You Are Enough
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.
Tag: viva confidence
Warming Up
How will you warm up on the day of your viva? You might not need to perform vocal exercises or physically stretch, but you could:
- Read through a summary of your thesis one more time.
- Check that you have everything packed in your bag.
- Select a special outfit to wear.
- Rehearse using your computer and software if you have a video viva.
- Chat with your supervisor if there’s one more point to be sure of.
- Write something to get any thoughts or feelings out of your head.
Or you could simply sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and wait for the right time to arrive.
Daily Confidence
I worry about my viva every day…
These were the first words I saw in the chat window during a viva help webinar when I asked for questions. In a few short sentences the person described how they couldn’t help it: they felt nervous and worried every day when they thought about their upcoming viva.
There are useful big picture things that could help – learning about what to expect, preparing for the viva, talking to friends – but nervousness for the viva can persist regardless.
Feeling nervous is not always an easy thing to switch off, but building confidence can help; confidence doesn’t eliminate nervousness, but it does help to put it into perspective.
The person in my webinar worried every day. I wonder what might happen if they did something for their confidence every day?
What would happen if you did something every day for your confidence? For example, you could:
- Reflect on the contribution in your thesis.
- Bookmark a page in your thesis that you’re proud of.
- Create a playlist of music that helps you to feel confident.
- Tell someone about your research.
- Make a list of successes from your PhD.
Worrying and feeling nervous are perfectly human responses to big, important events. They can become habitual though, a recurring issue to be dealt with. Rather than wait for them to arrive, invest in a daily practice to build your confidence.
A Key Expectation
It occurred to me recently that a key expectation for the viva, very rarely expressed, is that the candidate will not know what questions they will be asked until they get there.
There are helpful lists of potential questions on the internet. You might suspect or guess some topics. You have your thesis and know that everything you’ve done will be a possible area for discussion. And you can get some ideas of what to expect from your supervisors, your colleagues and the stories that people generally tell about the viva.
But you won’t know.
That’s not a cause for panic or concern, and it doesn’t mean that you can’t be prepared to respond to a question. Rehearse for the viva, place yourself in situations where you have to engage to build your comfort and competence for doing it again in the future.
You don’t need to be prepared to respond to particular questions; you can be ready to engage with whatever question is asked in the viva.
You won’t know what you will be asked at your viva until you get there, but you can still know that you will succeed.
Three Mugs Of Tea
On any week day, before work really begins, I need to have had three mugs of tea. There’s nothing super fancy about the tea I drink. It’s not a special blend, made in an ornate pot or served with a wedge of lemon. I just need three mugs to give me enough caffeine and comfort to get to work.
Three will mean I can get to work writing or presenting, thinking or editing. Three mugs will probably get me through the morning. I drink water too, but the tea is the fuel that nudges me to get going.
Could I do the work I need without it? Probably, at least to some extent. It might take longer or I might feel more tired by the end, but I could probably get things done. But it’s a relatively simple need to meet, in order to work well.
With that in mind, what do you need on the day of your viva? What will help you to work at your best?
By the day of your viva you will have finished your research, submitted your thesis and prepared for the day itself. So what simple things could help you feel either more confident or more comfortable for your viva?
Figure out what you need. Make sure you meet those needs. Feel better for your viva.
No Need For Luck
You have to have a lot for your viva.
You need some research, developed over several years or more.
You need a thesis, written to an appropriate standard.
You need one or more supervisors to help along the way.
You need a little time to get ready before the viva, doing the right things to help you be prepared.
You need to be a good candidate – someone who has done the work, improved through the effort and success – someone ready to engage with their examiners’ questions.
If these are the things you need to satisfy for the viva then you don’t need luck.
Three, Two, One
Three or more years of research and writing.
Two to four weeks of preparation time.
One day with a challenge.
Put the viva in the right perspective.
Finding Reasons
If before your viva you feel an abundance of nervousness, then you have to look a little and find reasons to feel confident. Confidence doesn’t eliminate nerves, but it does help to put those sorts of feelings into perspective. Nervousness recognises that something is important – confidence gives you the self-belief to know that things will be alright.
Look and find reasons. They could be reminding yourself of all the work you’ve done. They could be bound up in realising just how talented you are. Or you could focus on the process of the viva, what you need to do – what you can do – and what that means for you engaging with that process.
There are plenty of reasons to feel nervous about your viva. There are even more reasons to feel confident of success at your viva. Find them.
Candidate & Thesis
You need both candidate and thesis to be good for a PhD. Your examiners need to ask you – the candidate – about both in the viva.
What’s your thesis’ contribution? How did you do it? And what can you do well?
They’re looking for clear confirmation that your thesis has a significant, original contribution, that you did the work and that you’re a good researcher.
If that sounds like a lot, remember:
No candidate, no thesis.
No thesis, no candidate.
The Magic Numbers
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?