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Tag: viva confidence

Nathan

Taking Stock

Daily Post

Today is the last day of the tax year in the UK, and time for me to take stock of things. I’m asking myself questions like:

How much came in? How much went out? How many invoices? Do I have all my receipts?

I need to answer these in order to fill out my tax return. But there are other questions I need to prompt myself with:

How many seminars did I deliver? To how many people? At how many universities?

I need to earn money, but I want to serve others. So it helps me to look into those details too and take stock. Nevermind the number of words I write here too! And there are still more questions I need to ask, because there are other important aspects of my life too:

How many hours did I work? When did I take breaks? When did I work overtime? When did I have proper holidays?

There are many, many more questions I could ask, which would take this little life and business and put it under the microscope. The answers would be useful for some people (including me) and interpreting those could help prompt future action (thinking about holiday times or working hours in the past can influence or change practices in the future, for example).

Taking stock is important. It’s essential before the viva.

You’ve asked a lot of questions to get you to where you are. Now, more questions are needed.

Some will come from your examiners, and you can prepare for them even if you can’t know what they will be necessarily. You can get practised through a mock viva or seminar, building your confidence for meeting them. You can ask yourself more questions to explore your research from new perspectives.

What have you done? How did you get here? What matters more?

You could use many questions to unpick and explore your research. Start with some big ones. Find a way to capture your thoughts rather than simply losing them to abstraction. And maybe share them with others to find opportunities to explore them more deeply.

Nathan

The Most Helpful Question

Daily Post

Why?

If you don’t know something in the viva, ask yourself “Why?”

If you feel stuck during your prep, “Why?”

If your supervisor makes a suggestion and you’re not sure about it, ask them “Why?”

Or if your external says they’re not convinced by something in your thesis, ask them “Why?”

(politely, of course!)

The single most helpful question to have on the tip of your tongue, for reflections, for preparation, for meetings, for discussions and in the viva is “Why?” It opens things up, prompts, allows for exploration and probes to the heart of everything. It may not always lead to “the answer” but always generates a response.

Keep it in mind for your submission, preparation and the viva.

Nathan

Check Your Story

Daily Post

Essential on April Fool’s Day, and equally important if your viva is coming up.

Think about the story you tell yourself (and others) about your research journey. How did you get where you are?

I was lucky…

…it just sort of happened…

…I happened to notice…

…I just worked at it…

Little word choices can become focal points of the story.

“I just worked at it,” doesn’t do justice to your story. You worked and you worked and you worked at it. You kept going. You learned, you developed. You didn’t simply notice something, you saw it because you were looking. Things don’t just happen, you created opportunities.

Check your story: make sure the words you use are true, of course, but tell the best version of the story that you can. One that others will listen to with interest, and one that will also help you feel you’re ready for your viva.

Nathan

Viva Survivors: Getting Creative

Update

The last two weeks have been almost the definition of interesting times. Lots of changes in a short period. I feel some days like my head is swimming with the adjustment. I hope wherever you are, you’re keeping well.

I’ve seen some lovely, generous offerings from the global academic community on Twitter, and while I was frantically changing my work patterns and materials for online delivery, I was wondering what I could share to help…

I’m starting with Viva Survivors: Getting Creative – a free 1-hour session on creative and fun viva prep that I’ll be running over Zoom on Wednesday 8th April 2020. If you’re looking to kickstart your viva prep with a smile, or you don’t know how to start, or you feel blocked because of everything going on, this session is for you. In 1 hour we’ll cover the basics of viva prep, what it’s really for, and five creative responses. If you have questions about the viva or prep, this is a chance to get some answers too.

Full details are at the link and places are limited to sixty attendees. The session is free, but if you want to attend I’d encourage you to register soon. I hope to offer this or something like it again, but don’t have firm plans for future sessions at the moment. Ping me on Twitter or drop me an email if you have a question.

Stay well and safe, and take a look at Viva Survivors: Getting Creative!

Keep going.

Nathan

Nathan

Confidence Follows Your Actions

Daily Post

You can do more than hope you are ready for your viva.

Look back across everything you’ve done. How have your actions built up your research, your knowledge, your talent? To get to submission and then the viva you must necessarily be good at what you do. Look for the actions that have built you up. See how you can find confidence within your past actions.

Look at the place you are in now. If you need reminding of your talent or you need to do something to boost how you’re feeling, then take action. What helps you to feel confident? What puts you in that state of being? If you have no idea then ask others what they do!

Confidence follows your actions.

Nathan

The Verdict

Daily Post

After my viva, after a short break in my office, my internal examiner came to collect me by saying, “Nathan, it’s time for your sentence,” as if I was a man in court on my way to see the judge.

He meant it as a joke, but it didn’t feel like a joke for a moment or two!

You can’t pick what words others might use to describe your viva. Maybe you prefer the result. The outcome? The verdict? The level of corrections? The ending?

You can’t pick what words others use, but you can help yourself by choosing yours. What words are helping you (or not) when you think about your viva?

Lying to yourself won’t help, but you can choose to think of passes and outcomes rather than corrections and verdicts.

And sentences!

Nathan

Exploring Prep Ideas

Daily Post

The final flourishes that complete a piece of art. Shining your shoes before an interview. Proofreading and checking one last time.

All of these sorts of things can only make little differences, because the big difference has already been made (you’ve painted something, been accepted for interview, written something).

Viva preparation is the little differences you make to get ready; responses to things you see as gaps or absences in your readyness.

Make a list of the gaps, then explore each and think about what you could do. Why-How-What makes a nice structure for this exploration:

  • Why is this a problem?
  • How might you address it?
  • What will you do?

Explore what stands out to you as possible areas or tasks for viva preparation. Prioritise them if you’re busy: do the things that will have the biggest impact. Remember that this preparation is building on something that’s already pretty accomplished.

Nathan

The Pieces of the Viva Puzzle

Daily Post

There’s a lot of things wrapped up in the idea of a viva. It’s uncertain sometimes, what to do, how to be, what do you need, what do you have… Keeping track of all of the parts can feel hard.

Maybe it’s like a 1000-piece jigsaw without a picture to guide you. Hard, but not impossible. A challenge, but there are methods for solving the problem: find the corners, find the edges, group colours, start building it up, and so on.

With uncertainty you can’t always have step-by-step instructions, but you can have a method that moves you forward.

Remember: you’re already moving when your viva comes around. This isn’t the beginning, it’s the next step. So where are you? How did you get here? What could you do that would take you closer to ready? And what are you going to do next?

What are the final pieces for your viva puzzle?

Nathan

Build Your Own Resources

Daily Post

Whenever I commit the time to make a resource, I’ve chosen to make something as broadly useful as possible. The tiny book of viva prep is designed to be useful to everyone. The list of thesis examination regulations took time to do because I was trying to find all of the regulations.

I hope PhD candidates find my resources useful. As part of your viva prep I strongly encourage you to make your own too. Write summaries of key chapters of your thesis. Create a list of key references in your bibliography. Annotate your thesis pages to make them even more useful. Write lists of key questions you’d like to ask your examiners if you had the opportunity.

There’s a place for lots of useful viva prep resources: broad resources to start the process, and highly focussed ones just for you. There are plenty of people, me included, who can help with the generally helpful pieces. Only you can create the specific ones to help you get to and through the viva.

Remember the resources you build now are built on years of work too: you’ve created a lot of resources to get this far.

Nathan

Power Ups For The Viva

Daily Post

The following is by no means an exhaustive list of power ups for the viva!

  • Wearing the right outfit for you.
  • Having a mock viva.
  • Two cups of coffee.
  • Re-reading your methods chapter.
  • The right conversation with the right person.
  • Knowing the regulations.
  • Listening to music that helps you relax.
  • Doing something that helps you feel better.
  • Making notes about examiners.
  • Wearing your good day socks.

Some are common sense. Some make sense. Some seem like nonsense – but they only have to help you feel powered up for your viva, they don’t have to be for everyone.

Some you could do regularly to help. Others are one-offs. Some you have to wait for the viva to come around.

For some you can see the direct helpful link, and for others you can probably see that they’re helpful placebos, things that remind or encourage.

You might not be in total control of how you feel about your viva, but you’re not powerless either. What power ups will you choose to use?

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