Encouraged

What are your sources of encouragement ahead of your viva?

• Hopefully your supervisor. They can offer guidance and evidence that you are on the right track.
• Friends and colleagues can share their experiences to give encouragement. The viva in reality is not the horror stories that spread through researcher culture.
• Your work can be an encouragement. Read, reflect and remember that this is something valuable.
• Your journey can be an encouragement. You are now a more capable individual than when you started your PhD. You are more capable than your worst and most difficult days.

You’ve done the work to get you this far. You can prepare for the particular challenges of the viva.

Don’t forget to find encouragement. There are plenty of sources when you look.