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Nathan

Sticky Notes

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Cheer up your viva prep with a selection of sticky notes for your thesis.

Mark out the beginning of chapters and important sections. Add sentences of clarification to pages. Stick in summaries and helpful bullet point lists. Find the best pages and make them stand out with a bit of colour.

There’s a lot of serious viva prep that needs to be done; I’ve mentioned several parts in this post already! Just because something is serious doesn’t mean it can’t also be done with a little smile.

Annotate your thesis as part of your viva prep to make a better version of your thesis; use sticky notes to make that better version a little happier too.

Nathan

The Paperweight

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A small white paperweight, with a black etched design of a leaf

It was a gift from my daughter on Father’s Day a year or two ago. I love my paperweight. It feels like I’ve always had it.

Whenever I feel nervous before a webinar – which is every time I deliver a webinar – picking this little paperweight up is the action that helps me feel confident.

I’ve been a researcher-developer for nearly fifteen years. I’ve helped candidates get ready for their vivas for thirteen of them. I’ve delivered over 400 viva help sessions to almost 8000 PGRs, and been writing this daily blog for over six years.

Yet when I come to deliver a webinar this little paperweight is the thing that helps me feel confident. A small, solid reminder of why I do what I do. A little kickstart for my confidence.

You can’t have my paperweight, but you can find ways to be confident.

Think about what could help you. Is it reflecting on your PhD journey? Is it a routine that helps to centre you? Or perhaps even a small object or image that reminds you of who you are, what you can do and why you’re doing what you’re doing?

You can’t have my paperweight. You can find your own path to confidence.

Nathan

Small & Little

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Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Do every little thing to help yourself.

These are not contradictions when applied to the viva and viva prep.

 

When you find a typo after submission, you could underline it or add it to a list, but that’s all you can do. Would it be better to have spotted it in your proofreading? Sure. Is it frustrating? Maybe, but being frustrated won’t help. Fixing a typo won’t be hard later and won’t distract your examiners too much before then.

Small stuff is like that. Distractions like typos, forgetting a detail, or not having a viva date months in advance. If something is frustrating or a problem but you can’t do much about it, let it go. Work around it or work past it, but don’t drive yourself to distraction being annoyed by it.

 

On the other hand, if you find little things that could help, then try to do them. Add tabs to your thesis, find little opportunities to share your research with others and practise, wear your favourite socks, play your most happy music and follow every tiny idea that could help you get ready for your viva.

 

A problem doesn’t have to be big and difficult to frustrate your preparation. Put them to one side when you can.

An action doesn’t have to be big or time-consuming to help you get ready. Engage with it when you can.

Nathan

Tell Someone

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If you need help with some part of your viva prep, tell someone who might be able to assist you.

If you feel concerned, tell someone who might have experience or advice for your situation.

If you have questions about what to expect from your viva, tell someone who will understand and be able to share realistic expectations with you.

If you feel like you’re missing something in the weeks leading up to your viva, then tell someone who can offer considered advice to help you find what’s gone astray.

And if you want to mark your viva success when it’s all done, tell someone who will enthusiastically join in with your celebrations!

Nathan

A Little Update

Update

Draft cover of 101 Steps To A Great Viva

In two days my teeny-tiny Kickstarter campaign to make a helpful little guide for the viva will finish. The campaign has been a lovely success and I’ll soon be producing a print run for 101 Steps To A Great Viva.

But I don’t know how many copies to make yet as there’s still time for a few more backers!

Maybe someone like you? If you’re looking for a clear, action-focussed guide to what you can do to get ready for your viva, then 101 Steps To A Great Viva could be what you’re looking for. It’s simple, direct and will be available very soon to send through the post.

Draft interior pages from 101 Steps To A Great Viva

I’ve been happily writing updates every few days over the last week as I describe the guide, the editing process and a neat little extra that will be included for backers if we reach a stretch goal I’ve set. Fundraising finishes on Wednesday 31st May at 5pm, in just over two days. I’ll have copies available to buy afterwards, but the Kickstarter is the only place you can get the additional rewards I’m offering. Backing the campaign and pledging support ensures you will get a copy of the guide – and you’ll be one of the first to get one too!

Please, if you’ve not looked already, take a look, tell a friend, share the campaign with others or support the campaign if you can. I’m thrilled to have made 101 Steps To A Great Viva and can’t wait to send it out into the world.

I hope I’ll send a copy to you.

Thank you for reading!

Nathan

Nathan

Not One Day

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Your PhD success is hundreds of days of work – thousands and thousands of hours of learning, doing, achieving, growing, making, failing(!) and persisting. Your PhD is not defined by a few hours of discussion with two examiners. You need your viva to go well, but you need all of the work that comes before to get you there.

Your earlier success, all those years, helps you through the viva too.

It’s not just one day that determines everything. It’s one day when you get to demonstrate who you are, what you’ve done and what you can do.

Nathan

Three Easy Wins

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I start most working days with “three easy wins” for my productivity: before I get stuck into the harder stuff and deeper thinking I do three things that help me feel like I’m already making progress.

A walk is often top of my list. I’ll check accounts and spreadsheets to see if I need to do anything. And I’ll sort out newsletters and spam that have arrived overnight.

Nothing strenuous: easy or simple tasks that help clear my head, free up thinking space or help me to move on to tougher work.

What could you do to give yourself three easy wins when you sit down to prepare for your viva? Here are some ideas!

  1. Remember and write down one success from your PhD research.
  2. Write “You can do this!” at the top of page 1 of your thesis.
  3. Google the regulations for vivas at your university.
  4. Ask a friend to meet you for coffee and talk.
  5. Find a good page in your thesis and stick a bookmark in.
  6. Decide on one thing you will do to celebrate your success.
  7. Note down one question you think you’ll get in the viva.
  8. Take two minutes to write out a short summary of one result in your thesis.
  9. Attach sticky notes to the start of each chapter in your thesis.
  10. Underline what you wrote for suggestion 2!!

There are big tasks that you can do to help you get ready for your viva. There are lots of little things you can do too that will add to how you feel. Start small each time and do things that build you up for your viva.

 

PS: Number 11 on the list could be “Check out and back 101 Steps To A Great Viva on Kickstarter!“

Nathan

Bit By Bit

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Idea by idea. Paper by paper. Day by day.

There’s no other way to put your PhD together than keep showing up, good days and bad, and work your way through. Learn more, do more, achieve more and find your way to becoming a good and capable researcher in your field.

When the time comes, this approach is what helps you prepare for your viva too. There’s no single activity that flips the switch to “ready”.

And, really, it’s how you get through the viva too.

Question by question.

Chapter by chapter.

Response by response.

Minute by minute you demonstrate the capable researcher that you became bit by bit.

And that’s enough.

 

PS: I almost called this post “Step By Step” but thought that was too close to the title of 101 Steps To A Great Viva, still going strong on Kickstarter! The overall idea is still the same: it’s not one thing that makes you ready, but enough steps in the right direction can make a real difference. Check out 101 Steps To A Great Viva now and you can pledge support to be one of the first with a copy of the guide.

Nathan

My Two Questions

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In the opening minutes of any viva session I ask two simple questions of the cohort:

When is your viva?

&

How do you feel?

Both of these questions, and their responses, are really helpful to me. I start to think about adapting the session I’ll present. I have a plan of course, but if I know that everyone has submitted their thesis then I know parts I don’t need to emphasise as much. If lots of people say they feel uncertain about their viva then I’ll find a few moments to talk about expectations.

My two questions help outside of viva prep sessions. Consider:

  • When is your viva? Whenever it is, you have time. If you have days then you have time to work towards being ready. If you have weeks you can invest that time in slow and steady preparation if you want to. If you have months before submission then you can carefully build your confidence.
  • How do you feel? Whatever you feel is not fixed. If you feel great then let’s cement that. If you feel uncertain then let’s help you with some information. If you feel unprepared you have time to work on that. If you feel nervous you’re not alone! Most candidates do and that’s OK.

Consider the time you have left and what you can use it for.

Consider how you feel and how you want to feel – and then decide what you will do as a result.

 

PS: One thing you could do is go to Kickstarter and back my campaign to print 101 Steps To A Great Viva! The campaign hit the target over the weekend so now I’ll definitely be producing the print run next month. If you want to make sure you get a copy – and possibly pick up some extra rewards for supporting the campaign – then please go and check it out.

Nathan

Risky

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Are there risks of danger, problems or disappointment in the viva?

In general when we consider risk it’s worth assessing three elements:

  • The Bad Thing: the problem or outcome you’re concerned about.
  • The Likelihood Of The Bad Thing: an honest assessment of how certain The Bad Thing is to happen.
  • The Potential Impact Of The Bad Thing: an honest assessment of what might follow if The Bad Thing happens.

So, for example: your examiners find a typo. That’s very likely in a book with tens of thousands of words, but it wouldn’t have a great impact on your success or the work needed to correct it.

Or: your examiners could find a section in your thesis that they don’t agree with. There’s a fair chance of that happening when considering new and interesting research. The impact could be an in-depth discussion of the points in the viva or perhaps a request for certain amendments to your thesis.

An extreme example: it’s possible to fail your viva. That would have an enormous negative impact in many ways – but it isn’t very likely at all. It’s a very rare situation.

If you think or feel something about a potential Bad Thing, ask yourself how likely it is. Ask yourself what might happen. Then consider what you really need to do in response, either to reduce the chance of it happening or lessen the impact if it does.

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