Developing a strong work ethic

[halfdome10]

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Hi everyone. Second year medical student here. I have a bad habit of procrastinating and then cramming for exams. While I've been able to pass everything, I know I'm not learning as much as I should. It's mostly a problem with poor time management and a lack of self discipline. I want to develop a better work ethic and would love to hear any experiences about how you all do it.

What are some practical ways in which you get studying and work done for preclinical classes and clinical rotations?

What motivates you to work hard?

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

What motivates you to work hard?

The thought of failing medical school and having to pay back my loans anyway.

What are some practical ways in which you get studying and work done for preclinical classes and clinical rotations?

Studying productively requires endurance which is built up over time, and easily lost if not maintained.

A little bit of work each day over a long period of time is better than cramming before the exam. Set a reasonable amount of time aside to study and take frequent breaks in between studying. It all comes down to setting reasonable study goals. I for one cannot sit down and study for 4 hours straight anymore (college/preclinical years were the dark days). Here are some goals I use to get though study content:

"I have 'X' number of hours to do the following goals before I take a break:"
-Read "X" pages of my text book
-Finish 1 chapter
-Review "X" notecards
-Complete "X" Qbank questions
-Review/outline "X" completed qbank questions.

Lastly, big open days are the bane of my productivity. So, if I have one starting at around 1pm, I will schedule a chore/task/errand at around 3pm, that way I have to be done with my study goal before 3pm.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Anicetus]

Hi everyone. Second year medical student here. I have a bad habit of procrastinating and then cramming for exams. While I've been able to pass everything, I know I'm not learning as much as I should. It's mostly a problem with poor time management and a lack of self discipline. I want to develop a better work ethic and would love to hear any experiences about how you all do it.

What are some practical ways in which you get studying and work done for preclinical classes and clinical rotations?

What motivates you to work hard?

Wanting to have as many options as possible. The extra push comes from wanting to avoid specialties/residency locations I would never want to do/live in. Some people avoid stress and fear and stick their head in the ground thinking it will all work out, but that doesn't push someone to work an extra bit harder. Operant conditioning. It works.

 

[IlDestriero]

Your motivation should be wanting to actually learn the matierial which you may need to provide high quality medical care to your patients who are trusting you with their lives. Much of 1st year is questionably useful, then things get increasingly important.
Then there's the whole bombing the USMLE angle. Doing below average will effectively exclude you from any competitive residency and all of the highest caliber training programs in any field. That test is the most important test you'll ever take. Even if you're shooting for a non competitive field and are 1000% committed to it, you do yourself no favors by limiting your residency options with marginal step scores.


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Il Destriero

 

[.hematoma.]

I plan my schedule at least the day in advance (usually two to three days before), and break them into 2 hour blocks based on what I need to accomplish/what I want to study. Waking up early also really helps... I wake up around 5:30 and it's been great to me. I would say waking up early is the single most greatest tip I could give incoming first years... I feel so much more fresh in the mornings and can muster the discipline to study since no one else is awake and there's no distractions.

 

[sliceofbread136]

You grow up, stop being a ***** and just do your work

 

[Goro]

Go visit your school's learning and counseling centers. Cramming means you're not retaining.

 

[TBV]

Motivation comes from life experience so many wusses in med school riding their parents coat tails. Put a chip on your shoulder in pre-clinical it'll suit you well.

 

[wutwutwut]

what I always do when I don't want to do work is I tell myself to just work for like 5-10 minutes and then I can stop if I really want to. Usually after 10 minutes though you kind of get in the zone and studying doesn't seem so bad and I usually continue. Also someone told me one time that there is evidence that 30 min studying and a 10 minute break is proven to be the ideal. I have no idea where they got this but it works really well for me, especially when I don't want to study because I find I can usually commit to studying for 30 minutes, but 1 hour or longer seems daunting. Then once studying for 30 minutes isn't so bad you can take a 10 minute break and then talk yourself into studying for another 30 min (and repeat).

if you want to develop a better work ethic use that as your motivation! What motivates me is I always feel really accomplished when I do well on an exam or when I feel like I really know something (lame I know) but just find whatever motivates you because whatever motivates me is not necessarily going to be what works for you. I know a lot of people have said they are motivated by what residency, etc. they want to do, which I think is really good to look ahead but in my own personal experience sometimes it is hard to find motivation in things that are far off, so maybe just focus on doing really well on your next exam and use that as your motivation? This is just from my personal experience though so just try different things and then stick to whatever works best for you!

 

[Crayola227]

they've done studies that some of this is related to the ability to delay gratification, impulse control, etc. much of which you sorta got or you don't, but good luck building on

you'll need it in spades to get to/thru med training