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Tag: viva confidence

Nathan

The Magic Numbers

Daily Post, Sabbatical

Some numbers are magical for the viva, and some can only cause you to worry.

Don’t think about how long your viva might be. It’s not worth obsessing over how many pages of references you have in your bibliography. And don’t check your word count to try to boost your confidence.

Instead of counting little details or wondering about things you have no control over, focus on how long you’ve been doing the work.

Several years – which can be properly understood as thousands of hours. Consider the time and effort you will have spent in getting ready for the viva itself. Remember the time invested in becoming a better researcher – and your many achievements along the way.

What other magic numbers could help you feel good for your viva?

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on October 27th 2022.

Nathan

Montage

Daily Post, Sabbatical

The greatest training montage ever captured on film is the 3-odd minute training scene in Rocky III. You can check it out here if you’ve never seen it. It’s awesome. If nothing else, add the music to your inspirational playlist.

It shows a process that’s a bit a like preparing for the viva: Rocky’s in great shape but isn’t quite there yet for the competition. After your research is done and your thesis is finished you’re awesome, but you could probably still use some work for the viva. You don’t have to spar, run laps down a sunny beach or build up massive quantities of muscle though.

Read your thesis to remind yourself of everything in there. Answer some unexpected questions from your supervisor or friends. Look for ways to boost your confidence. Make some notes about what’s important. There’s lots you can do to help yourself.

Training montages show someone developing to a peak of excellence. What would be in your viva prep montage? Think about how much time you’ve got, what things you can do, then go do them.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on June 7th 2017.

Nathan

The Formality

Daily Post, Sabbatical

There’s a general expectation that a candidate will pass their viva if they’ve submitted their thesis. The pass rate is so high that reaching that stage is a really good sign that success will follow in due course.

But the viva is not simply like ticking a box on some paperwork, nor is it a simple process in general. Perhaps compared to the scale of the rest of the PhD journey we could say it was “a formality” but only with reference to that great scale!

Expect to succeed – but also expect your examiners to be prepared, to do their jobs, to ask questions and expect you to respond. Do the work that’s needed, following a pattern of work and dedication that you have demonstrated over the course of your PhD and perhaps the viva will feel – with hindsight – like a formality.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on February 19th 2023.

Nathan

Believe It Or Not

Daily Post, Sabbatical

If you believe your examiners will be fair with their questions then you’ll be more likely to try to engage with them, rather than suspect a trap or harsh comment.

If you believe you can get prepared during the submission period then you’ll be more likely to feel ready when the time comes.

If you believe the mostly positive stories about viva experiences that you hear and read then you’re going to act as though your viva will be a mostly positive occasion too.

 

What have you heard about the viva? What do you believe about it? And how does that help you (or not)?

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on September 27th 2023.

Nathan

Enough Is Enough

Daily Post, Sabbatical

What if I hadn’t done enough? What if I needed more results? What if my examiners didn’t see what I saw in my work?

After years of work and months of writing up, as my page count crept towards 200, I started to think that maybe I needed more. A good friend showed me his thesis and it was like a tombstone. I worried until he showed me that the second half of his thesis was appendices of data. Then I worried when he told me that a colleague down the hall had passed her viva with a thesis that was less than sixty pages.

Oh no. What if my writing style is just really waffly and overlong? What if, like my italicised questions, they just go on and on and on and on…

My doubts faded. Of course, it dawned on me, that every thesis is different, naturally. It’s hard to quantify “significant” in the face of the variety of research that people do. There may be broad expectations in your discipline, in terms of style and structure and so on, and it’s worth learning as much as you can about those.

How do you know though? How do you know – or maybe a better word is believe – when you’ve done enough work? When you have enough results? How do you believe?

You have to look at it all. You have to get a sense both from others and yourself that the work you have done matters. You have to reflect on the fact that your thesis may be big or small, have five chapters or nine, and it is just different from everyone elses…

…and like everyone else who has come before, the reason you are here and you are going to pass your viva is because you can’t just be lucky. You can’t just show up and get the right answers or right ideas blindly. You have to be good. You have to do good work. And you have to have done that for a long time.

You have to have enough to be submitting.

You have to have enough to be preparing for the viva.

And that’s what can give you enough confidence that your work matters, you are good, and you will pass.

Enough is enough.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on April 9th 2019.

Nathan

When It Matters

Daily Post, Sabbatical

Before your viva, for weeks or maybe months leading up, it might feel like the only thing that matters.

During your viva, perhaps it really is the only thing. You might forget everything else. You might genuinely be surprised or confused at how quickly time has passed while there.

And afterwards, there might be a brief spell where you think it was the peak. Maybe. But I have a hunch that the achievement will come to dominate more than the event.

I’ve been keeping thoughts of my viva as a little companion for a long time, but that’s because of work. In the twelve years since my viva I’ve done far bigger things. I’ve had much more important life events. I couldn’t be here today without going through my viva, but my viva doesn’t matter that much now.

Not as much as what I did during the course of my PhD, and not as much as what’s come after.

Perspective takes time, but trust me, if you’re finding any part of the time leading up to or around your viva tough, in future you will find some comfort.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on May 7th 2020.

Nathan

Summary & Memory

Daily Post, Sabbatical

Writing a summary of some aspect of your thesis or research before the viva can do a lot of things to help you. It forces you to focus on something, to highlight the best parts or the most difficult sections and can really support you as you fine-tune your thinking.

It’s important to also recognise that creating a summary can help your memory too. It helps embed ideas. You don’t need to memorise your thesis, or a list or a page of notes, or anything like that. Your examiners want to talk to a person and hear their research, their story and what that means. They don’t need you to recite your work to them.

The focus of writing a summary can help boost what you remember for the viva. You know enough and have done enough or you wouldn’t be working towards finishing your PhD. A little more work can help you remember what you need for meeting your examiners.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on July 8th 2023.

Nathan

Let Go

Daily Post, Sabbatical

All the things you didn’t do. All the things you couldn’t do. All the ideas you didn’t follow. All the questions you couldn’t answer. All the opportunities you had to turn down.

You have to let them go when you prepare for the viva.

Whatever they mean, and whatever you might do with them in the future. They might be of interest in some way, or add context to something you could need to talk about. Exploring them might be a small part of your preparations but they can’t be your focus for getting ready.

Focus on what you did. Focus on the ideas you explored. Focus on the questions you answered, the results and conclusions you found. Focus on the opportunities that lead you somewhere.

Focus on who you are, not who you might have been.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on March 12th 2021.

Nathan

Evidence

Daily Post

Confidence follows your actions. If you don’t feel confident ahead of your viva it’s not because you’re lazy. It’s not because you don’t have anything to show for all your work. It’s probably because the length, difficulty and circumstances of your PhD have made it hard to appreciate what you’ve done.

When you go looking you’ll find that the evidence of your capability is everywhere. As soon as you start to see the evidence you’ll feel capable – and in turn you’ll start to build your confidence.

Look at the hundreds of days when you’ve showed up to do the work. Look at the thesis you’ve produced. Think back over the many, many papers you’ve learned from. Remember the meetings, the seminars, the posters, the presentations and maybe the papers you’ve produced too.

None of this simply just happened. All of it exists because of you: your time, your effort, your determination and your willingness to grow and learn.

A PhD is hard for a lot of reasons. When you stop and reflect you’ll see evidence of your talent everywhere. Use that as evidence of your confidence as well. Then go and succeed at your viva.

 

PS: the Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical starts tomorrow! A daily post from the archives all through the summer while I take a creative break after seven years of Viva Survivors 🙂

Nathan

Feeling Ready

Daily Post

If you feel ready for your viva then you probably are!

So ask yourself two questions, just to be sure:

  1. Is there anything else you can do?
  2. Is there anything you might have forgotten to do?

If you can honestly answer no to both of these then the third question is simple: what will you now do to hold on to this feeling of being ready?

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