Pre-Med Life Hack: Planning
I think that this is super important to acknowledge.
It is absolutely ok to feel overwhelmed in the pursuit of something worth your time and energy and I can't think of anything more fulfilling and worth your time. However, it's not healthy to sit under the burden of stress and let that mountain of work pile up. I've been there. You let stuff pile up, then you get overwhelmed and then it's a huge effort to get it all done.
I'm going to share what I do to deal with time management. You can take it or leave it, but I'm going to say that it has changed my life and helped me get a lot done. It is a theme in my life and it involves acting and achieve instead of reacting and receiving.
Before we dive into an example of how I plan, it is important to define a couple terms and highlight the differences.
Vision: I see a vision as a long term view of what I want to be in 10 to 20 years, even an overall life picture.
Goal: A goal is what you want to achieve. ex: I want be able to run 3 miles in 23 minutes
A goals is...
Achievable
- You have to realistically be able to accomplish what you want
Measurable
- You have to be able to track you progress in your goal
Concise
- Your goal should be easily remembered. If you can't remember what you want to achieve then you can't achieve it.
The last aspect is all your goals need to feed back into your life vision. A goal has to help you move forward to becoming that person you envision becoming.
Here's how I plan, I sit down and meditate on what I really want out of life for the next year, semester, or month, even week, then I start writing I come up with my vision,
Vision: I want to be a balanced applicant that is an acceptable candidate for a top 25 medical school
Goal: Hold a leadership position for 2 years in a campus club or other organization
Is the goal achievable? I have two and a half years left in my undergraduate degree, so I have enough time. There are a lot of clubs so there are a lot of opportunities for leadership. So I would say yes.
Is the goal measurable?
I have a time frame that I can measure against, 2 years, so I can definitely measure it.
Is it concise?
It is only a sentence and is very clear, so I say yes.
Does it build towards my vision of being a balanced applicant?
I would say yes. It is one of the aspects that a lot of medical schools like to see.
Now, how we are going to achieve the goal
What's the first step that needs to be accomplished?
I'm going to say that I need to figure out what clubs I want to get involved with. So now it's important to be able to make a plan
Plans in my opinion are portions of a goal, something you can accomplish in day or a week or a month as you're working towards a goal. When I plan,I break the goal completely down and then I look at what are the dependent steps. What needs to happen so that then I can do this? Here is an example of a plan:
Plan: Go on the campus page for 5 minutes and look a clubs that I want to be part of, then write down a list for future reference.
This kind of planning and goal setting helps me chain together micro-successes which lead to bigger achievements. When I accomplish small daily, weekly, or monthly plans I find that I am able to feel more accomplished. I also feel less overwhelmed by the huge goal of becoming a doctor. The best way to achieve is consistent daily effort.
It is absolutely vital that you write down your goals and that you read them daily. This helps you visualize success and centers your mind on what you truly want out of each day. Put them up on your fridge, whiteboard or even on the home screen of your phone. If the saying out of sight out of mind applies to goals that the reverse is true, in sight in mind.
Let me know in the comments if this approach works for you! If you plan differently, email me or post it in the comments! I would love to see how everyone else plans!
- Christian
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