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Tag: finding confidence

Nathan

One Sentence Per Day

Daily Post

Every day after submission write down one sentence describing something that didn’t exist before you made it happen during your PhD.

It could be a result in your thesis. It could be an output or outcome of your research. It could be a chapter of your thesis. It could be a skillset or aptitude that you developed over the last few years. It could be a small idea or a great big contribution.

If you write one sentence per day in this way then by your viva you’ll have dozens of reminders of your capability and contribution.

You’ll have dozens of reminders that underscore why you’ll succeed in your viva.

 

PS: I’ll be exploring core reasons for viva success and confidence at my 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva webinar this Wednesday evening. Registration includes a catch-up recording, follow-up email and my pdf guide 101 Steps To A Great Viva. Hope to see you on Wednesday 8th July 2026 at 7!

Nathan

By The Ends

Daily Post

By the end of your first year you probably have a direction or goal in mind for your research.

By the end of your final year you’ve realised enough of your aims to create a thesis.

By the end of your thesis someone can appreciate the contribution that you’re making.

By the end of your viva prep you’ll feel ready for the challenge of your viva.

By the end of your viva you’ll know that you did it.

By the end of all of this hopefully you’ll have a smile on your face as you think, “What now?”

 

PS: Take a look at the latest issue of Viva Survivors Select for more reflections, practical viva help and more. The 2025 Issue collects twenty of my favourite blog posts from last year and adds two new pages of viva help. You can see a few of the pages here to get a sense of what this little curated zine is all about. Please spread the word if you can!

Nathan

A Basic Formula

Daily Post

C = f(c) + P

Or: confidence is a function of your capability plus your preparation.

Or: the confidence you have for something like, say, your viva is related to your capability for your research plus the specific preparation you do for your viva.

 

I’m a pure mathematician by training, so blame that for how my brain has turned this over! A little “formula” like this isn’t very scientific but as a model there are two important things that stand out:

  1. The element that makes the most difference here is your capability as this has grown over a long time. As you get closer to your viva reflect on what has made you good in so many ways.
  2. You have a relatively short amount of time to do viva preparation – so plan your time well and focus on the important tasks first.

If you want your confidence for your viva to grow you have to increase your capability or do more preparation. What makes sense for where you are now?

 

PS: Viva confidence is a big topic at my live 3-hour Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 25th March 2026. I’ll be talk about a lot more too! You’ll also get four-week access to a recording of the session and follow-up materials too. There’s more information at the link but please get in touch if you have any questions or want to know more. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

My Checklist

Daily Post

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

2025 In Brief

Daily Post

In 2025…

  • …I published 362 new daily posts on Viva Survivors (I always take a few days off over Christmas)
  • …I delivered 44 viva-related sessions like Viva Survivor and 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva for 952 postgraduate researchers.
  • …I created eight issues of Viva Survivors Select, a series of curated and themed collections of viva support and developed five new games to help viva preparation.

Numbers can point towards confidence.

The right number can be a good representation of the effort and time you invest into something.

3136 posts on a blog is a lot. It’s been extraordinarily helpful for me to invest this time into writing. It helps me to think and find new ways of helping people with their viva problems.

952 people helped last year through my viva sessions. Over 10,000 total in my life as an independent researcher-developer. I get nervous and stressed before I deliver a webinar but the numbers help point me towards confidence. “I did all of that… I can probably do this too…”

 

2025 was a strange year. It was a hard year at times. There were lots of ups and downs in my work, my family life and in the world generally. But when things get tough and I can’t focus I can still look at the numbers.

What numbers do you have to help point you to confidence? What are your headlines for 2025? What did you do and what does it mean?

Find some helpful numbers to build your confidence up as you start 2026.

Nathan

Your Story

Daily Post

Your PhD story, whatever difficulties you’ve faced, is one where you have grown into a more capable researcher – and where you have produced something valuable through your work.

So how did you get this far?

  • The Beginning: What did you know when you began? What were your initial plans? How did you get started?
  • The Middle: How did your plans change? What did you learn? What setbacks did you overcome?
  • The End: What do you know now? How would you summarise your research? What does your PhD mean to you?

By considering some of these questions you build a story of your PhD. You don’t need all of them to tell yourself a good story and find confidence.

Also: reflecting can help you bring together one story of your PhD. If that perspective and focus doesn’t help, consider whether or not reflecting on other aspects can help you tell yourself a better story.

Nathan

A Confidence Hint

Daily Post

“Confidence is not being strong; confidence is knowing your strengths.”

A webinar participant shared this observation with me a few months ago. There’s a lot of wisdom to it.

For the viva in particular, you don’t need to know everything. You can simply know that you are capable. You can simply reflect on what has brought you so far. You can simply know what you know.

Know your strengths and you’ll know that’s enough.

Nathan

Find Your Music

Daily Post

Find a piece of music that makes you feel happy. Find a piece of music that lifts you up and makes you feel like your best self.

Find a way to make sure that you have access to that music in the days leading up to your viva. Perhaps make sure you have a way to listen to that music on the day of your viva.

There are many ways to build confidence and how positive you feel about your viva. Consider how you prepare, what you wear, what you listen to.

You need to find what you need to help you feel how you want to feel about your viva. None of it is magic – sometimes it’s music!

 

PS: here’s my music, in case you’re curious.

Nathan

Reboot

Daily Post

Things have gone wrong. We can’t change them. We can’t alter what’s happened already and we don’t know when we can find a space or time that will feel like things are supposed to feel. So for now we have to survive – we have to manage to keep going in difficult circumstances.

There have been times lately, when managing has felt like a struggle. Difficult has felt almost like too much.

Not for the first time in the last year or so I’ve had to start over with myself. Pause, take a day, breathe a lot and really reflect. Then try to figure out what my next steps are. Reboot myself and get going again.

If you’ve been finishing a PhD at this time I can only imagine the angst and overwhelm that must be in the background (and foreground) as you come to your viva. Like me, you might need to reboot yourself to keep going.

Starting over doesn’t mean a blank slate or doing something wholly new. It doesn’t mean you ignore what’s happened or happening. Rebooting means taking the best of what’s come before, and channeling it for what you need now. Take the things that have worked, that could still work, and build on them.

  • So what’s at the core of your talent? How can you use that now things are different?
  • What methods have helped you make progress throughout your PhD? How can you use them now to help you prepare for and succeed in your viva?
  • What’s helped you to feel confident before? How can you use that to build your confidence now for the viva?

Rebooting isn’t always easy, and it’s rarely ever perfect, but it might be very helpful in the coming year.

Keep going.