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Nathan

No Plans

Daily Post, Sabbatical

It’s a public holiday in the UK. Unless your viva is 9am tomorrow you’re probably safe to relax for a day.

Rest. Take today for you.

Don’t read your thesis, scribble in margins, chat with your supervisor or look at one more paper.

Don’t make a big list of annotations to add to your thesis or commit your ten most valuable references to memory.

Don’t make a plan for the weeks leading up to your viva and what you might do over that period.

Rest is as important as all the reading, writing and rehearsing for the viva. You might need to do some or all of the things above in preparation but you don’t need to do it today.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on August 30th 2021.

Nathan

A Free Day

Daily Post

Do you have a day off planned for today?

If not, then I hope you can at least find some rest with whatever else you have to do.

A free day might be exactly what you need between submission and your viva. A day to step back from everything. A day off work. A day off prep. A day away from your responsibilities.

A day to just say, “I did something big when I submitted… And soon I’ll do more when I have my viva.”

It might take a lot to get a totally free day, so take any time you can between your submission and your viva to rest, relax and reflect – because soon enough you’ll be working towards your next challenge.

Nathan

The Special Days

Daily Post

Public holidays can be special, but are usually just a bit different: a day off or a change of pace. Of course, a royal coronation or other big public event is a pretty special occasion for a lot of people!

Vivas are pretty special days too. Not quite the end, but certainly nowhere near the beginning of your PhD. Nerves and excitement and a host of other feelings too.

When you come to a special occasion, you probably have something to do. It’s rare for it to simply happen and wash over you. Ask yourself, what do you need to know? What do you want to do and how do you want to feel? And what do you then need to do to be ready for how you want to engage with the special day?

For your viva, a very special day:

  • What do you need to know?
  • How do you feel? How do you want to feel?
  • What do you need to do?

Your viva is going to happen. How can you make it special for you?

Nathan

No Plans

Daily Post

It’s a public holiday in the UK. Unless your viva is 9am tomorrow you’re probably safe to relax for a day.

Rest. Take today for you.

Don’t read your thesis, scribble in margins, chat with your supervisor or look at one more paper.

Don’t make a big list of annotations to add to your thesis or commit your ten most valuable references to memory.

Don’t make a plan for the weeks leading up to your viva and what you might do over that period.

Rest is as important as all the reading, writing and rehearsing for the viva. You might need to do some or all of the things above in preparation but you don’t need to do it today.

Nathan

Rest

Daily Post

A day off in the weeks leading up to your viva is not going to detract from your viva performance.

A day off in the week leading up to your viva doesn’t mean that you’re not taking it seriously.

A day off the day before your viva is possibly the best thing you can do, assuming you’ve already invested time in getting ready.

Rest helps. Unless you can’t sit still, unless you just have to do something, then taking some time to relax, recover, rest, destress and focus on being well is perhaps the most helpful thing you can do to help yourself before the viva.

Take today to rest, if you can.

 

Take breaks, make breakthroughs!