You Are Here

Tag: write two lists

Nathan

Best of Viva Survivors 2024: Reflections

Daily Post

Day two of my best of posts for 2024. I am very fortunate to have time to think about and write about the viva.

I like to try and consider the viva from as many angles as possible, which leads to posts like today’s that reflect on the overall viva experience.

How have you been thinking about your viva over the last year? And how do you think you might need to change your thinking?

Nathan

Write Two Lists

Daily Post

On the first list capture the following sorts of things:

  • Your disappointments from your research.
  • The things that didn’t work.
  • The questions you don’t know how to answer.
  • Your concerns for finishing your PhD.
  • Your worries about the viva process.

On the second list write the following sorts of things:

  • The conclusions of your thesis.
  • The results you got through your research.
  • The ways you became a better researcher.
  • The topics you’re looking forward to talking about at your viva.
  • Your great plans for the future.

Now decide: which of these lists are you going to look at every day, and which are you going to skim over once a week?

Put the everyday list in a prominent space and the once a week list in a drawer.

 

You get to decide where you put your focus; it might be helpful, for example, to think a little about viva worries and do something about them – but maybe it’s better to think more often about the good things in your thesis than the what ifs of your viva?

 

(writing two lists is a viva-centric riff on a Seth Godin idea – his blog is always worth reading!)