Best of Viva Survivors 2024: Confidence

Day three of my best of posts for 2024. I love to think about how to encourage confidence, both in general and for the viva in particular. It’s a topic I keep thinking about because of how powerful it can be in changing someone’s way of doing things.

How confident do you feel for your viva? What steps do you take to pursue confidence?

Doing To Feeling

If you feel worried about your viva, what do you need to do to lessen the worry?

If you feel nervous about questions from your examiners, what do you need to do to feel better?

If you feel unsure about the process, what do you need to do to find out more?

If you feel happy thinking about the end of your PhD, what do you need to do to get there in a good state?

If you feel confident about meeting your examiners, what do you need to do to keep hold of that feeling?

 

It’s that simple when it comes to the viva and how you feel. The difficulty is that everyone is different, both as people and researchers: the next step for one person to lessen their worries might not be helpful to another.

How do you feel about your viva? What could you do to feel better? What will you do to feel better?