You Are Here

Tag: viva confidence

Nathan

Whatever Works

Daily Post

A cup of coffee. Your favourite socks. A smart suit. A playlist of great music. A hug.

Well wishes and good luck. Prayer. A stack of notes. A well-edited thesis. A lot of chats with your supervisors.

A placebo. A ritual. A priming thought. A small stuffed toy. A tiny paperweight.

Within reason, do whatever works to help you be ready for your viva. Practical preparations matter, but there’s a space for anything and everything that helps you feel better, happier and more confident that you can rise to the challenges of your viva.

Do what you need to so that you can feel sure it will all be OK.

 

PS: one thing that will definitely help how you feel about your viva is finding out what to expect. There are a lot of sources of helpful information – including The Expectations Issue, the latest curated collection of Viva Survivors help! Check out the link for more details.

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

Viva Help Webinars

Event, Update

In brief: A second post for this morning because I have two upcoming dates for my 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva session. As a reader of this blog I thought you might want to know. Use the code DAILYBLOGFAN before Sunday to get a discount on your ticket.

 

If you’re looking for viva help then look no further than the 3000+ posts on this blog.

Look to see what resources and help your university or PhD programme offer.

And then look at what past attendees say about 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva:

  • “Thanks, really helpful session that’s helped me feel confident about the viva!” – University of Edinburgh PhD candidate
  • “Thank you so much this was very helpful – I have my viva on Monday and feeling a bit more confident now :)” – Liverpool John Moores University PhD candidate
  • “Thank you for such an engaging and helpful session!” – University of Liverpool PhD candidate

 

I describe 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva as a 1-hour confidence boost. I explore why candidates can know what to expect, how that helps them and what they can do to help themselves. When you register you also get access to a four-week catch-up recording of the session and after the session you’ll receive a pdf copy of 101 Steps To A Great Viva guide.

I’m running the session live on Wednesday 24th September 2025 (and Thursday 30th October 2025 October date is cancelled) and registration is open now. Registration is £20 and between now and Sunday 7th September 2025 you can get a discount if you use code DAILYBLOGFAN when prompted.

 

If 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva seems helpful to you or someone you know then check it out. Feel free to share details and the code DAILYBLOGFAN. Please get in touch if you have questions or if you need any help with your viva prep.

And if you’re looking for my Viva Survivor session then keep the morning of Wednesday 3rd December 2025 free in your diary and look out for more details and registration in October.

Thank you for reading!

Nathan

Nathan

Your Theme Tune

Daily Post

One of my favourite conversations I’ve had with a PhD graduate was someone who told me that they made a playlist for their viva day. The day before they arranged five tracks to help them feel good – the ultimate goal being to give them a confidence boost.

Following that conversation I experimented with using music to prime myself. I now have a pre-webinar playlist that helps lift me up. I’ve been using it for years. I have positive associations with the playlist now; I know that I can listen to it in the hour before a webinar and it will help me be more myself, more confident, more capable.

 

What music would you choose to listen to before your viva?

If five pieces or tracks is too many to think of, how about one? What would your theme tune be for your viva? What would be your intro music? What music could hype you up?

I’m assuming that you’ve done all the necessary work for your PhD and done your viva prep of course! It takes more than a piece of music to get ready, but if listening to music could help you feel better wouldn’t you do it?

What other small things could you do?

 

PS: here’s the music I would most likely pick for myself (YouTube link)

PPS: and here are some past posts from Viva Survivors that are music-related!

Nathan

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Daily Post

Looking back is part of getting ready. You need to review and reflect on what you’ve done, why you did it and how you got here.

Looking ahead is part of getting ready. You need to know what to expect, what examiners look for and consequently think about how you will meet the needs of the viva.

You might need to focus on one more than the other for your personal viva preparations, but you need both in order to be ready for your viva.

Look back. Look ahead. Recognise how you got this far and what you still need to be ready.

Nathan

Three Prompts

Daily Post

Take ten minutes to complete the following sentences. Write them out in full for yourself:

  1. When I started my PhD I didn’t know…
  2. One thing I did that I am proud of…
  3. I am confident that…

Sometimes questions, particularly questions about what we did or how we grew, can allow us to be humble or to evade or to get stuck on how things weren’t quite as we wanted.

Prompts are more direct.

“How did you do this?” gives room for you to talk around things.

“I did this…” is finishing a thought.

The three prompts above encourage reflection on your development, progress and ability. What other prompts might help you dig into your PhD success?

Nathan

Talent, Work and Time

Daily Post

Success at the viva takes talent, work and time.

Talent means that you’re capable. As you get closer to submission and the viva take time to reflect on what you know, what you can do and how you think. Be sure of how you developed.

Work means you applied yourself. Reflect on what you did. Explore the practical elements of your research, the choices you made and the outcomes of your research.

Time means that it didn’t happen overnight. Remember the time to understand the real effort you’ve committed.

A PhD journey is busy. It’s long. It’s easy to forget or be distracted.

As you get closer to your viva date reflect on the talent you’ve built, the work you did and the time it took. Remind yourself that you’re the reason you have come so far.

Nathan

Now & Then

Daily Post

A lot can happen during the work of a PhD journey.

You might face challenges that seemed too big to overcome. You could have realised after weeks of work that you were at a dead end and would need to start again. You could make mistakes, fail or need a break to get your thoughts together.

 

That was then.

Now you know more. Now you know better.

Now you’re not perfect! But you are good.

You have learned a lot and done a lot. You might still feel some of the things that you felt during your PhD like a lack of confidence or a lack of capability.

It might not be simple, but try to remember that there is a big difference between now and then.

In a very real sense you are where you are now because of what you did then.

Nathan

Brains, Heart, Courage

Daily Post

It’s not the first time I’ve written a post inspired by The Wizard of Oz…

Remember that Dorothy and her friends already had what they needed.

The Wizard tells them he can help if they do something for him. The Scarecrow will have his brains, the Tin Man a heart, the Lion will have courage and Dorothy will find a way home – but only if they face the Wicked Witch.

They already had everything they were looking for though, they just felt that they didn’t. They felt lacking or had the wrong impression of what something meant. Perhaps the Wizard could have told them but would they have believed unless they had been given the opportunity?

 

Brains, heart and courage are all needed for the viva. By the time you get to submission you have all three but like Dorothy’s companions you might not feel that way.

The thing that you might be missing is confidence. Impostor syndrome or doubts could make you think you don’t know enough, you’re not strong enough or even that you’re too worried. Confidence can help and confidence is something that you can find.

You don’t need to face a Wicked Witch to find it! And you don’t need to face a Wicked Witch at your viva to succeed.

Continue to exercise your brains. Do the work and listen to what your heart (or your feelings!) are telling you. Have courage to face the things that seem like problems. When you do, then you’ll find confidence for your viva.

Nathan

3 Out Of 3000

Daily Post

If my records are correct then today is the 3000th Viva Survivors daily blog post!

As it’s special I decided to do something a little different. I’ve taken a little time to look for three helpful posts. Each of these has a generally good and helpful reminder for the viva; rather than only link to them I’ve presented them in full.

 

The Magic Numbers (from October 2022)

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?

 

Trust (from April 2018)

Trust that the process is fair and tested.

Trust your supervisors to have helped you well over the years.

Trust the work you put into your thesis.

Trust your examiners to be excellent and treat you with respect.

Trust yourself.

You have the knowledge and the talent to succeed in the viva or you wouldn’t have got this far.

 

A Part Of You (from March 2025)

Yes, your viva matters. Yes, you need to pass.

But it is only one thing in your life.

  • Read your thesis – but make time for rest.
  • Create summaries – but create space to do other things as well.
  • Have a mock viva with your supervisor – and have a good catch up with a friend.

The viva, your thesis and your research all matter.

You matter more. Take care of yourself.

 

These three posts were written during very different periods since the blog’s beginning. They’re all about different things on the surface but there’s a common thread underneath: a general and gentle encouragement, a belief that with the right support and ideas any PhD candidate can do what they need to do and succeed at the viva.

The 3000 posts on this blog are very different in general. I have some very short posts and some very long ones; I have lists and questions, reflections on the PhD journey in general and stories from my own life. I’ve written haiku and fiction and adapted classic Christmas poems!

And all through the 3000 posts is my encouragement, more than anything: keep going.

If you’re working towards your viva you have not got this far through luck. This is no accident, happy or otherwise: this is your talent, your work, developed over a long period of time. Keep going.

That’s my plan. Onwards and upwards for the next 1000.

 

PS: as this blog keeps developing I have produced other resources too! The latest is the fifth issue of Viva Survivors Select: The Sparks Issue was released yesterday and is available at my Payhip store along with the previous issues and other resources. There is a lot of freely  available help on this site but if you’re looking for more then please take a look at Viva Survivors Select! Thanks for reading.

1 2 3 4 … 70