You Are Here

Tag: viva confidence

Nathan

How I Do This

Daily Post

The most common question people ask me about Viva Survivors is, “How do you write and publish a daily blog?!”

Here’s the short version:

  • I write everything myself: no out-sourcing, no guest-posts. I write posts weeks in advance, not on the day of publication.
  • I’m organised: I have notebooks that capture ideas. I have plans for the coming weeks of what posts are going to be written for which days. I also have a wallchart with lists of topics in case I find myself wondering what to write.
  • I have a general workflow: I try to have at least two weeks of posts ready at all times, in case of illness or problems. I have a pattern for how I work: I draft seven posts on one day, then come back to edit them the next.
  • I have tech and services to support me: Viva Survivors is a WordPress site that is simple and works well. I use Buffer to pre-write tweets to post to my Twitter account.
  • I keep records: I have a big spreadsheet that tracks post titles, dates of publication and word counts. I’ve published every day for nearly four years and seeing the records of this is a big motivator.

A spreadsheet isn’t the only reason I’m motivated to keep going though! Knowing I can help people helps me to write on days when I’m tired, distracted, bored or stressed. Knowing that a few hours later I’ll have a few more posts written gives me a boost.

 

How did you do your research? What methods and processes did you use? What tools or techniques? What and who supported you?

The how isn’t always as fun to explore as motivations or outcomes – the why and the what – but how you did your research will come up in your viva. Reflect on the how of your research in the weeks leading up to your viva and you’ll be prepared to explore it with your examiners.

Nathan

A Little Pride

Daily Post

Not arrogance, but just a glow from knowing you’ve done something well. Something to talk about, something to celebrate. Where do you find that in your PhD?

Explore how you could share that with others. Ask friends to listen to you talk about the best of your research. Your examiners won’t be expecting you to have monologues ready to reel off in your viva, but the more comfortable you can become talking about your work, the more confident you’ll be when you need to engage with them in the viva.

What are you a little proud of?

Nathan

What’s Going To Stop You?

Daily Post

Nothing. Nothing is going to stop you now your viva is in sight.

You were good when you started your PhD, and have invested work and time into getting better. You’re good enough now.

You started with ideas and questions, and even if you don’t have full answers now, you know more and know enough now for your thesis and the PhD.

You’re reading this post, so whatever happened to you throughout 2020 and up to today – whenever you’re reading this – you endured. You worked around hardship, overcame challenges and more, whether it was fair or not.

You can make it through your viva now too.

You have got this far.

You did this.

Keep going.

Nathan

Save Points

Daily Post

Video games have been a big part of my pandemic coping strategies. Interactive stories, complex challenges, puzzle solving and sometimes great big emotional experiences to distract me from the background of life right now.

Save points have featured a lot too: either specific locations within a game where I have to pause and record my progress or a menu option that takes me out of the moment so I can make sure my journey through the game’s experience is recorded.

Save points are useful in viva prep too for keeping you on target. Rather than simply record your state for the next time, a prep save point could act as a very quick review – a growing record to look at and know that you are getting closer to being ready.

Any time that you take time to get ready, as you finish, just ask yourself:

  • How long did I invest in my future success?
  • What did I do?
  • How did it help?
  • What could I do to keep building on this progress?
  • What will I do when I next do some viva prep?

Each time you finish some prep task respond to these, quickly, a few words or sentences for each. Two minutes to capture something that helps prove to yourself that you are getting ready.

You are getting closer to that big achievement of passing your viva.

Nathan

Nerves In Perspective

Daily Post

PhD candidates are generally nervous about the viva. In my experience, most will feel a portion of nervousness at some point before they meet their examiners. Some will continue to feel it during their viva too.

I don’t know that a person can ever completely overcome a feeling of nervousness, but I’m convinced that they could learn to put them into perspective:

  • The viva is important, so it’s natural to be nervous about it.
  • You may be nervous about it, but it’s only going to be for a few hours. Then it’s done.
  • Most people pass – and pass well – so however nervous you feel, the outcome is most likely going to be good.

Nervousness isn’t always rational. You can feel nervous and be confident for success at the same time. Try to focus on what you need to do, so that you can do well.

For the viva particularly, remember that those nervous few hours come after thousands of hours of work on your part. Remember that, and those thousands of hours might help you see that those few hours in the viva are going to be fine.

Nathan

And Now…

Daily Post

…you’re ready to face one more challenge: your viva!

Wait, I skipped ahead! Go back to the beginning…

 

You got onto a PhD programme because you were good enough. Your story before then, your successes, your challenges, your grades and skills, they convinced your institution you could do a PhD.

You worked through to submission because you were good enough. It won’t have been easy. You’ll have had success but also lots of challenges. Some days and weeks will have been joyous, but perhaps some months will have felt awful. In the end though, you did it. You did your research, you wrote your thesis and submitted it. One more milestone reached.

You prepared for your viva by building on what you did. You highlighted the important stuff, reflected on how you did it and got ready to talk to your examiners. You’re good enough. You really are!

You’re good enough, and now you’re ready to face one more challenge: your viva!

 

Now, right at the end, it’s worth reflecting on the journey that’s got you this far.

Nathan

Webinar: 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva

Update

A little webinar update!

I’m running my 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva session next Monday, 8th February 2021. It’s a 1-hour webinar all about why you can feel confident for your viva, exploring some of the things you can do to be ready, as well as giving space for you to ask any questions you have about the process.

I’ve run it many times since I developed it last spring, during the first UK lockdown, and it’s a real thrill to be able to offer it again. I’ve heard from people how valuable it’s been for them as they come to the conclusion of their PhD journey and am so happy I have the space to continue to offer this support. In a strange, weird and sometimes-awful time, 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva is one of the things I’m happiest I’ve been able to do in the last year.

Registration is open now, and there’s an earlybird discount for anyone who books before midnight tomorrow. If your viva is sometime this year then I think this session will really help you. Take a look at the session details here – if you have any questions, simply get in touch via email or Twitter.

I hope to see you at 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva next week! 🙂

 

PS: I have more sessions coming up in the next few months! Check out what’s coming soon at this hub page.

Nathan

Confidence From Your Supervisors

Daily Post

Feedback and praise can help build confidence. Your supervisors could be the best people to boost you before your viva. You have to pick your questions to be as helpful to you as possible.

Don’t ask them how you could be better. Don’t ask them about how your work could be improved. Don’t ask them to critique your thesis.

Ask them to describe your qualities and talents. Ask them to describe your successes. Ask them why these things matter.

Ask them questions that are more likely to build you up, rather than give you more to obsess over. There’s a time and a place for constructive criticism. I don’t think that time or place is the weeks leading up to your viva.

Nathan

On The Clock

Daily Post

Checking the time while you’re in the viva won’t help.

Most vivas, based on all the conversations I’ve had over the last decade, seem to be in the two- to three-hour range. That knowledge can help you to prepare a little, think about how rested you need to be and what you might need to be ready to talk for that long. But it won’t help you in the viva to look at a clock and know that an hour has passed.

There’s no correlation between viva length and outcome. Looking at the time will only make you wonder. “How am I doing?” or “Two hours already?!” or “This is going fast… Is that good?!”

Have an idea about how long the viva could be to help you prepare. Turn your mind away from time when you’re in there. Pause, take time to think and respond. Don’t rush, don’t worry.

It will probably be over sooner than you think, and only take as long as it needs to. You are going to be fine however long it is.

Nathan

Rose-tinted Reflections

Daily Post

I have fond memories of my PhD, but also a background feeling that it could have been so much more than it was.

I could have been more pro-active; I realised quite late that I could set my own directions and goals. I could have achieved more. I spent a long time following dead ends and trying to force ideas and results to work, without stopping to see what the real underlying problems were with my research.

Maybe I could have worked better had I realised what my own underlying problems were.

Like me, you’re not perfect. Your research and thesis won’t be perfect. But focussing on the imperfections in advance of your viva probably won’t help you to get ready. Instead, acknowledge the things that could be better, make a note of anything that might need special attention and then start your prep centred on the things that you do well.

Start with your successes, your results, your talent, and use that to build on. Not everything can be amazing when you look back on your PhD, but hopefully there’s enough there to help you feel good for your viva.

1 … 51 52 53 54 55 … 70