Build Your Habits

Viva prep is work: a series of actions that steer you towards being ready for your examiners.

You can approach it as a finite project, setting out tasks and activities to a plan for yourself, but it might also help to think of it as a cluster of habits – regular tasks or processes to help you prepare.

• You could, for example, get in to the habit of writing down questions about your research whenever they occur to you.
• You could find a convenient ten minutes every day to write about your thesis contribution.
• You could start a practice of looking at difficult parts of your thesis with an open mind, “What can I learn from this?”

We are the sum of our habits. The things we do often, good and bad, give us a foundation for how we approach whatever situations we find ourselves in.

What habits could you choose for viva prep? How can you steer yourself in a good way for your viva?