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Tag: perfect

Nathan

Less Than 100%

Daily Post

Looking back over your PhD you have to accept that you can’t have given it your all.

You can’t have answered every question.

You can’t have achieved everything.

You can’t have written a perfect thesis.

You can’t be perfect.

And that’s OK.

Look at what you did. Step away from the trap of perfection and the distractions of what ifs. Then you can see that you have done something amazing.

You’ve done something that no-one else has ever done. You’ve become someone that no-one else has ever been.

Nathan

Determination Over Perfection

Daily Post

Determination is what gets you through the PhD journey.

In some ways it is as simple as showing up to do the work when you need to do it. You can be frustrated or uncertain but if you show up enough then you do enough. If you do enough then you find enough. If you find enough then you have enough – for your thesis and to show that you are a capable researcher.

Striving for perfect won’t get you a PhD.

Knowing that you just need to show up for enough can help.

Knowing that you need a similar determination for the viva helps too.

You don’t need to be perfect at your viva. Keep going with the same determination as you showed throughout your PhD journey.

That’s enough.

Nathan

Prepared To Pass

Daily Post

You can be ready to succeed at your viva without being perfect.

You don’t need to have read every paper or considered every idea. You can’t anticipate every question or comment your examiners will have. You don’t need to have done it all. You don’t need perfection.

You need enough. You need to know enough, have done enough and be enough.

You can’t be perfect. You can be prepared.

 

PS: I’m exploring the practicalities of viva prep and lots more at my live 3-hour Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 25th March 2026. Attendees get four-week access to a recording of the session and follow-up materials too. More details at the link – and you can save £10 on registration with code VSMARCH2026 before Sunday 8th February 2026. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Perfectly Impossible

Daily Post

You can’t be perfect for your viva.

You can be prepared.

You can be polished.

You can be practised.

 

Also: you don’t need to be perfect.

You have invested years of work into practical research in your field, into reading and building your knowledge and into writing your thesis. You’re not perfect but you are very good.

Your examiners expect good, not perfect. You can clearly demonstrate by this stage that you are good.

 

PS: if you’re looking for more ideas of what to expect from your examiners and the viva then do take a look at Viva Survivors Select Volume 1, which I released yesterday. This is my complete collection of helpful viva zines from last year: eight issues, 165 posts from the archives and lots of new resources – and with an introductory offer price until 31st January 2026!

Nathan

Responses At The Viva

Daily Post

You don’t need perfect answers at your viva. You don’t need perfect responses.

You need to be prepared to respond well to your examiners but that doesn’t mean that you need to have “prepared responses”. Your examiners want to have a good conversation with you about your work, the process that lead to it and your capability as a researcher.

They don’t want you to read from a script and they don’t expect that you will have practised every possible permutation of question that they might ask.

Read your thesis. Write some summaries. Rehearse a bit.

You don’t need to be perfect. You need to be prepared.

Nathan

Balance

Daily Post

Viva preparation balances between perfectionism and ignorance.

Confidence for the viva balances nervousness and arrogance for meeting your examiners.

In part, getting ready for your viva means taking time to find your balance.

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

You Are Enough

Daily Post

You don’t have to work every hour of every day to prepare for your viva.

You don’t have to be word perfect in your viva to succeed.

You don’t have to be perfect.

You can be you and that’s enough.

Nathan

Practised, Not Perfect

Daily Post

Remember that you don’t need to be perfect to succeed in the viva.

Remember that you will have invested a lot of time, effort and energy into becoming practised at all the things necessary for you to succeed.

You have read, you have written, you have learned, you have developed the skills for a researcher in your field and a lot more.

You’re not perfect. You are practised.

And that’s enough.

Nathan

You Don’t Need To Be Perfect

Daily Post

You don’t need to have done perfect research.

You don’t need to have written the perfect thesis.

You can’t have done every possible task in preparation.

You don’t need to have an answer for everything.

You don’t need to be perfect to succeed in your viva.

Work hard, do your best, find out what to expect, prepare as well as you can.

You don’t need to be perfect: you just need to be you.

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