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Tag: action

Nathan

No Fate

Daily Post

After posts about superheroes, Doctor Who and other science-fictiony things over the last few years, it’s probably no surprise that I’m an enormous fan of the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It’s not an understatement to say that I LOVE the film: gripping story, satisfying sci-fi, special effects that really feel special and a script that has stuck in my mind for years.

Particularly the phrase, “there’s no fate but what we make for ourselves” – in a movie featuring time travel, a reminder that nothing is pre-determined. Your actions have consequences. If you steer your efforts towards a particular outcome you can achieve your goals.

At the viva you’re not trying to stop a shape-shifting killer from the future, or prevent the end of the world, but the stakes are high! Still, the outcome is not being imposed on you: you’ve worked to become good enough to get to submission, and your “fate” now – because of your actions, your knowledge, your talent – is that you’re on track to pass.

And thankfully, the viva is not at all a “judgment day” – more of a confirmation of the work, knowledge and talent that you’ve developed.

Nathan

Acting On Your Worries

Daily Post

In life there are problems you can do something practical about, and there are problems that can only concern you. Realising you can do nothing to change a situation or problem doesn’t make it go away, or give you some kind of special awareness of it, but it can free you to work on problems that could respond to action.

So, as your viva gets closer, make a list of problems that worry you: your thesis, your research, your knowledge, your talent, your examiners, the viva, everything.

Then for each of these things ask yourself if you can really do something about it. Is this a problem that can be resolved or improved?

If it is, what could you do? Then what will you do? Great! Make the situation better.

If it can’t be resolved or improved, if it just is, then what will you do?

You could obsess about it, you could keep exploring to find a solution, or you could try to find a way to cope with it. Maybe all you could do is know it’s an issue, but choose to focus on things you can improve. That’s not necessarily easy, but it might be for the best.

Take time to see what’s really going on for you around viva time. It’s not always easy to change how you feel, but you do get to decide how you act.