You Are Here

Tag: talent work time

Nathan

The Next Time

Daily Post

Frame your viva as the next challenge of your PhD.

It might even be the last challenge of your PhD. It’s certainly not the first. You’ve overcome many others to get this far.

Remind yourself of the challenges that you’ve passed. What made them difficult? What did you do to get past them? Exploring a difficult situation might initially remind you of stress but steer yourself to focus on the positives: look for evidence of your talent and effort to help drive a growing confidence.

While your viva could be last challenge of your PhD it won’t be your last challenge ever. As you finish your PhD journey consider what you’re taking with you. What can you apply from your PhD to all of your future challenges? How much better will you be for this process?

 

PS: if you’re looking for help as you get ready for this challenge then check out Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Wednesday 25th June. I have delivered this session to PhD candidates all around the UK at the request of doctoral colleges, but this is only the third time I’ve opened up registration. Viva Survivor is a 3-hour live webinar, you receive a catch-up recording and follow-up materials all about the viva, viva prep and getting ready. Do take a look and see if it could help you! 

Nathan

Timescales

Daily Post

It might take you seconds to respond to a question in the viva.

It could take you minutes in preparation to review the point of a particular reference.

It will take several hours to engage with a mock viva – and several more to work through your actual viva.

By submission it has taken hundreds and hundreds of days to make something that matters for your thesis.

 

Across thousands of hours you become a more capable researcher. Over the course of months you complete your thesis. In the space of weeks you prepare for your viva. In a matter of hours you convince your examiners that you are enough and have done enough.

All of these are made up of moments – many, many moments – where you put yourself forward and where you do something that makes a difference.

 

PS: in case you missed it yesterday, the second issue of Viva Survivors Select is out now! This is my new monthly pdf zine sharing a curated collection from the Viva Survivors archive. Take a look at The Uncertainty Issue for advice, practical suggestions and reflections to help with the many concerning areas about the viva.

Nathan

Lots Of Reasons

Daily Post

There are lots of reasons why a PhD candidate might not get to submission.

When I did my PhD I knew someone who didn’t get on with their supervisor and he left, thankfully to do his PhD elsewhere. Sometimes a person’s funding isn’t secure and they aren’t able to continue. Sometimes people start a PhD and it’s only through doing the work that they realise it’s not what they want to do, so they stop.

For these and many more reasons, some people who start a PhD journey don’t work through to submission and the viva.

 

There are also lots of reasons why PhD candidates who get to submission go on to succeed at the viva.

They did the work. They have made a contribution to knowledge. They are knowledgeable. They are a capable researcher in their discipline. They learn what to expect from the viva process. They do the necessary work to get ready for their viva.

For these and many, many more reasons, PhD candidates who work to submission then go on to pass their viva.

Nathan

What Did You Improve?

Daily Post

There’s no one-size-fits-all way to define the value of a contribution to research. Expectations vary a lot between disciplines but perhaps one universal question could simply be “what did you improve?”

Do we know something new now? Do we know something more? What is clearer? What new questions do we know to explore?

A starting point to a response might be to reflect on the improvements in you: now more learned, more capable and more thoughtful.

 

PS: I share another helpful tool to help explore thesis contributions in the first issue of Viva Survivors Select – my curated zine drawing from the daily blog archive. As well as twenty posts from the past I share original writing, including a reflective summary process for breaking down thesis chapters. Check out the issue here.

Nathan

A Confidence Hint

Daily Post

“Confidence is not being strong; confidence is knowing your strengths.”

A webinar participant shared this observation with me a few months ago. There’s a lot of wisdom to it.

For the viva in particular, you don’t need to know everything. You can simply know that you are capable. You can simply reflect on what has brought you so far. You can simply know what you know.

Know your strengths and you’ll know that’s enough.

Nathan

No Fooling Around

Daily Post

No tricks, no pranks, no double-meanings and no jokes today!

You’ve come as far as you have on your PhD journey because you kept doing the work. You were good at what you did and you became better. Whatever your field you learned and explored and produced.

You get to submission by being good enough. You get to and through your viva by being good enough.

You might need to prepare a little and you might need to do something to build up your confidence, but don’t be deceived: you must be good enough if you have got this far.

And if you’ve got this far, keep going!

Nathan

What Can You Do Better?

Daily Post

A simple ten minute viva prep task: get a sheet of paper and write down three things you can do better now than you could when you started your PhD journey.

List them as quickly as you can. Pause, breathe, and write down a few words for each about how you know it’s true. For example, being able to program better because you have written code that you couldn’t several years ago. Or being a better interviewer because you recognise the sophistication of the questions you ask now compared to the start of your PhD.

If there are still a few minutes left then free-write whatever you can about what all of this means. What does being better at things mean for you, your work and – at the very least – for your viva?

Nathan

What Are Your Numbers?

Daily Post

I track the number of people I have worked with directly on their viva.

I keep a tally of the number of sessions I have delivered.

I record every daily post I’ve published here.

(and record a word count too!)

These are stats and they don’t mean much to anyone else but they help remind me. Knowing that I have published more than 2800 posts gives me confidence to write more. Remembering how many sessions I’ve done in the past helps me when I feel nervous about doing a webinar for someone new or trying something different.

 

My numbers are not the whole story. They’re a starting point or prompt for my confidence.

What are your numbers? What numbers could you track to help your confidence?

  • Could it be the number of papers you’ve read or cited?
  • The number of days or hours you must have spent on your PhD?
  • How many times have you spoken in a seminar or at a conference?
  • How often have you overcome challenges?

Find some numbers that matter and that help you. Record them and remember them: they’re a powerful confidence booster.

Nathan

Challenged

Daily Post

What’s the biggest challenge you overcame during your PhD?

What was a significant challenge that you faced while writing up?

What surprised you about the challenges you found while doing your research?

What do you anticipate being a challenge as you get ready for your viva?

And do you have any thoughts on what might be a challenge at your viva?

 

Examiners might not ask questions directly about PhD challenges but reflecting on them can be a helpful reminder that you have overcome a lot.

Consequently, you are capable of overcoming the challenge you will find at your viva.

 

PS: looking to explore the challenge of the viva in more depth? Take a look at my Viva Survivor session on March 27th 2025. Registration closes soon for this live webinar – and includes a catch-up recording if you can’t attend on the day.

Nathan

Airbrush

Daily Post

There’s a lot you might need to focus on from your PhD journey as you prepare for your viva: your contribution, the work you put in, time invested in building your skills and knowledge.

As you take time to prepare consider that it could be time to let some other things go.

Let go of disappointments. Don’t dwell on your failures, except what you learned from them. Airbrush out things that drag on your confidence. Leave behind past frustrations that aren’t helping you get ready.

What do you need to forget from your PhD journey? What can you leave out of the story you tell yourself of how you got this far?

You don’t have to focus on your whole PhD journey to find confidence and feel capable for your viva.

1 2 3 … 13