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Tag: talent

Nathan

The One And Only?

Daily Post, Sabbatical

On the one hand, yes, the viva is your one and only opportunity. You have to do it, defend your thesis, engage with your examiners’ questions and discuss your work. You have to do it well enough to pass, and this is your chance to do it.

But on the other hand, it’s the latest opportunity you’ve had to do all these sorts of things. It’s not the first time you’ve talked about your work. It’s not the first time you’ve faced a challenge with your research. It’s not the first time you’ve had to really think about what you’re doing.

The viva is the latest challenge, for someone experienced at rising to meet challenges. It could be tough, it could be tricky, but it won’t be beyond you.

You’re the one and only person who could pass your viva.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on July 8th 2020.

Nathan

Whatever

Daily Post, Sabbatical

Whatever challenges you faced during your PhD, they helped you get to submission and to the viva.

Whatever prep you do it will build on a solid foundation of knowledge and ability that you have developed.

Whatever disruption you encountered because of the pandemic you have worked around and persevered.

Whatever questions you are asked you will be able to find a way to respond.

Whatever you feel before your viva, you are a talented and capable researcher.

Whatever happens you are good enough.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on April 29th 2022.

Nathan

Maybe

Daily Post, Sabbatical

Maybe you could have done more.

Maybe there was a different approach.

Maybe your examiners will find a problem.

Maybe, maybe, maybe…

Maybe none of these matter.

Maybe there’s something about what you know and what you can do that makes these concerns unimportant for the viva.

Actually, there’s no “maybe” about it.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on December 19th 2017.

Nathan

Good Answers

Daily Post, Sabbatical

Good answers don’t just appear on the day.

Good answers to your examiners’ questions happen because you’ve done the work.

Good answers happen because you know things.

Good answers happen because you’re talented.

I think great answers in the viva come when you give yourself a few extra seconds to think…

…what else do I know?

…is that the best thing to start with?

…what did I say in my thesis?

…what did I do like this in my research?

A few seconds can make good into great, but don’t stress.

Good is enough.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on July 14th 2018.

Nathan

Whatever

Daily Post

Whatever challenges you faced during your PhD, they helped you get to submission and to the viva.

Whatever prep you do it will build on a solid foundation of knowledge and ability that you have developed.

Whatever disruption you encountered because of the pandemic you have worked around and persevered.

Whatever questions you are asked you will be able to find a way to respond.

Whatever you feel before your viva, you are a talented and capable researcher.

Whatever happens you are good enough.

Nathan

Remembering Sir Ken Robinson

Daily Post

One day in late-August I found myself bursting into tears while casually browsing through a friend’s Facebook posts. They’d shared a short memorial post, and that was how I learned that Sir Ken Robinson had passed away. I cried reading the news, and felt upset for weeks afterwards.

Today would have been his 71st birthday. I never met him, but after finishing my PhD it was his voice that started me on the path I’ve been on ever since. His 2006 TED Talk connected with me in a profound way. Over the following years I read his books, pre-ordered them when he published more, scoured YouTube for more talks and reflected on his message, his presentation style, his wit and his passion.

“Human communities depend upon a diversity of talent” was a framing that helped me as I explored how I could help researchers in the space I’d found myself in. His encouragement to try things, even uncertain things – “you won’t find anything original unless you’re willing to be wrong” – helped me to develop my work, my business and myself.

If you’ve never heard of Sir Ken Robinson before, I’d encourage you to learn more about him, his incredible life story and the great work that he did. We’ll feel his impact for a long time to come.

And for you, for today, I’d encourage reflection on your talents. By this stage in your PhD journey, you must be talented in many ways. How do you define your talents? What makes you certain of them? How will they help you find success in your viva?

And what might you do with your talents after your PhD is completed?

Nathan

Testing Your Talent

Daily Post

That’s what the viva is all about. How good is your research? How well did you do it? How well do you know it and your field? And just how good are you?

It’s a test that doesn’t require perfection to pass. Preparation will help you get ready, but remember: you can’t have got to submission by being merely lucky, and you can’t have done the work unless you were good.

The viva might test you, but your talent will help you succeed.

Nathan

One More Day

Daily Post

Another chance to show up, do good work, show and share your knowledge, your ability, your insight.

By the viva you will have had hundreds and hundreds of days where you have done this. So while it’s an important day, and it’s essential that you do show up with your knowledge, your ability and your insight, it’s overwhelmingly likely that that’s exactly what you will do.

Because it’s an important day, you might show up with some nervousness or worries too. That’s fine. You can handle them for your viva day, for one more day. Draw confidence from the fact that you couldn’t have got this far without doing something well (whatever that particular something might be for you, your research and your thesis).

One more day. You can do it.

Nathan

Information & Insights

Daily Post

You’ll have a lot of information that can help you in the viva. Ideas, questions, answers, reading, references, facts and figures. You’ll need to know a lot of things to get you to the viva, and of course, to get you through the viva.

As essential as these things are, remember that your examiners will be more interested in the insights that you have: how you think about a topic rather than simply what you know about a topic. What conclusions you reached, rather than simply the results you got.

The viva is not simply a test of what you remember. What do you know?

Nathan

Telling Tales

Daily Post

If you tell yourself you’re lucky, you might come to think that you don’t deserve to pass your viva.

If you tell yourself there were things you could have done better, you might come to believe that your research isn’t that great.

If you tell yourself to be worried about your examiners, then you’ll probably build up your anxiety for the viva.

If you tell yourself that the viva’s all a bit of a mystery, then you’ll likely be afraid of what might happen.

Stories steer our reality. Personal expectations for the viva are influenced by the experiences that graduates and academics share, but these take root in the tales that we tell about ourselves. The tales you tell yourself about your progress, talent and imagined futures can dominate how you feel and act now.

So if you tell yourself you’re fortunate, you’ll know that you’ve found success through hard work.

If you tell yourself what worked well in your research, you’ll find a way to share that with others.

If you tell yourself that your examiners want to have a good discussion, then you’ll smile and thank them for their questions. (hopefully!)

And if you tell yourself that you’re talented, that you’ve not got this far by mistake or blind luck, then whatever you’re asked in the viva you can be confident you’ll rise to the challenge.

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