You Are Here

Tag: manage to keep going in difficult circumstances

Nathan

For The Hundredth Time

Daily Post

It might take a lot of re-reading to remember something that you need to know. On the morning of my viva I knocked on my supervisor’s door to check the definition of something I had been using in my work for over two years. I tried and tried but it just wouldn’t stick.

It’s not trivial to build up a mental model of the knowledge you need for your research. What’s harder is building up the certainty and confidence that you are good enough, that you’ve done enough. You might need to repeat that over and over to yourself. You might have to reflect and review and consider many times to see that you’ve done enough.

Survive means manage to keep going in difficult circumstances. If you get to submission, if you’ve got this far, then you’ve got through enough to show you can succeed in the viva.

For the hundredth time: if you’ve got this far then keep going.

Nathan

A Few Thoughts on Survive

Daily Post

After many years of working in this area I still think survive is the best verb to associate with the viva.

Manage to keep going in difficult circumstances.

Survive doesn’t mean it’s going to be a struggle, but it doesn’t mean it won’t be hard.

Difficult is different for everyone. Manage might be harder or easier. Survive doesn’t come automatically.

The difficulty of the viva might be found in different things for different people.

Survive doesn’t mean you might not thrive in the viva. Survive doesn’t mean you will be scarred by the experience. Survive has a positive aspect for you: whatever the difficulty, whatever you did, you kept going.

Surviving doesn’t automatically mean the circumstances were bad. They were difficult. They were a challenge.

Not so great that you could not keep going.

Nathan

Before and After Submission

Daily Post

Before submission focus on getting your research completed and your thesis finished.

After submission focus on getting your confidence raised for the viva through a little preparation.

 

Before submission you don’t need to prepare for your viva.

After submission you don’t need to second-guess and nitpick details in your work.

 

Before submission you’re on track to pass your viva.

After submission you’re on track to pass your viva.

 

The definition of survive is manage to keep going in difficult circumstances. It applies to the whole PhD as much as it does to the viva.

 

Before submission? Keep going.

After submission? Keep going.

Nathan

Yet

Daily Post

If ever you’re tempted, by a hard day or a tough moment in your PhD to say one of the following, remember to add the word “yet”:

  • I haven’t got it to work…
  • I haven’t figured it out…
  • I’ve not submitted my thesis…
  • I’m not ready for my viva…

“Yet” is a reminder – you can do this, you want to do this, there’s time to do this – and even a promise, I will do this.

You might not be there yet, you might not be ready yet, but you will be.

There’s time. Keep going.

 

(inspired by countless posts and podcasts by the always-inspiring Seth Godin)

Nathan

Four Years

Daily Post

That’s how long I’ve been writing this blog. Longer than I spent on my PhD!

I started with the following short post in 2017:

I’ve got a few questions for you: Did you do the work? Did you show up at the library or the lab or the office? Did you overcome obstacles through the tough times? Did you learn, did you grow, did you develop?

If you did all of these during your PhD, how could you be in a bad position for the viva?

It’s understandable if you are nervous, but it’s no accident that you’ve got this far. Keep going.

I’ve written about a lot of different aspects of the viva in the last four years, over 1400 posts, but this remains a core message of the blog. The final two words of that first post resonate personally, particularly given the last year or so.

Keep going. That’s my overall plan for this blog. I’m proud that Viva Survivors has reached so many people over the last four years, but equally happy that it’s had such an impact on me personally and professionally. I’ve been thrilled in the last twelve months to use this platform to reach out and share webinars. I’m looking forward to sharing more exciting things in the coming months.

If this is your first post or your hundredth, thank you for reading!

If your viva is coming soon, keep going. You’ll do it.

If your viva is behind you, keep going. There’s even better stuff ahead.

And again, thank you for reading 🙂

Nathan

You Kept Going

Daily Post

A short reflection for today using my favourite thinking provocation, Why? How? What?

The last year or so has been hard – but if you’re reading this today (March 26th 2021) and your viva is soon, then you kept going despite it all. That means something. Reflect on the following:

  • Why did you keep going?
  • How did you keep going?
  • What did you accomplish as a result?

Take some pride. Take a sense of real achievement from all you’ve managed to do. Remind yourself that you kept going in such a strange time. You must have what you need to succeed in your viva too.

Nathan

Still Interesting Times

Daily Post

A year ago, just before the first UK lockdown, I wrote “Interesting Times” – an extra post for March 16th, recognising that difficult change was coming hard and fast.

A year later, it feels like that change has never stopped.

It’s strange to read that I thought I would be working from home and doing webinars for “a few months”. That became a year. That will most likely be the rest of this year too. And that’s fine.

In the UK we have dates in the diary for the coming months when restrictions might lift and things could change. They’re all provisional though, and things could change again – conditions in the autumn or winter might make things harder for many people once more.

A year ago I wrote this:

I’m going to continue to publish and share a post every day about the viva. I don’t know how vivas will change, temporarily or otherwise, but I know what examiners are looking for, I know what candidates can do to meet the challenges of a viva, and I can help people to see the kinds of work or ideas that can help them be ready.

If you are struggling, ask someone for help. Ask me: email me, tweet at me, and if I can I will help. I may not have an answer that solves things for you, but I’ve helped a lot of people. If you need to, just ask.

In and amongst everything this last year, that’s stayed the same. It’s no silver lining that the interesting times of the last year have opened interesting doors for me to connect with PhD candidates, but within all the chaos I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to help. I’m grateful for more time with my family. I’m grateful to friends and colleagues I don’t get to see in-person any more who do amazing work to support researchers and inspire me to do more.

I finished Interesting Times by writing:

Ask for help if you need it. Offer help where you can.

Survive means “manage to keep going in difficult circumstances.”

Keep going.

Let me reframe: get in touch if you need help. Help your friends, family and colleagues. Survive, keep going.

Pause, reflect, reset – change tactics if you need to – but keep going.

Nathan

Here We Go Again

Daily Post

Deep breath.

Get ready.

However much of your PhD is left, whatever 2020 did to you, take what you’ve got – of your research, your thesis and yourself – and build on it.

Find what’s good and do more good.

Find what’s hindering you and steer away from it.

Find what you need to help you get to submission, to the viva and beyond.

If your viva is this year, even if it’s months and months away, just reflect, “What could I do to help myself be ready?” Tuck those thoughts away, and come back to them when it’s time to prepare.

One more time, survive means “manage to keep going in difficult circumstances“.

My wish for you for 2021: Keep Going.

Nathan

Best of Viva Survivors 2020: Surviving

Daily Post

2020 hasn’t been an easy year, has it? 2021 feels like it’s going to be tough too.

There are still challenges and changes ahead of us all. As with the viva, to begin with, we’re called to survive – which means “manage to keep going in difficult circumstances“. 

  • Interesting Times – I wrote this post on March 16th, before the first lockdown in the UK, but after we had started our own family lockdown. This was an extra post for that day, written out of a need to share something.
  • New Expectations? – the viva is all online now, for now at least. That doesn’t mean that it’s bad, but it’s different.
  • No Hurry, No Pause – not a post explicitly on surviving, but the linked resource resonates, as do some of the questions which are mentioned.
  • Fortunate Positions – I share a story that explores both why and how people survive in the viva…
  • By The Numbers – …and some questions to explore that idea a little more.
  • Is Survival Enough? – a question I’ve been reflecting on a lot lately.

Surviving might be uncomfortable sometimes. It might be at odds with your preferences or skillset. But there are reasons you’ve got this far; reasons that have helped you through these difficult circumstances. Remember them and keep going.

Nathan

Breaking Down Survive

Daily Post

Survive means manage to keep going in difficult circumstances. Despite negative associations it is the perfect verb to describe the mode of action for a viva candidate. Every part of the definition matters.

  • …manage… Not struggle. No almost. Manage.
  • …to keep going… Already in motion. Already moving in a good direction.
  • …in difficult circumstances… Not impossible. Not unknown. Not unknowable. Difficult.

If you’re feeling unsure or uncertain, more like survive-no-matter-what than survive-as-defined, then explore:

  • …manage… What could you do now to plan for the viva?
  • …to keep going… What have you done well to get you this far?
  • …in difficult circumstances… Who could you ask for more information about these circumstances?

And when you know what you need to: keep going!

1 2 3