Rabbit Holes

Tread carefully when preparing for your viva, in case you find yourself tumbling down a rabbit hole.

• Read one paper by your examiner, and find yourself lead to another, then another, then…
• Spot one typo and you’ll wonder what else you’ve got wrong, and you’ll see something else, and…
• Underline something to make it stand out and you’ll want to make something else stand out, then another sentence, and then…

You get the idea. There’s always more things you could do to get ready for the viva. And there’s so much you can do to help yourself that it can be tempting to do more and more. If you start your prep without a plan but just a goal (“get ready!”) then you can just keep going and going until all you can think about is doing more, and wondering have you done enough?

So start with some limits. A to-do list, finite and bounded. This, this and this, and no more. Decide before you turn to page 1 of your thesis, what are the things you have to get done. You can add to the list of course, but you have to have a good reason.

Don’t tumble down a prep rabbit hole! Tread carefully when you make your plans.