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Nathan

Personal Statistics

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How do you measure or remind yourself of your confidence?

Do you do that at all?

For a long time I struggled with feeling excessively nervous. A lot of things I read and learned about told me that building up confidence would help: confidence would not get rid of nervousness but it would help to put it into perspective.

For all the little things I tried, I still encountered situations where I felt terrible because of nervousness. The situations – giving a talk, attending a meeting – still went fine, but they were more difficult for me because of how uncomfortable I felt.

A turning point was realising just how much work I had done in the past. If I felt nervous before giving a talk I could remind myself of how many times I had rehearsed it. If I felt nervous before giving one of my regular sessions I could remind myself of how many times I had shared it before and with how many hundreds of researchers.

Over time I realised I was counting many thousands of researchers.

 

I still feel nervous before any session I deliver. That’s OK though. It reminds me that I’m doing something important and I want it to go well.

I now feel confident before any session I deliver. I’m reminded by my numbers: I’ve now delivered over 400 viva help sessions to almost 9000 postgraduate researchers. I’ve published more than 2500 daily posts on this blog. These numbers help remind me of who I am, what I’ve done and what I can do in the current situation.

What stats could you track? What numbers might make a difference to you?

It could be the number of papers you’ve read. It might help to track the number of experiments you’ve run or people you’ve interviewed, depending on your kind of research. Work out the number of days or hours you showed up to do the necessary work of your PhD.

To help your confidence and help yourself find your own meaningful numbers and statistics.

Nathan

Not Knowing

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The more I do, the more I find I don’t know!

This sentiment was shared by a generous participant at a recent viva help webinar I ran. Before I had a chance to respond the chat was filled with thumbs up emojis, hearts and five people writing “Same!” and “Me too!”

 

A thesis takes years of work. A candidate learns and grows and develops – and discovers that there is still more they don’t know. Despite all the work. More papers. More books. More ideas. More questions and more answers to explore.

Not knowing something might feel pretty bad depending on the day or the situation. The viva is perhaps a singularly uncomfortable environment to realise you don’t know something. The weeks and months leading up to then could be pretty hard too. Knowing you have done so much and knowing that there is so much you still don’t know.

(and knowing, in some cases, that there are things you almost certainly will never know)

 

The more I do, the more I find I don’t know!

If this sounds familiar, focus on the first clause: you’re doing something. You know things. You are making something. You are finding things.

Before you focus on what you don’t know, take a long time to examine, explore and record what you know – and remember that this will be enough for your viva.

Nathan

Demonstrating Capability

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Assuming that you pass your viva it’s you who are the PhD, not your thesis. Your thesis is part of the mechanism for your success. Your examiners need to explore the contribution you’ve made and also examine your capability as a researcher in your field.

It might help before your viva to reflect a little on the last few years:

  • What have you learned?
  • What skills have you developed?
  • What research processes can you do now that you couldn’t when you started?
  • What makes you a good researcher?

The last question is simple to ask. The details should all be there when you look at the last few years, but it might be hard to put them into words. Take time to think about how you can demonstrate that you are a capable researcher.

What makes you good at what you do? What makes you good enough?

Nathan

In The Distance

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If you’re reading this and you’re in your first or second year of your PhD, you don’t have to worry about your viva! You don’t have to give it any great thought: for now, keep on with the main work of your research and your own development. You don’t need to be focussing on your viva.

And with that said, if you want to help yourself now and when you get to the viva, consider doing some of the following:

  • Regularly reflect on how you’re doing. Highlight your successes. See how your confidence changes.
  • Find opportunities to talk about your work. This will help you figure out how to explain what you do and what it means. This is helpful for your PhD, your thesis and your viva.
  • Pay attention when your friends and colleagues have vivas. What do they do to get ready? How do they seem before and after?

Little things you do over a long period of time will help you both on the journey and at your destination. Your viva is a way off in the distance. Don’t worry about it, but help yourself as you make your way there.

 

And of course, if you’re in your third year or fast-approaching your viva, you can follow the ideas above, they’ll still help!

Nathan

You Did The Work

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Four words to remember.

They don’t mean that you’re ready. They don’t mean you’re perfect. They don’t mean that your viva will be easy.

They simply mean that you have got to this point in your PhD journey because of time, effort and talent. You did the work. Luck doesn’t hold sway over your progress. Your success is due to what you did.

Your success at the viva is built on a foundation of your work. A little more will help you be ready and that’s enough.

Nathan

Viva Prep & Getting Ready

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Viva prep starts at submission. You can do helpful tasks before then like searching for examination regulations or sketching out a prep plan, but the actual work of viva prep doesn’t start until after your thesis is submitted. Up to that point your focus has to be on finishing your thesis.

Getting ready for your viva, however, starts on day one of your PhD – or even earlier. From day one you are on a path that is helping you grow, nurturing your research and leading you to being a capable, knowledgeable researcher. Talent and expertise grow as you do the work and stay committed, helping you get closer and closer to being ready.

 

There’s prep to do after submission because the viva is a particular challenge.

Remember that you’ve been getting ready for your viva for a much, much longer time than the weeks between submission and your viva.

Nathan

Snapshots From The Journey

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If you think back on your PhD, all the work and effort, the success and setbacks and so on, you’re not going to remember three or more years of continuous story. You’ll remember moments: events that for matter to you and stand out for some reason.

Given the challenge of research and the difficulties you might face, it’s understandable if the standout moments skew a little negatively.

With a little help you can focus on the really helpful highlights. Consider:

  • When have you noticed getting better at a task?
  • When do you remember learning something for the first time?
  • When do you remember your confidence growing?
  • At what times do you remember feeling proud?
  • When do you remember thinking “I can do this”?

You don’t have to focus on everything as you prepare for your viva. When it comes to building confidence, it will help far more to focus on the snapshots of your progress and growth.

Nathan

How Many Times?

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How many times have you faced difficult challenges during your PhD journey?

Think about how many meetings you’ve had with your supervisor.

Think about how many times you’ve presented your work as a paper or poster.

Consider how many times you’ve shared your work in a departmental seminar.

Remember how many times you’ve had a discussion about what you do, particularly those times you’ve responded to difficult questions.

Think about how many times you overcame an obstacle in your work – and how many times you showed up to do the work of your research!

How many times have you already succeeded before you meet your examiners?

Nathan

Keep A Record

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From day one of your PhD keep a record whenever you achieve something.

  • Learn something new? Write it down.
  • Finish a project? Write it down.
  • Read a helpful paper? Write it down.
  • Complete a task even when it is difficult? Write it down and underline it.
  • Thrive in a challenging meeting? Write it down and add an asterisk.
  • Present your work in any format? Write it down, underline, asterisk and break out the highlighter!

From the start of your PhD, keep a record of your achievements – and by the end not only will you have a very impressive record indeed, but you’ll have a strong sense of confidence that your talent, capability and knowledge have grown.

 

If today is not day one of your PhD – if it’s more like day one thousand, say – you can still get some of these benefits for yourself.

Start keeping the record today and invest some time in looking back. Remember the times when you learned something, finished a project or read a helpful paper. Make note of the challenging tasks you persevered with, when you rose to the challenge of a discussion or presented your work.

Day one or day one thousand, there’s always time to build up your confidence for your viva. You always have an opportunity to do something to build the certainty that you’ve done something good in your research and that you are good enough as you are.

Nathan

Hitting The Target

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An archer doesn’t get close to the target consistently through luck. If their arrow flies and strikes the bullseye they have been fortunate: this particular moment of skill has been rewarded.

It takes time, effort and learning to build capability to the point where someone can consistently hit their target. An archer has a different skillset from a researcher, but both need to demonstrate a great level of commitment and growth tif they are to be good enough to meet the challenges that face them.

When you sit with your examiners, discuss your work and respond to challenging questions you will show yourself to be capable of hitting your target consistently. There’s no luck: it takes time, effort and learning, everything you will have invested in during your PhD journey.

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