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Nathan

Small Beginnings

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Do you remember the first day of your PhD? Do you remember what that was like?

I do! I can vividly remember showing up at my office, being told which of two desks I could commandeer for the next few years and then waiting and wondering what I should do next. I knew my supervisor already, but knew that I wasn’t due to see him for several days. I knew, kind-of, what area I was going to be working in.

So I started reading my Master’s dissertation. I had carried that into university with me that day, in my bag, proof for myself that I was meant to be there. As I worked through the pages of a short book I hadn’t read in over a year I found typo after typo. Clunky line after clunky line. I picked up a red pen and started amending my previous work in the margins.

And I felt bad.

Foolish. Naive even. What was I doing here? What was I going to be doing…

…for the next three and a half years?!

I had no idea.

 

And then Shaine asked me if I wanted to go for a cup of tea as it was eleven o’clock and that’s what happened at eleven in the maths department. For the rest of that day, and the rest of that week – and the rest of the month – I was slowly introduced to the rhythms of life in the maths department.

Meeting by meeting, I figured out what I needed to do to get started. Chat by chat, I started to understand what being a PhD maths researcher meant.

One thing stood out to me: research takes time. It takes work over a long period of time. You might have breakthroughs or periods of intense activity, but it all takes time.

 

From small beginnings you must have come a long way over the course of your PhD. Do you remember your first day? Your first week or month? Can you compare and contrast that to where you are now?

I imagine if you’re reading this that your viva is some time in the near future. At the very least you can have a good idea of when it might be. Look back to the beginning of your PhD journey and realise: you have come a long way.

You’ve invested the time and the work to become better, to build your research and develop yourself. Remember and realise that you must be good by this stage of your journey; you might not be at the end, not yet, but you have made a lot of progress and found a lot of success since your beginning.

Nathan

Previously

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There are lots of questions you could be asked at your viva, including questions you’ve never been asked before! But by the time you get there you will have had lots of practise responding to questions, certainly enough to do well with your examiners.

There’s a lot of pressure on the whole situation, but you have experience with that sort of thing.

You can’t be sure what your examiners will ask, but before the day of the viva you can find out more about your examiners and rehearse for being in the viva. You can’t arrive perfect but you can take the time to get ready.

Yes, there’s a lot you won’t know about before the moments of your viva, but prior to arriving there you can do as much as possible to be ready for the situation.

Nathan

Finding Reasons

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If before your viva you feel an abundance of nervousness, then you have to look a little and find reasons to feel confident. Confidence doesn’t eliminate nerves, but it does help to put those sorts of feelings into perspective. Nervousness recognises that something is important – confidence gives you the self-belief to know that things will be alright.

Look and find reasons. They could be reminding yourself of all the work you’ve done. They could be bound up in realising just how talented you are. Or you could focus on the process of the viva, what you need to do – what you can do – and what that means for you engaging with that process.

There are plenty of reasons to feel nervous about your viva. There are even more reasons to feel confident of success at your viva. Find them.

Nathan

The Buffer

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I publish a blog post about the viva every day. To be sure that I meet that promise I write and polish posts far in advance. I like to make sure that I have several weeks completed at any time, acting as a sort of buffer, just in case something happens.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been very happy to have that buffer: on September 21st I tested positive for COVID for the first time. My case was mild, only two days of really feeling ill, then a long time of feeling drained after that. I was really glad to have my buffer of finished posts to give myself time off to recover. I didn’t worry that I was falling short of my goals.

As I write this though I have only a few days left and so really do have to get writing again!

 

Buffers are helpful in lots of ways and have lots of names. It could be a savings fund for emergencies, a pile of good books waiting to be read or a freezer full of home-cooked meals.

Practice and experience can be a kind of buffer too, building you up to be ready for future challenges. Early in my post-PhD life, a friend shared with me the value of regular practice: “Nathan, it gives you talent to burn.”

By the time you get to your viva you have invested a lot in your talent. You have a dragon’s hoard of knowledge, skill, ability and more. You don’t need to be concerned that you will fall short at the viva. You have a lot in your buffer – from years of experience – that you can bring to those few hours.

Nathan

Stretches

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When have you been stretched during your PhD? What projects or work have you done that was a challenge to your skills and knowledge?

I think it’s unhelpful to view the PhD (and the viva) as the most awesome and incredible challenge in the world ever™ – but it’s also unhelpful to not recognise the growth that happens through the challenges someone faces along the way.

Reflect on the challenges. Reflect on the stretches – when they happened, why they happened, what you learned. You couldn’t have got this far without becoming better. Whenever your viva is, remember that throughout your PhD you have become more than what you were at the start.

More talented. More skilled. More knowledgeable. More accomplished.

All the stretches along the way have helped you become who you are today. Remember that and be confident for the viva.

Nathan

Practised, Not Perfect

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Remember that you don’t need to be perfect to succeed in the viva.

Remember that you will have invested a lot of time, effort and energy into becoming practised at all the things necessary for you to succeed.

You have read, you have written, you have learned, you have developed the skills for a researcher in your field and a lot more.

You’re not perfect. You are practised.

And that’s enough.

Nathan

What Can You Do?

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At submission you can apply everything you’ve done and learned to make your thesis the best it can be. It takes time but you can do it because you’ve been doing it for so long already.

After submission you can continue to do the work of a researcher in your field. You can take a little time to get ready for the viva.

During the viva you can take what you’ve been building for years and engage with your examiners. You can continue to prove yourself, despite doubts and worries.

There’s a lot to do but not too much. Not for you. When you face a challenge or problem, remember that you could only be facing a situation like this because you have already done so much – and you can do it again.

Nathan

You Got This!

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Your viva is coming up and you got this!

Whatever questions, comments or criticisms your examiners have, you got this!

Whatever pressures you faced throughout your PhD, you got this!

However the pandemic impacted your work, you got this!

Whatever challenges you face in your prep, you got this!

However you feel – nervous or excited, anxious or eager – you got this!

Because if you don’t, who does?

Nathan

Keeping Score

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To help remember your effort and progress – to then help build confidence for the viva – keep records of what you do and what happens during your PhD.

You don’t have to have a minute-by-minute journal of what you do: perhaps start a tally and for each day you show up to do something for your PhD, make a mark. Each time you finish a task, make a mark. Whenever you do something new, make a mark. Whenever you feel you’ve learned something, make a mark. And so on.

Whatever challenges you face, whatever gets in the way, – and particularly whatever makes you feel like you’re not going as far or as fast as you might want to – perhaps all you need is simply to show yourself, with a few marks, that you really are making progress.

You really are good enough.

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