Daily viva help for PhDs
A thought: you and your examiners are more similar than you are different.
Similar: all researchers, all interested, all capable, all talented, all there in your viva for a good reason.
Different: they have more experience than you, you have more expertise than them. They’ve read your thesis, you wrote your thesis.
All of these points help the story of confidence you can tell yourself about the viva.
A final polish,
A short time to realise
You have done enough.
(and see previously)
At the end of the PhD, when can you stop? When can you accept that what you’ve done is the best that it can be? Think about this, decide on what “best” is. Set it as your target.
Now, when you’re done, you’re done.
What do most books have that most theses don’t? Cover pictures! Novels and non-fiction use cover images to help tell their story, sell themselves to readers and convey some information. Theses tend to just have a title. Hmm…
Quick exercise for today: what would be on the cover of your thesis? What would it have to feature in order to communicate something of your work?
Long exercise for today: mocking up a cover might be a useful (and fun!) tangent to explore while finishing your thesis or preparing for your viva 🙂
Promise becomes skill.
Thoughts made real, words and more.
A test to close. Done.
(with thanks to Paul Spencer for the inspiration!)