You Are Here

Tag: viva confidence

Nathan

Magic Numbers

Daily Post

Some magic numbers can help stir up your confidence for meeting your examiners.

  • How many papers and books have you read for your PhD?
  • How many days have you showed up to work even if you didn’t feel like it?
  • How many words have you written? (if your answer is the number in your thesis then remember you’ve edited away many more)
  • How many times have you presented your work?
  • How many deep conversations have you had?

The numbers you might put forward for these aren’t magic in a fantastical sense. They can still do something extraordinary.

The effect they produce is to remind you as you prepare for your viva: you are not at the beginning of your research journey. You are dedicated, capable and successful.

Nathan

Anxious to Action

Daily Post

Concern, anxiety and worry about the viva won’t resolve themselves. It’s not wrong to feel any of these but it’s not good for you to go to your viva with them if you can help it.

You need to do something.

You could ask for help. You could explore a website with thousands of posts about the viva. You could reflect and think about what’s at the root of the problem.

Ultimately you have to do something. Ask, explore, think and then act.

Action can help you move away from anxiety.

Nathan

Ideas Need Work

Daily Post

“What a good idea!”

It’s very rare that an idea is enough. It takes work to develop, to implement, to unpick, to understand and for it to have an impact.

You will have had many good ideas throughout your PhD. However they’ve made their way into your thesis, they needed effort to come to life. They needed your work to make an impact.

Whatever is in your thesis, it took work to write, work to edit, work to figure out how to express it.

Your work.

There are great ideas that exist because of the work you did. When you go to your viva there’s a lot to talk about. Remember that the reason it’s there is because you took the time and the effort to do it.

Your thesis is proof of your contribution and evidence of your capability as a researcher.

 

PS: today’s post aims at boosting confidence by reflecting on your PhD and the work you did. If you’re looking for more ways to boost your confidence and get ready for the viva then check out Viva Survivors Select 03, The Preparation Issue, which came out yesterday and is available now at this link!

Nathan

Less Than Perfect…

Daily Post

…but you don’t need perfect to succeed in your PhD or at the viva.

  • You need to have worked to produce research.
  • You need to be a capable researcher.
  • You need to have written a good thesis (and submitted it!).
  • You need prepare for your viva after submission.
  • You need to engage with your examiners and the discussion at the viva.

None of these are trivial but none of them requires perfection.

You don’t need perfection to pass your viva.

Nathan

Skilled

Daily Post

Compared to the start of your PhD journey, what can you do now that you couldn’t before?

How do you know this for certain? How can you demonstrate this? What are your skills as a capable researcher in your field?

Reflecting and unpicking the answers to these kinds of questions will give you a lot to share with your examiners in the viva.

 

Nathan

The Right Words

Daily Post

The right words of feedback from your supervisor or a trusted colleague can make a huge difference to your work or your wellbeing. Think about what you ask for, when you ask for it and who you ask it from.

The right words of annotation on the pages of your thesis – by you – can make a huge difference to how ready you are for viva day. Think about what you need to add during prep, how you will do it and what the result will be.

The right words in the right way can make a huge difference to your PhD and your viva.

 

PS: looking for more about viva prep and getting help from others? These are two topics I’ll be talking about at Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Wednesday 25th June. Registration is open now for my 3-hour live webinar – all about the viva, viva prep and getting ready – and attendees also get access to a catch-up recording and follow-up materials. Take a look at the details to see if this session might help you.

Nathan

Reflect & Review

Daily Post

“Plan, Do, Reflect, Review” is a simple framework for getting things done. Plan what you’ll do, do it, reflect on what happened and review things formally so you have a better understanding.

If you’re reading this post then hopefully you followed a similar process during your PhD. There are lots of systems, resources and processes that use Plan, Do, Reflect, Review to underpin how they work.

As you get close to your viva you’ll be leaning much more on reflect and review. Give yourself time to really take in what you did, what happened and what that means. Ask yourself questions and find answers that will help you communicate what matters to your examiners.

(reflecting and reviewing your journey also helps your confidence to grow by bringing your progress and capability into the spotlight!)

Nathan

Maybe & Definitely

Daily Post

Maybe you didn’t get all of the results you were hoping for.

Maybe writing your thesis was harder than you expected.

Maybe your external examiner isn’t the person you would have picked.

Maybe there’s something tricky in your third chapter that you find hard to remember.

And, who knows, maybe your viva will be longer than you would like.

 

Definitely: You did the work. There are regulations and expectations that create a knowable viva process. You can take time to prepare in a way that helps you. Your examiners will be known well in advance of your viva. You have time to get ready.

 

Every viva has maybes. Whatever maybes you can think of for yours, these are more than covered by the things that you will know and can do definitely.

Nathan

The Confidence Formula

Daily Post

As a former pure mathematician I suppose it was only a matter of time before I started thinking about confidence as a formula. I’m not saying that this is the final work on the topic, but here’s what I have so far:

Confidence = Hard Work x Good Fortune x Self-Reflection

Of-course, this is a simplification, but hopefully a useful one! It’s more accurate to say that confidence is a function of three variables (hard work, good fortune, self-reflection) but this simplification is enough to get the point across.

Real confidence in something is earned, so needs hard work. Good fortune amplifies hard work. Self-reflection builds things further when you realise the impact of your work.

We could try to unpick this more, maybe add terms involving deliberate practice or other confidence-building activities but the above expression is probably enough to get started.

The more important thing to consider is: if you have your viva in the near future, how does this formula help?

By now you’ve done the hard work, save for a little viva prep. You’ve had all the good fortune and success you can. So the thing that can make a difference now is self-reflection: looking back over your work, what happened, what that means and exploring the real difference in yourself since you began your PhD.

Hard work, good fortune and self-reflection can take you a long way towards the amount of confidence you need for your viva – and for life in general.

 

PS: I’ll be exploring this topic and many more at Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Wednesday 25th June. I’m regularly invited to deliver this session to PhD candidates all around the UK, but this is only the third time I’ve opened up registration. A 3-hour live webinar, catch-up recording and follow-up materials all about the viva, viva prep and getting ready. Do take a look and see if it might be for you! 

Nathan

Ticks

Daily Post

Every few months I make myself a simple desk calendar. One page of A4 in my notebook, week-by-week, each day lined out in pencil, dates in the top right corners and a small space to capture any work or life commitments. At a glance I can see what’s coming up and that helps.

What helps me more is that I tick off each day when it is done: whether I’m working a lot that day or a little, or even if it’s a non-work day and I’m with family, I tick the day off. I did it.

It’s been a very helpful practice in recent years to help as a reminder: you’re doing it.

I have to-do lists of course, both big and small, long term and short term, but the ticks on my calendar help a lot. When I’ve finished with a daily or weekly to-do list I review it and recycle it. I keep my calendar because they’re evidence for me. They remind me that I showed up and did something.

All of which is a long pre-amble to encourage you to do the same, at least as you work through your viva prep. A regular to-do list might be helpful, but reminding yourself of that bigger picture – “I showed up and did the work” – is a simple and direct boost for viva confidence.

1 2 3 … 66