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Tag: building confidence

Nathan

My Checklist

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Before I deliver a webinar I go through a checklist to make sure everything is right.

  • Equipment set up?
  • Software running smoothly?
  • All of my session notes up to date?
  • Any special notes for this webinar?
  • Got my backup notes?
  • Water bottle?
  • Break time chocolate stash?
  • Chair adjusted?
  • Captions working on Zoom?
  • Adjusted other Zoom settings?
  • And have I got the paperweight I like to hand?

There are a lot of needs being met here. Some are purely practical: the software and equipment for delivering a webinar. Some are informational: the general and specific notes. Some are emotional: the chocolate and paperweight!

If I meet all of these needs I can be sure I’m ready. This list is the final piece of confidence I’m looking for.

 

What do you need for your viva? Make a list and check things off. Gather up whatever you need in terms of resources. Do the preparations that will support you. Ask for the support you need from other people and from your institution.

Once you meet your needs for the viva then you’re on your way to feeling ready for the exam.

 

PS: one more thing for your checklist might be Viva Survivors Select Volume 1, which I released this week. This is my complete collection of helpful viva zines from 2025: eight issues containing a total of 165 posts from the Viva Survivors archives and lots of new viva prep resources. Volume 1 is a great deal made better with an introductory offer price available until 31st January 2026!

Nathan

Lack

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You’ve done a lot of work by the time you get to submission but as you prepare for your viva you might feel lacking in some areas.

  • Have I read enough papers?
  • Did I do enough research?
  • Do I know enough?
  • Am I enough to pass?

These are hard questions. If you find yourself facing them then remember you don’t have to just feel worried. Ask for help from people like your supervisor or your colleagues and find something you can do to build your certainty.

 

More importantly: if you find yourself confronting any of these questions then ask yourself why it’s there.

For example, Have I read enough papers?

  • Are you thinking this because you feel like there’s something you don’t know?
  • Are you concerned about your examiners?
  • Do you think your bibliography is maybe small compared to others?
  • Or is it something else?

When you start to pinpoint why a troubling question is troubling you then you can be more targeted in how you respond to it.

Nathan

Socks For Success!

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If I ever enter the clothing business or have Viva Survivors-branded apparel I think I would start with socks that helped confidence.

All of the marketing would be very clear: this is a placebo.

The socks are only a reminder that you do good work. You have done well in the past and can do so again in the future.

I wore a pair of my “good day” socks to my viva and among the tiredness and uncertainty they gave me just a little more support. Over the years since I made a decision to only have socks that I could attach that specialness to – and consequently, every day could be a “good day”!

Every day I have a little reminder: my own little confidence boost.

 

Placebos can be very helpful. As Seth Godin says, “A placebo is a story we tell ourselves that changes the way our brain and our body work.” They don’t have side-effects and they work!

Please don’t mis-understand me: of course you need to do the work.

You need to work towards your PhD. You need to do the prep work for your viva. Then find useful things to help remind you of all of that.

Socks or songs, charms or chocolate – what do you need to give you that little extra push to being your best?

Nathan

Imperfect Metrics

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Viva success is not based on how many days you showed up to do your work.

Success isn’t determined by the number of chapters you have written, the number of papers you cited, how many conference talks you’ve delivered or whether you have several publications out there.

All these numbers can give a boost to your confidence though. The numbers mean you did something, repeatedly, and over a long period of time.

You need to look a little deeper for proof of your knowledge and capability as a PhD candidate, but a good starting point might be the imperfect metrics of a few numbers that show you did the work.

They count for something.

Nathan

Contributions Matter

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“How would you define your significant, original contribution?”

That’s a hard question for a lot of reasons.

It asks for specifics, your opinion and makes an assumption that there is one big thing you’ve done through your research. Personally, I would struggle to respond because I didn’t have a single focus during my PhD: my thesis was a collection of results, not one overall idea that I explored.

It’s a hard question, but it could be rewarding to unpick nonetheless. Reflecting might reveal some helpful ways to share your research with your examiners (and others).

It’s also helpful to reflect on all of your contributions, big and small. Look back over your PhD and think about your results, achievements and victories. What do they all amount to? Whether or not there is a single headline conclusion to point to, what do your contributions mean?

Remember that contributions can be a stepping stone to confidence: recognising what you’ve achieved can be a helpful way to boost how you feel.

 

PS: exploring confidence is a big part of my Viva Survivor webinar – alongside expectations, viva prep and the whole viva process. Registration is open now for my March 27th 2025 session and includes a catch-up recording if you can’t attend live!

Nathan

Important Past Dates

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A companion post to these thoughts from November 2024!

The first day of your PhD: it was a long time ago and you’ve come a long way since then.

Your first supervisory meeting: whatever your relationship over the course of your PhD, you’ve grown as a result of your supervisor.

The first new thing that clicked: do you remember the moment when you made a significant connection?

Your biggest setback: what happened and what did you do as a result?

When you finished your first draft of your first chapter: how did it feel to get it done?

The final problem: why was it a problem? How did you solve it?

Looking back over all of these, whether you remember exact dates or not, the important thing is that you have grown. You were good at the start of your PhD and you have become more.

Viva prep involves relatively simple work like reading and making notes. The more difficult work is to reflect on your journey, what happened, what it means and why it makes you exactly right for the challenge you’ll face at your viva.

Nathan

Decide In Advance

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There’s a lot you won’t know about your viva before it happens.

You can have reasonable guesses and expectations around questions, opinions and discussion topics. You can learn generally what to expect and build up a picture. But you can’t know. There’s a lot you have to simply contend with as it happens. A question is asked and you have to pause, think and respond – in whatever way seems best in that moment.

This is why the viva, even if it’s a positive experience, can be a draining event: a lot of brain work is required on the day.

 

To help reserve as much thinking ability as you can, decide as much as you can in advance of your viva.

Decide in advance:

  • how you will get to your viva – and what time you’ll leave!
  • what you will wear – and how you want it to make you feel!
  • what to take – and don’t forget to check with friends and your supervisor to see if there is anything atypical that you might need!

You have to pause, think and respond as every question is asked. You can’t decide on a response before you hear the question – but you can decide in advance how you will respond to every question. Pause. Think. Take your time.

You can decide in advance to pursue confidence. You can’t decide that you won’t be nervous; feelings can’t be pushed away by a decision. But you can decide that you want to feel confident and take actions to find that.

Nathan

Journaling Prep

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Keep a tiny journal for your prep. Every time you do something, add it to a growing list of what you’ve done in pursuit of being ready.

Lots of viva prep tasks don’t have a visible output: when you have read your thesis or a paper you only have a memory. When you talk with a friend there’s nothing physical to point so you can say, “I did it.”

So keep a little journal. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than recording what you did, when you did it, why you did it and how it helped.

Build the proof for yourself that you are getting ready for your viva.

Nathan

Numbers Matter

Daily Post

Since July 2010 I’ve delivered sessions about the viva to over 6000 postgraduate researchers. I have the 300th Viva Survivor session in my diary for early 2022. Shortly after that I’ll mark the five year anniversary of this daily blog.

I regularly remind myself of these numbers. I don’t write them to boost how I seem to you: I write them to help me see myself more clearly.

Like everyone I have doubts. I have anxieties. They come and go and can sometimes bring me down.

The numbers don’t lie though. The numbers help to tell my story back to me. I have done this work for a long time, I’ve worked with a lot of people, I’ve stayed determined with the blog. The numbers help me to show me the results of what I’ve done. They steer me towards my confidence and away from doubts.

What are your numbers? What measures could help you?

The number of days you worked on your PhD so far? The number of times you’ve shared your work? The number of chapters in your thesis or interesting things you found? The number of challenging situations you overcame?

You might have a bad day or a bad week near the end of your PhD. It may be you doubt yourself as you get closer to the viva. In those times look for your numbers. Your feelings might say one thing, but the numbers will tell you a far more helpful story.

Nathan

Every Day Is A Restart

Daily Post

Not just the 1st of January. Not the 2nd, once you finish celebrating New Year’s Day!

Every day is a chance to look at what you do, how you do it, why you do it and think, “What else…?”

What else can you do to help build your talent?

What else can you do to steer your confidence?

What else will you need to be ready for your viva?

What else can you achieve in this new year?