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Tag: viva confidence

Nathan

Maybe & Definitely

Daily Post

Maybe you didn’t get all of the results you were hoping for.

Maybe writing your thesis was harder than you expected.

Maybe your external examiner isn’t the person you would have picked.

Maybe there’s something tricky in your third chapter that you find hard to remember.

And, who knows, maybe your viva will be longer than you would like.

 

Definitely: You did the work. There are regulations and expectations that create a knowable viva process. You can take time to prepare in a way that helps you. Your examiners will be known well in advance of your viva. You have time to get ready.

 

Every viva has maybes. Whatever maybes you can think of for yours, these are more than covered by the things that you will know and can do definitely.

Nathan

The Confidence Formula

Daily Post

As a former pure mathematician I suppose it was only a matter of time before I started thinking about confidence as a formula. I’m not saying that this is the final work on the topic, but here’s what I have so far:

Confidence = Hard Work x Good Fortune x Self-Reflection

Of-course, this is a simplification, but hopefully a useful one! It’s more accurate to say that confidence is a function of three variables (hard work, good fortune, self-reflection) but this simplification is enough to get the point across.

Real confidence in something is earned, so needs hard work. Good fortune amplifies hard work. Self-reflection builds things further when you realise the impact of your work.

We could try to unpick this more, maybe add terms involving deliberate practice or other confidence-building activities but the above expression is probably enough to get started.

The more important thing to consider is: if you have your viva in the near future, how does this formula help?

By now you’ve done the hard work, save for a little viva prep. You’ve had all the good fortune and success you can. So the thing that can make a difference now is self-reflection: looking back over your work, what happened, what that means and exploring the real difference in yourself since you began your PhD.

Hard work, good fortune and self-reflection can take you a long way towards the amount of confidence you need for your viva – and for life in general.

 

PS: I’ll be exploring this topic and many more at Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Wednesday 25th June. I’m regularly invited to deliver this session to PhD candidates all around the UK, but this is only the third time I’ve opened up registration. A 3-hour live webinar, catch-up recording and follow-up materials all about the viva, viva prep and getting ready. Do take a look and see if it might be for you! 

Nathan

Ticks

Daily Post

Every few months I make myself a simple desk calendar. One page of A4 in my notebook, week-by-week, each day lined out in pencil, dates in the top right corners and a small space to capture any work or life commitments. At a glance I can see what’s coming up and that helps.

What helps me more is that I tick off each day when it is done: whether I’m working a lot that day or a little, or even if it’s a non-work day and I’m with family, I tick the day off. I did it.

It’s been a very helpful practice in recent years to help as a reminder: you’re doing it.

I have to-do lists of course, both big and small, long term and short term, but the ticks on my calendar help a lot. When I’ve finished with a daily or weekly to-do list I review it and recycle it. I keep my calendar because they’re evidence for me. They remind me that I showed up and did something.

All of which is a long pre-amble to encourage you to do the same, at least as you work through your viva prep. A regular to-do list might be helpful, but reminding yourself of that bigger picture – “I showed up and did the work” – is a simple and direct boost for viva confidence.

Nathan

The Next Time

Daily Post

Frame your viva as the next challenge of your PhD.

It might even be the last challenge of your PhD. It’s certainly not the first. You’ve overcome many others to get this far.

Remind yourself of the challenges that you’ve passed. What made them difficult? What did you do to get past them? Exploring a difficult situation might initially remind you of stress but steer yourself to focus on the positives: look for evidence of your talent and effort to help drive a growing confidence.

While your viva could be last challenge of your PhD it won’t be your last challenge ever. As you finish your PhD journey consider what you’re taking with you. What can you apply from your PhD to all of your future challenges? How much better will you be for this process?

 

PS: if you’re looking for help as you get ready for this challenge then check out Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Wednesday 25th June. I have delivered this session to PhD candidates all around the UK at the request of doctoral colleges, but this is only the third time I’ve opened up registration. Viva Survivor is a 3-hour live webinar, you receive a catch-up recording and follow-up materials all about the viva, viva prep and getting ready. Do take a look and see if it could help you! 

Nathan

Hoping

Daily Post

Hope is a good thing but we typically apply it to situations where our actions have little or no leverage. It’s probably not good to apply it to how we think about viva prep, building confidence or viva success.

Instead:

  • What can you do to prepare? What will you do to get ready?
  • What can you do to feel better? What steps will you take to boost your confidence?
  • What have you done already to show you’ve done something worthwhile? What can you do with the time remaining before your viva to feel sure of success?

You don’t need to hope. You don’t need to wish for good luck.

Recognise you’ve done the work. Recognise that there is still work you can do.

Nathan

The Friction

Daily Post

Reflect on your PhD journey and think about any times that you felt friction in your research. Friction always tells you that there was something interesting:

  • Friction could mean that you had slow progress because you needed to learn more. So what did you learn?
  • Friction could mean that the situation was particularly challenging. Why?
  • Friction could mean that something went wrong. What was it and could you overcome it?

Friction could also show that something just wasn’t working. Perhaps you needed to make a change. Perhaps you needed a different perspective.

Whatever the reason, if you find periods of your PhD where you’ve experienced friction then you’ve probably found something to reflect on ahead of your viva. There’s always something interesting to consider.

 

PS: if you’re looking for something else that’s interesting to consider, then take a look at the new issue of Viva Survivors Select. This is the second publication in my monthly pdf zine sharing a curated collection from the Viva Survivors archive. Take a look at The Uncertainty Issue for advice, practical suggestions and reflections to help with many concerning areas about the viva.

Nathan

Timescales

Daily Post

It might take you seconds to respond to a question in the viva.

It could take you minutes in preparation to review the point of a particular reference.

It will take several hours to engage with a mock viva – and several more to work through your actual viva.

By submission it has taken hundreds and hundreds of days to make something that matters for your thesis.

 

Across thousands of hours you become a more capable researcher. Over the course of months you complete your thesis. In the space of weeks you prepare for your viva. In a matter of hours you convince your examiners that you are enough and have done enough.

All of these are made up of moments – many, many moments – where you put yourself forward and where you do something that makes a difference.

 

PS: in case you missed it yesterday, the second issue of Viva Survivors Select is out now! This is my new monthly pdf zine sharing a curated collection from the Viva Survivors archive. Take a look at The Uncertainty Issue for advice, practical suggestions and reflections to help with the many concerning areas about the viva.

Nathan

Viva Survivors Select 02

Update

It’s really lovely to announce the second issue of Viva Survivors Select!

The Uncertainty Issue is the second curated collection taken from the Viva Survivors daily blog archives. I’m really happy to be working on this new ongoing project. I hope that it might be a great resource for candidates who need some really considered viva support.

Background: a wooden tabletop has a series of dominoes in the shape of a question mark. The dominoes are captured mid-fall. Foreground, two text-boxes, middle and bottom. Middle: "Viva Survivors Select 02, The Uncertainty Issue, May 2025" Bottom: "Nathan Ryder"

In this second issue I wanted to explore where the most frequently asked questions about the viva come from. As someone who has been supporting PhD candidates with their viva for fifteen years now, it’s my belief that a lot of questions and worries stem from the uncertainty about the viva – whether that’s real or only perceived by the candidate.

So The Uncertainty Issue collects twenty posts to help with common concerns: practical advice, encouragement and reflections to support getting ready despite uncertainty.

I like the post on the page below, which was originally published on the blog in January 2019. People often ask about what to wear out of a desire to fit in I think, but really it’s an opportunity to boost one’s confidence.

Page 7 of Viva Survivors Select 02; top half of the page has the text of a blog post entitled "What To Wear". Lower half has a black and white line drawing of a figure in armour.

Plus I really like that piece of art I found on the public domain image site Pixabay! You’ll find nineteen more posts, more fun public domain art and two new pages of original writing in Viva Survivors Select 02.

If you like the blog, want more help and want to support what I do then please take a look and consider buying The Uncertainty Issue – you might also want to take a look at last month’s issue too!

Thank you for reading, do pass this on to anyone who you think will find Viva Survivors Select 02 helpful – and look out for news about Viva Survivors Select 03, coming in mid-June! I’m already hard at work and there’s a sneak peek on the back cover of this month’s issue.

Nathan

What Will You Do?

Daily Post

Hypothetical situations can be inherently stressful. We don’t like to think about them because we know that they’re not real right now – but know that they could be.

For example:

  • What will you do if you don’t get all of the results you are hoping for?
  • What will you do if you find a problem in your thesis after submission?
  • What will you do if you feel short on time and your viva is very soon?
  • What will you do if you’re in the viva and your examiner asks a question that feels instantly tough?

Whenever you’re faced with a situation like one of these you might feel overwhelmed or worried or confused. That’s a typical human response to a potentially stressful situation.

Whatever you feel you then have to decide: what will you do?

In some ways, the real point is that you can decide. You feel whatever you feel and then you can do something. You can choose in a moment of stress and uncertainty just as you have through all of the other moments of your PhD journey.

You can do something. There is always something you can do.

Nathan

Viva Survivor, June 25th 2025

Event, Update

Every day I share helpful thoughts through the Viva Survivors blog.

There’s a lot of help in the archives but it could take a long time to put together a full picture of what to expect and what to do by reading the last 2900 posts!

If you want a good idea of what to expect, what to do, how to get ready and how to build confidence then take a look at my upcoming Viva Survivor session on Wednesday 25th June 2025. For three hours I’ll be sharing what vivas are really like, what effective viva preparation can look like and how someone can engage well with their examiners.

For three hours on Zoom you’ll get direct help from me through a live session that I have shared with over 8000 PhD candidates. I have a full plan, plenty of time to take questions from attendees, great follow-up resources and a catch-up recording in case anyone can’t stay for the whole time. I love sharing this session – so much so that I’ve delivered it over 400 times for universities and doctoral training groups all over the UK!

“The session last week was so, so helpful. I really appreciated the practical guidance, which made so much sense and feels do-able and will help my confidence going into the viva. It helped that your manner in the training was calm, clear, concise, and full of empathy and understanding.” – UCLAN PhD Candidate, December 2024

I hope that you’ll take a look at the registration page if you are looking for viva help. There are more details there of what to expect from the session. If you have any questions please get in touch – and do please pass on information of the session to anyone who might be looking for viva help.

One last time: Viva Survivor session on Wednesday 25th June 2025!

Thanks for reading 🙂

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