During this coronavirus pandemic, it’s no wonder to have feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, fear and boredom. Due to this house arrest, many students find it challenging to stay motivated and work hard to achieve their end goal.
Whether you are an aspiring medic looking to apply in the future, already hold an offer, or currently studying in a medical school, it can be a bit difficult to stay motivated when you are studying alone from home.
As a future doctor, it is important to always remember your goal and work hard to achieve this.
It is a great time for medical students and aspiring medics to make the most of this time and prepare themselves for a rewarding medical school career.
During this coronavirus pandemic, if you are feeling uncreative and unmotivated, here are some helpful ways to stay motivated to meet your academic goals even in lockdown.
Let’s get started.
Create Goals
Making small, manageable goals is one of the best strategies to keep you motivated during the lockdown. When you know how to utilize your time and what you want to achieve, it will make it easier for you to get the most out of it.
For instance, if you want to pursue a career in medicine, you need to get into medical school, complete four years of education, and perform clinical clerkships, complete residency training to become a licensed physician.
To study medicine, you need to create a list of medical schools where you want to apply, write an impressive application, and get good grades to become a competitive student.
Once you know what you want to achieve, you can effectively use your time and plan things accordingly to get more things done.
Make Time for Yourself
Medical students are supposed to complete unlimited assignments, attend back to back lectures, rotate in clinical clerkships, shadow physicians, and perform laboratory work, and a lot more.
In short, they have to work hard to prepare themselves to become an excellent physician. This lockdown is a great opportunity for medical students to get their favorite things done that they normally don’t have time for.
Create a New Routine at Home
Due to the lack of commute to school, your morning routine has totally changed right now. You are sleeping for extra hours, and there is no specific time to start working for the day. If you want to stay productive during this quarantine. You need to create a schedule not just for your academic activities, but for your personal activities.
Besides setting aside time for your studies, make sure you have dedicated time slots to eat, sleep, exercise, and your favorite hobbies. This can help you follow a healthy diet, maintain your sleep patterns, keep your mind fresh and stress less.
To stay productive and get more things done, you need to figure out what routine works best for you. For example, many students can better absorb information early in the morning, while some feel more productive late at night. It is advised to create a list of things so that you can have a clear idea of what tasks you have to achieve tomorrow and the week ahead. This way, you can productively study from home, maintain your focus, and keep you stay on track.
Take a Break from Scrolling on Social Media
Being at home all day and having so much free time makes many of us spend more time socializing to get ourselves entertained and busy through online devices. A study suggests that people who use smartphones before going to bed experience anxiety, stress, and depression. Try to avoid spending too much time scrolling through social media, especially before bedtime. Another study suggests that using too much social media can affect your mood, sleep, focus, and productivity. So, try to limit your phone usage, delete all time-wasting apps, and keep it away from your access when you are studying and going to sleep.
Learn New Skills
There are a number of skills that you can learn during this COVID-19 quarantine to boost your chances of getting into medical school.
If you have a career in mind, it is the best time to learn more about the key skills required for this profession.
Learning these skills now will benefit you later in your professional life. It is easier to stay motivated when you enjoy what you are learning. For example, if you want to become a pathologist, you need to build a strong knowledge and understanding of disease processes, risk factors, and treatment options.
You can best utilize your time by reading pathology books to develop a deeper understanding of diseases. You can listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos, and follow social media channels of research institutes and healthcare centers to stay up to date on the medical world.
Over to You
You don’t know what the future has in store for us, nor you control it, but you can control what you will do today. It is important to stay focused on your dreams and stay productive to achieve your study goals. During this lockdown, you have plenty of time to learn new skills, be a better student, improve your grades, and decide your career path.
