You Are Here

Tag: play

Nathan

Playful Prep

Daily Post

Plan your prep. Do the work. Focus on the goal.

But play.

  • Use fun stationery to mark up your thesis.
  • Find music that helps you feel happy while you do the work – or helps you to feel better generally.
  • Draw simple pictures to summarise your work.
  • Reward your progress to keep you engaged.
  • Rest and play and rest some more.

Playful prep has a place in getting ready for the viva. There’s work to do and milestones to meet – but you can take time to enjoy what you’re doing and play on the way to the viva.

Nathan

Play Time

Daily Post

I’ve shared a few posts for being playful in getting ready for the viva before, but nothing so comprehensive as Professor Pat Thomson’s post from March on “ten playful viva preparation activities“.

I love all of her suggestions, but the first particularly resonates given my general philosophy on getting ready for the viva – and my recent reflections on the end of my PhD:

Write a love letter to your Doctor self, listing all of the expert doctoral qualities and competencies they have. Write a break up letter to your student self, saying why you lived with them for so long, and explaining why it’s now time to leave them behind.

It would have been really helpful if Past-Nathan had taken some time to write a few letters to myself. I think I’d have felt better about how I was finishing. Working through that transition as I was coming to the end might have felt a little smoother.

There’s lots of great ideas in Pat’s list, so do go and check it out. Consider: how else could you play your way to prepared?

Nathan

Play

Daily Post

Play never stops being important. Want to play let’s pretend? How would you explain your research to:
A five year old?
Your parents?
Your best friend?
Someone on the bus?
A well-educated person from the nineteenth century?
A well-educated person from the twenty-second century?
Your supervisor at the start of your PhD?
Your supervisor today?

Play is never just wasting time. Play helps to unpick the core of skills and ideas. Play at explaining your research. You might find something new and interesting.