm defending a thesis?
→ How do I simplify my work without dumbing it down?

This is the kind of stuff I help scientists, engineers, and data professionals with every day.

Struggling with something similar? Schedule a free call and let's work through it together. 😊calendly.com/asabalic-contact/intro-call

8 months ago | [YT] | 1

Alda Sabalic

During my PhD, I lost so much time ruminating instead of simply starting — especially when it came to sharing my work with others.

For every poster presentation or conference talk, I’d get stuck in my head.

Is this the right way to frame it? Does this make any sense?

Is this work even good enough?

It would take me hours just to start and of course, it was exhausting.
I’d get so tired, I just wanted it done, once and for all (and ideally, never have to look at it again).

As STEM professionals, we’re trained to improve, refine and adjust.

So much so that we sometimes confuse overthinking with optimization.

But those aren’t the same thing.

And you probably already know what you want to say.

You're just afraid it's not good enough.

So next time, instead of waiting for it to be perfect, give yourself permission to just start.

Give your thoughts and ideas a chance to take shape — on paper, not just in your head.

And if you're still feeling stuck, I’m here for you.

Schedule a call and let’s talk about how to finally get that idea out of your head and into the world. calendly.com/asabalic-contact/intro-call

8 months ago | [YT] | 1

Alda Sabalic

After finishing my PhD and facing the "What now?" existential crisis, I discovered my true calling:

Helping people get their complex ideas out of their heads in a way that makes sense to both them and others.

Now, I help STEM professionals become excellent communicators — so they can reduce stress, get promoted, and finally have their brilliant work understood by the people who matter.

I work with engineers, data scientists, and developers who are experts at what they do, but when it comes to explaining their work, they just feel stuck.

I’m here to help if:

- You hate explaining your work because you’re never sure what to say or how to say it.
- You’re buried in data that barely makes sense to you, and you have to make it make sense to everyone else (but don’t know how).
- Your only goal in a presentation is to survive it.
- You spend hours preparing slides, but they still feel “meh.”
- You keep moving that proposal from one to-do list to the next.
- What should take 2 hours to write turns into 2 days of overthinking.
- No matter how solid your work is, people don’t seem to get it (or worse, they ignore it).

My message for you is that it doesn’t have to be this way—and I’m here to show you how.

Schedule a free call, and lets talk about it.

calendly.com/asabalic-contact/intro-call

8 months ago | [YT] | 1

Alda Sabalic

Topics I worked on with my clients last week:


1. How to create a story from data when it's not obvious what the story is?

2. How to choose which story to tell if there are 3 options and all of them are good?

3. Why is it so hard to start a presentation or report, and what can you do to make it easier?

4. How to put 7 months of work into a 20-minute presentation in a way that makes sense?

5. What do you do if you're talking to people who know nothing about your work but the progress of the project depends on them?


If you know the answers to these questions but are still struggling with applying them, schedule a free call to see if my coaching program is the right fit for you! calendly.com/asabalic-contact/intro-call

10 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 2