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Tag: best of 2018

Nathan

Best of Viva Survivors 2018: Confidence

Daily Post

To finish 2018 I’m sharing my favourite posts from the last year. For the last day of 2018 I want to share a few posts about possibly the single most important topic there is around the viva: confidence. I’ve had this in my mind a lot for the last year, and it’s grown to be a central theme in the message I try to put across in my sessions. Here are five posts from the last twelve months that stand out to me.

  • The Knack – a story about confidence from my life, and one of the most personal posts I’ve written.
  • Mismatched – the difference between expectations and the reality of the viva.
  • The Magic Feather – where might you find your confidence?
  • Oppositeworld – a piece of thought-experiment fiction.
  • “There’s No Miracle People” – you can inspire your own confidence by looking at how you got this far.

If your viva is coming up think about what your confidence levels are like. Confidence doesn’t mean you’re not nervous. Make sure you have realistic expectations, and think about everything you’ve done to get this far. Given every challenge you’ve faced, what’s one more conversation?

It’s been great to finish 2018 by sharing some of my favourite posts! Let me know which resonated with you, and do share posts with anyone who might need them.

Come back tomorrow for the start of another year of daily blog posts about the viva! 🙂

Nathan

Best of Viva Survivors 2018: Short Posts

Daily Post

To finish 2018 I’m sharing my favourite posts from the last year. Not every post needs lots of words to make the point. Not every post needs to be an argument or a list or a series of questions. Here’s some of my favourite short posts from the last year.

I really like how the daily blog gives me the freedom to try lots of different ideas and styles. One more day of posts still to come to close out 2018 on the blog. What has been helpful from this review of the best of the year? Let me know! Thank you for reading, and do share any posts which you’ve found helpful.

Nathan

Best of Viva Survivors 2018: Lists & Questions

Daily Post

To finish 2018 I’m sharing my favourite posts from the last year. I find lists helpful. I find questions helpful. A list of posts about lists and questions should be super-helpful! Structure helps, and having organised sets of tasks can make prep or thinking about the viva better. Useful questions to dig into topics helps a lot too.

A real mix of topics in today’s post. What did you like? What other areas would you like to see me explore? Drop me a line and I’ll add it to my musing for 2019. Do share this post if you think it will help someone else!

Nathan

Best of Viva Survivors 2018: Reflections & Summaries

Daily Post

To finish 2018 I’m sharing my favourite posts from the last year. Today we’ll take a look at several posts on the topic of reflections & summaries. It’s useful to take a step back from your research and your thesis and think about what it all means. If you can then create a concrete resource from that – a written summary, a list of points or a mindmap – then you’ve made something valuable.

I hope these posts help you reflect on your research as your viva approaches. I’m really quite proud of 7776 Mini-Vivas and if you’ve used it do drop me a line to let me know what you think! And do share these “best of” posts over the coming days, retweets are always welcome!

Nathan

Best of Viva Survivors 2018: Viva Prep

Daily Post

To finish 2018 I’m sharing my favourite posts from the last year. I’ll start as I did last year with the topic of viva prep, something that’s always in my mind because of this blog and the sessions that I deliver. Here are some of the most useful posts from the last twelve months.

I hope these posts give you a good foundation if you’re preparing for your viva soon. Seen anything else you think is useful for viva prep? Let me know! And do share these “best of” posts with any friends whose vivas are in the near future 🙂