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Tag: viva feelings

Nathan

Storms & Teacups

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It’s not that you shouldn’t be nervous about your viva: it’s likely that you can’t do a lot to remove nerves if you feel them.

The viva is one of the final stages of a long process of exploration, knowledge generation and personal development. Those three letters – PhD – will make a difference to you, your ambitions and your future destinations.

It’s not that all of this is so big and important that you should be nervous: you just probably will be because it’s all important.

 

Being nervous is uncomfortable, but is to be expected probably.

Being anxious or being worried is different.

Nervousness is a general feeling but anxiety and worry are more commonly centred around something specific. If that’s more of what you’re feeling then you have to get specific too.

The problem will not be impossible to resolve. It might feel bigger than it is because the viva feels big. The viva is important and so any problem with it feels big and important too. It might not be the case.

If you face any anxiety or problem ahead of your viva then pause. Breathe. Reflect on it. Is this a storm in a teacup? Does it just seem big but won’t make a difference really? Can you do something about it? Is there someone you can ask for help?

In my experience, there’s always something you can do and someone who can help. If you face a problem with your viva that makes you worried, then your next step is to do something.

 

PS: if you have any big worries, concerns or questions then take a look at my Viva Survivor session. Registration is open now for my March 27th 2025 webinar and you can ask questions in advance through the booking process.

Nathan

Final Preparations

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My last viva prep task was to knock on my supervisor’s door with fifteen minutes to go, “Hi Hugh, just to check one more time, a genus 2 mutant can be defined as….?”

What will your final prep be?

Perhaps you’ll just check you have everything in your bag. Maybe you’ll focus on re-reading something one more time. Your last prep step could be to relax with a cup of coffee.

Or like me, your last task will be to stress at the last moment.

 

There’s an element of choice involved. You can plan your viva preparation. Sketch out a plan when you reach submission. You don’t need to account for every minute of every day until your viva, but by looking ahead you can remove stress, rush and a lot of doubts.

The last step in getting ready for your viva could be tiny or could be a big task. It’s better if it’s not panicked or stressed.

Nathan

Advice > Anecdote

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Your friend’s experience might be useful to know but has to be placed into the wider viva context.

One good story shouldn’t be enough to help you feel better about the viva. Similarly, one person’s negative experience shouldn’t shift you to thinking that your viva will be bad too.

Ask others for help and ask for their stories but consider them alongside the wider advice about the viva, in terms of prep, expectations and approach. One story can be interesting; the patterns and trends in many stories can be valuable.

Anecdotes about the viva are good but good advice is much, much more helpful.

Nathan

Best of Viva Survivors 2024: Confidence

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Day three of my best of posts for 2024. I love to think about how to encourage confidence, both in general and for the viva in particular. It’s a topic I keep thinking about because of how powerful it can be in changing someone’s way of doing things.

How confident do you feel for your viva? What steps do you take to pursue confidence?

Nathan

The Feeling

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How do you feel about your viva?

How do you want to feel about your viva?

If your responses to these questions are different then you have a third question to consider: what will you do to feel how you want to feel about your viva?

Nathan

Bumbling Along

Daily Post

There was a time when I would have described my PhD journey as incredibly lucky. Somehow, I made it through.

I had months where it seemed like nothing worked. Weeks where I couldn’t figure out how to get something simple done.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I arrived at viva time and felt a lack of confidence in myself. How could I feel good about my chances of success when I had somehow bumbled my way to submission?

I had a little confidence that my thesis had some good results – but what about me? Was I any good?

 

Sixteen years later, a little hindsight and a lot of self-reflection and I feel differently.

I wasn’t perfect but I worked hard. It wasn’t luck that got me through but I had my share of good fortune. I had funding, I had a good supervisor and I found topics to explore that lead to interesting results. I developed myself and my research.

But I didn’t see it that way at the time. I just kept thinking, because of all the challenges in my projects, that somehow I was “luckily” making it through.

If you’re looking for confidence for your viva start by reflecting on the journey. Recognise the work you’ve done. Appreciate the good fortune you’ve encountered. Highlight the success that you have made.

There’s no way you can get to submission by simply bumbling along.

Nathan

Needs & Preferences

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There’s a difference between needs and preferences.

Both can have a great impact on how you feel about and approach your viva.

 

If you need something for your viva – from regular breaks, examiners to wear microphones or anything else – then you need it. That shouldn’t be up for debate with anyone else; the best thing to do is make sure the appropriate people in your department, doctoral college or graduate school know and know what to do for your viva.

A need is something you absolutely have to have. A preference is something that would be helpful. You might prefer if your examiner was someone you’d cited. You might prefer to have your viva in-person or over Zoom. You might prefer to have your viva sooner rather than later. But if that preference isn’t met an alternative way can be found.

 

Whenever something feels like a need or a preference for your viva, unless it’s unambiguous, reflect again and just be clear for yourself.

Is it a need? Is it a preference?

And whichever it is you have two questions to respond to: Do you need help from someone? What do you need to do next?

Nathan

Run The Numbers

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Success at your viva is not directly determined by:

  • The number of papers in your bibliography.
  • The number of pages in your thesis.
  • The number of words on all those pages.
  • How many days you showed up to do the work.
  • How many meetings you had with your supervisor.
  • How many times you failed.
  • How often you were challenged.
  • The number of times you overcame significant obstacles to get your thesis done.

Success isn’t directly determined by any of these numbers but your capability and confidence can be helped by simply considering just how much you’ve done to complete your PhD.

Run the numbers. Reflect on how much you’ve done, how far you’ve come and what that all means for you and your viva.

Nathan

Control The Controllables

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This is how an attendee at a recent webinar summarised what I’d said about getting ready for the viva.

Control the controllables.

He was absolutely right. That’s how I think about a lot of things connected with the viva.

There are things you can’t control or won’t know until you get there. These range from questions to feelings to the approach that your examiners will take.

There are things you’ll know but won’t control too: the purpose of the viva, the date or location of your viva venue.

But there’s also a lot you could take control of.

  • You can choose what you wear.
  • You can select the words you use.
  • You can plan out your preparation.
  • You can decide on how you’ll get to your viva.
  • You can choose what you do on the morning.

All of these things and more can help how you feel about your viva.

There are a lot of things you can take control of for yourself in advance of the big day.

If you do that then the things that are beyond your control won’t seem so bad.

 

Many thanks to Luke C for offering this observation!

Nathan

The Bad Vivas

Daily Post

The opening line to Anna Karenina is often translated in English as:

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

I think about this a lot when I think about bad vivas.

 

The vast majority of vivas are “fine” – which means some complex combination of fair, challenging, rewarding, enjoyable, tiring, rigorous and a host of other descriptions. Most candidates will be fine at their viva, however challenging the questions or tiring the process.

We can’t pretend bad vivas don’t happen though.

Good vivas are good for similar reasons. They’re attended by candidates who have done the work. They’re facilitated by examiners who have training and have taken the time to get ready. The vivas are conducted according to regulations and expectations.

Bad vivas are bad for wildly different and unique circumstances. A hard PhD journey. A thesis that doesn’t meet expectations. A candidate who hasn’t been appropriately supported. An examiner who doesn’t care. A candidate unwilling or unable to engage with the viva.

Good vivas are good because they follow the overall patterns of the PhD journey done well. Bad vivas (and possible viva failure) result from unique negative circumstances.

Bad vivas happen and we can’t pretend that they don’t. But you also can’t believe – at least not with compelling reason – that you might have a bad viva.

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