How do you future-doctors stay motivated and consistent with your studies throughout the term?

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chairsandenantiomers

chairsandenantiomers

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How do you guys stay consistent with study habits? I may have amazing motivation in the beginning of the class but towards the middle or end, I start losing focus. It's something I have been trying to stop but no matter what it always happens...Any tips on staying focused and consistent as a student in your academic career?
 
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chairsandenantiomers said:
How do you guys stay consistent with study habits? I may have amazing motivation in the beginning of the class but towards the middle or end, I start losing focus. It's something I have been trying to stop but no matter what it always happens...Any tips on staying focused and consistent as a student in your academic career?
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By going on student doctor network and MD applicants everyday and realizing no matter how much you've worked and how much of a bad a** you think you are academically, you have done nothing compared to some of the SDN greats with 4.0/40 mcat who rescued someone out a burning vehicle on their way to deliver 1000 toys to sick children... Nothing gives you a reality check like SDN...

I kid... honestly SDN does motivate me. I'm often inspired to be better by a lot of the posters on here. I also find having a mentor helps too. However, on those days when I don't feel like studying I remind myself that if don't study no one is going to take those exams for me or turn in those assignments. There are more than enough qualified applicants each year for med school that don't get in, if I slack off there will be thousands to take my place.
 
Womb Raider said:
I was motivated because McDonalds.
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👍 Work minimum wage retail to pay for your pre-med classes. Recipe for a 4.0.

But for real, keeping busy helped keep my study times very focused and organized. I feel you though for the end of the semester. I always end up calculating how little I need to study for the final and still make an A for the class...
 
Whenever I find myself plunging slowly into a pit of apathy I think of three things:

1) How hard my parents have worked to make sure I can build a better life for myself and how lucky I am to have a family that is as invested in my education as I am when they could have just as easily fallen into the trap of waving off my ambitions and just told me to major in engineering.

2) My extended family in South America who will never enjoy the same quality of life or education as I do simply because I happened to be a little bit luckier (my family won a green-card lottery into the US) than they.

3) If I don't pay attention and work now.....I'll just feel guilty about it later because of reasons 1 and 2.


I'm sure you have someone in your life who has helped you get to where you are now even if it wasn't your parents - think of them! Were their efforts all for not? Did they just waste their time?

Those working retail suggestions are pretty damn good though......pretty damn good.

Also, alternatively

OK IF I FINISH THIS NEXT SECTION I CAN TOTALLY ORDER COOKIES AS A REWARD YES PLEASE.
 
I stay motivated because of a picture I have framed on my wall. I worked my tail off and aced a practical exam, I framed it and it has a post-it on it that says "when you don't want to study, remember how good this felt" (referring to the feeling I got when I saw the 100% at the top of the paper). I wanted to remember that nothing in this journey we are all on comes easy, and we have to work out tails off to reach our goals.
Basically, my picture frame keeps me motivated when I want to go curl up in my bed and sleep because I had a bad call at work, sleepy blah blah blah. I have been mocked before because of it, but it does what I need it to do.
 
Arcumis said:
Whenever I find myself plunging slowly into a pit of apathy I think of three things:

1) How hard my parents have worked to make sure I can build a better life for myself and how lucky I am to have a family that is as invested in my education as I am when they could have just as easily fallen into the trap of waving off my ambitions and just told me to major in engineering.

2) My extended family in South America who will never enjoy the same quality of life or education as I do simply because I happened to be a little bit luckier (my family won a green-card lottery into the US) than they.

3) If I don't pay attention and work now.....I'll just feel guilty about it later because of reasons 1 and 2.


I'm sure you have someone in your life who has helped you get to where you are now even if it wasn't your parents - think of them! Were their efforts all for not? Did they just waste their time?

Those working retail suggestions are pretty damn good though......pretty damn good.

Also, alternatively

OK IF I FINISH THIS NEXT SECTION I CAN TOTALLY ORDER COOKIES AS A REWARD YES PLEASE.
Click to expand...
Totally made me smile 🙂
I had a friend who would write a list of things she really wanted at the beginning of the year, and if she got an A on an exam, she would do one thing on the list. It seemed to keep her pretty motivated.
 
I stay motivated because this is what I want to do with my life.
 
I too have struggled this semester with lack of motivation (probably due to my low MCAT score, despite studying 12+ hours a day for 3 months :arghh:) I didn't do as well as I hoped in my Biochem I class this semester, due to lack of focus. But that makes me even more determined to do better in my Biochem II class, because I know I can. Nearly anything is possible if you put your mind to it!

When I start to lose focus, I just think about how blessed I am to have gotten this far as a pre-med, and to start losing focus now would be such a waste of all that time and hard work I've put into getting this far! And I think of all those who will never have this incredible opportunity that I have right now. Also, I never want to let myself or my family down, academics-wise, so I guess that keeps me motivated too. And most of all, I think about all of those sick and needy people that we WILL help one day as physicians...if that doesn't motivate you, I don't know what will! :smuggrin:
 
I know I might get some hate in here but I rarely found myself apathetic. I had mostly great professors who made the stuff really interesting to me. Of course there were subject I could care less for but for the most part there was at least several classes per semester where I genuinely enjoyed doing the work and coming to class.
 
Its not about getting even more motivated. Its about making the process easier for you to do so you don't lose that motivation. we all have enough motivation, the question is how we go about it. Some of us take the hard route and make it so hard for ourselves that we give up. the simple solution is to go about it in a better way.

The way i do it is I Make a plan every quarter and break everything down into bite size peaces. Work a little everyday. Its all about time management and planning. Thats how ive been doing it. I wish i knew this earlier in my college carreer. I started using google calendars and syncing it with my iphone. Its veerrry handy, literally.

I know when all my exams are, how much time i need to study, how to study for them in order to get an A+(ask the prof how to do this), when office hours are, and what sections to go to. Once you have a plan the rest is simple, Execute! And rack up dem AAAAAAAAAAAAD(jk)AAAAAA
 
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Tommyguns89 said:
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Life is a game of inches.
Sometimes it can be really hard to stay motivated, but when you notice motivation waning, just take a step back and take a deep breath. Think about how much more you can do if you fight for that next inch, then get back into the fight.
Or get on SDN and read a bunch of random threads and then comment on them in the middle of the night.
But really, you should probably fight for that next "inch" of study. 😉
 
No Limits said:
By going on student doctor network and MD applicants everyday and realizing no matter how much you've worked and how much of a bad a** you think you are academically, you have done nothing compared to some of the SDN greats with 4.0/40 mcat who rescued someone out a burning vehicle on their way to deliver 1000 toys to sick children... Nothing gives you a reality check like SDN...

I kid... honestly SDN does motivate me. I'm often inspired to be better by a lot of the posters on here. I also find having a mentor helps too. However, on those days when I don't feel like studying I remind myself that if don't study no one is going to take those exams for me or turn in those assignments. There are more than enough qualified applicants each year for med school that don't get in, if I slack off there will be thousands to take my place.
Click to expand...
This. SDN motivated me, but also made me feel inadequate because of the many superstars applicants you see on these boards. I also thought about my reason to go into medicine pretty frequently.
 
I've seen the other side of the coin. Working for someone. **** that. That's what made me start my own business. However that's not enough. I want to be the best mother fker out there. I know it's hard to get to the top, but once your there your set. Mediocrity is for losers, its easy to be average.

Challenge is what keeps me going. I can't imagine my life it was just on a simple cruise . Day to day doing the same chit knowing I'll never know what it's like to be at the top. Aint noones bitch.
 
When you have defined a purpose in your life and identified the passion that fuels your blood, you will be motivated.

For example you want to be a doctor, you have defined that to be your life's purpose. You wake up every morning with the conviction you are going to help cure and aid in the recovery of sick people. You volunteer at a hospital/hospice/rehabilitation center where you encounter sick patients. This confirms your resolve to become a doctor and is a pressing reminder of what your purpose in life is. You apply yourself to your studies and when you find yourself slacking off, your reminded of all those sick patients for who you have made an internal promise to.

Find what fuels your fire. If it's wanting to help people, your in the right field; otherwise, it would be hard to find the motivation.
 
Train yourself until you become exceptionally talented and no longer have to put forth significant effort toward any goal, thus eliminating a need for motivation or consistency.

lol
 
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