Guest capblues Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 Hey guys, Just curious, do you guys ever struggle with being motivated to study..or do homework? How do you become motivated to work hard....I often stuggle with being motivated to put in the extra effort. I also struggle with procrastanation, as that is what I am doing right now, I have a bio midterm tomorrow,and here I am.....how do I get over this? I better get back to the books..or at least try to! Cheers Tommy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RageoftheDragon Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 Get off your ass...jj. But seriously, how long does it take to realize that we're in institutions of higher learning? How long can we keep going through life giving half an effort...or less? If you don't need to study and still do well, then quit complaining and go volunteer at a hospital to help your application, as you have a gift. However, if you need to study to get that mark, then the onus is on you to realize how much medicine really means to you, and I'm sure you'll find the ambition required to study well. RotD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest capblues Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 Thanks Rageofthe Dragon, what you say is so true, and I finds now that I am in a post secondary institution, that it is alot easier to be motivated, but sometimes I have those days, where I am jsut plain lazy..its horrible...am I the only one? How do I overcome this..it is a lot easier said then done cheers Tommy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest coolguy3650 Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 It's really tough to answer your question, because we're all motivated by different things. But one thing that might help is making a daily schedule, and including in that schedule alloted study times in which you'll preform a specific task (eg. complete an assignment, or read a chapter). When you have a specific task to do, at a specific time, it becomes easier to preform that task and harder to procrastinate. You feel pressured to preform the task at that specific time, because if you don't, you'll fall behind in your schedule. In other words, by making a detailed schedule, it easier to see the negative consequences of being lazy. It works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peachy Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 I agree, Rage of the Dragon, that motivation and goal-setting are very important. But for many people it's just not enough. Studying efficiently is very much a learned skill, and I think that for many people it's not as easy as saying "I've had an epiphany, I care about my work, and now I'm going to buckle down and stop procrastinating." Motivation and goal-setting are definitely VERY important, but it's often not enough. I've always been a procrastinator, and I'll probably always be a procrastinator. But it was much easier for me to learn to study well when I decided to accept my study habits and work with them, instead of trying to transform myself into someone who studied completely differently. I really like this tongue-in-cheek description of "structured procrastination" because it's pretty much how I got through undergrad. As I learned what worked for me during undergrad, I made up my own personal set of rules that I followed fairly carefully. Things like "never miss class", "always do the easiest task first", setting up my notebooks in a very structured way (I go through, literally, about a hundred packages of dividers every year...), etc, happen to work very well for ME. When I study, I always set myself a set of concrete tasks to be completed instead of just "studying", because otherwise I get nothing done. Anyways, I don't know if that's too helpful. But you can certainly procrastinate and do well, as long as you learn the tricks that work for YOU! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Elliott Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Hi Tommy, I am sure this is a question we have all asked ourselves at one time or another during our academinc careers. Finding motivation is never so straight forward. Example being, this semester I have an absolutely horrible prof who teaches from a very biast view. How do you find motivation to get up four days a week to go to your earliest class to basically have your human rights violated? How do you write papers, do hw and prepare for labs when you could be doing other things? These are some things that have helped me: 1. I see UG much as I did HS. I take it very seriously academically, but this is just a stepping stone to get to where I really want to be: med school. This is a time to have fun and enjoy yourself. Relax. 2. About 1% of the total population of the earth ever get to attend post-secondary education. I feel pretty lucky to be here (this one seems to work really well for me). 3. I believe it is my moral duty to societies around the world to obtain an education in place of so many who cannot. I want to serve thses societies with my knowledge, much as they will serve me with theirs. 4. Turn off the TV. Evil, evil, evil, evil, EVIL. Did I mention PURE EVIL?? 5. Have snacks prepared for study time (mini rice cakes, cut up fruit and veggies - yummy snacks motivate me cause I can only have them when I study). 6. I paid for this. 7. How will I feel if I don't keep up or go to class? I always feel so guilty when I procrastinate and feel awesome after a hard evening of studying or after writing an exam and knowing I did well because I put the time in. 8. This may sound so geeky, but learning is fun. I get so into my Bio stuff sometimes I have to call my bf and tell him what I am reading about because it is SO COOL. 9. And the BEST ONE yet: Buy a portable timer (you know the one with the knob?). When you don't feel like studying, set your timer for twenty minutes and start studying. When the timer goes off, if you still arent totally into it, you aren't in the right frame of mind to study. Go do something else for a while and come back to it. Generally by the time my timer goes off I have to throw it against the wall because I am so into my hw it makes me go bezerks to hear it go off. Always study a few hours a day, even if you don't have to. Cramming is the worst form of studying. You learn nothing but how your stomache can makes knots before a test. Hope all this helps! Cheers, Elliott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cracked30 Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 It's simple, Tell yourself, "If I don't study I won't get in." I remember all those people in the early years of university who wanted to go to medicine, but didn't study enough. Now I am a surgical resident and they are nothing. Medicine is as much about ambition as it is about smarts and caring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 I think cutting out the TV is a great idea. That useless hunk of abc/nbc/cbs/fox unrealistic reality @#%$ is not only brain numbing, but has a horribly habit of sucking your time away without any benefit whatsoever. Heck, you might as well be getting hammered at the campus bar - at least there you learn some social and (albeit slurred) communication skills. . . and maybe even a few patient contacts for your future career as a hepatologist. I'm only half joking on this - TV is useless and you do develop social skills going out with friends. I DON'T THINK inducing paranoia in yourself is necessarily the best technique for motivation for studying. I know lots of medical students (myself included at one time) who have used this as their means of driving themselves towards their goals. It's an ouright dangerous tactic for medical students for two reasons: 1) PSYCHOLOGICAL - It turns you into a poor assessor of your own abilities and/or achievements. In other words, you become unrealistically too hard on yourself. And that kills more med students than academic achievement - I've personally seen more med students fail due to psychological reasons (ie withdrawing themselves often related to their being too hard on themselves in some way) than due to academic reasons (ie being kicked out for not studying enough). 2) PERFORMANCE - Medicine is in fact for the most part a clinical and/or people oriented profession as opposed to an academic one. Probably one of the most important skills to have is SELF-CONFIDENCE along with a REALISTIC ABILITY TO ASSESS ONE'S OWN STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESES. It's hard to have self-confidence if you're constantly telling yourself "man I suck, my marks aren't good enough and if I don't study harder I'll never succeed in life." (a bit of an exageration, but not much when compared to some students I know.) As an example - When interviewing a patient in 3rd year, if you appear overly nervous attempting to 'ace the perfect interview' rather than relaxing and having confidence that you have learned something in your training up until that point and accept the fact you might not have the 100% perfect interview the first few times, you will be screwed. Likewise, if you're always nervous on rounds and the like you're not going to seem like a very competent clerk even if you know the names of every surgeon who performed the first transplant operation for each organ. It's been said at UWO that there's almost a NEGATIVE correlation between those who excel in preclerkship and clerkship medical training. That is to say, when you look at the people who get honours in 1st and 2nd year vs. 3rd and 4th year there's very little overlap. Honours in 3rd and 4th year is usually more important for matching to CaRMS, btw. I've often wondered if that was exactly because some of those who excelled in 1st and 2nd year did so because they forced them to memorize minutiae through fear of failure, only to have that same fear of failure kick them in the teeth in clerkship. That's just speculation. . . but I think there is some basis. I think everyone needs to find a HEALTHY and BALANCED approach to motivate themselves to study. Yeah, I too know people who didn't get into medicine and wanted too because they slacked and goofed off. But I also know many people who worked their butts off, didn't develop or atrophied their social skills, became too bitter and driven and didn't get in because they failed the interview. And I also know (a few) people who worked, got into medicine, and are still bitter. . . personally, I'd hate to turn 65, retire and look back on my life only to see that I'd accumulated tons of wealth and professional accolades but had never actually lived my life, and had completely missed out on university. . . and now I was living on two artificial hips and could barely golf. I think it was either 'PCU,' 'Van Wilder' or 'Higher Learning' where they put it best in reference to university - something to the effect of 'when else in life other than university will you have such an accumulation of beautiful young people, exposure to tons of interesting new ideas and kick-a$$ parties.' You need to study hard to get into medicine, but if you miss out on stuff I think that would be a tragedy too. And don't forget everyone is different - some of us work better with structured study and break time, whereas others work better by driving themselves whenever they can to do work, but then driving themselves when they've had enough to do play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lactic Folly Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 I find it easier to buckle down and study when I'm on campus in the libraries or in the student lounges in the evening, instead of alone in my room. I can waste quite a bit of time on the computer *cough* Seeing dozens of people around me diligently poring over their notes in a hushed silence is quite motivating for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cracked30 Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 That's all well and good, suggesting a balanced approach MEDS2005. But this kid is suffering from penultimate procrastination. The exam is today and (s)he couldn't motivate him/herself to study biology. I mean, if you want to get into medicine, that stuff should already be interesting. I take exception to the claim that pre-clerk excellence doesn't equal clerk excellence. How long have you been in clerkship? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RageoftheDragon Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 I agree with the partying your arse off statement made by UWOMED2005. My first 2 years I burned away partying, but still held a respectable average for the amount of alcoholism I existed in. However, upon entering third year, I found myself drawn into the material a lot more, and turned into a semi study bug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RageoftheDragon Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 I wasn't finished that last post, I'm just a clutz. Anyways, so while I did study more in third year, I found that it opened me up for quality party time, as opposed to worrying while out. Getting the full experience is definitely a bonus, but I made the serious decision to enter medicine, and study hard for it, and I gained both academically and socially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 That's not my 'claim' that there sometimes there is an inversion between preclerkship and clerkship performance at UWO. That 'claim' was in fact initially made by Dr. Silcox at our white coat ceremony, and a similar view was repeated at our clerkship orientation by both Dr. Silcox (the UWO student affairs dean) and Dr. Rieder (the UWO clerkship coordinator.) I've also heard a similar claim among members of the class of 2004. As for myself, I'm technically 7 weeks into clerkship but did an extra 6 week elective last summer where the preceptor provided me with all of the responsibilities and duties of a third year clerk, so at times it feels like it has been 13 weeks. And I've completed the Internal Medicine core rotation, though no surgery get. But yes, I'm officially only 7 weeks in. So far I've been impressed by the skills and ability to adapt of almost all my classmates. As far as judging someone's academic skills based on posts made over the internet. . . yeah, leaving studying until the day before/of the exam is a little extreme in terms of procrastination. But I admittedly don't know the whole story , nor can I guess how he did on that exam. And interest in medicine does NOT equal an interest in medicine. Personally, I couldn't give a hoot about botany, and found myself unmotivated to study for that section of my 1st year biology course. If all of biology (anatomy, biochem, physiology) doesn't interest you though. . . It'll sort itself out in the end. An important thing to remember is that medicine isn't the be all and end all of careers. Cracked has a point - if someone finds they can't get motivated to study biosciences/medicine/etc. there's always different careers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tirisa Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 Just a quick comment to say that I take exception to Cracked's earlier comment: "now I'm a surgical resident and they are nothing" (referring to people who apparently didn't study hard enough and subsequently didn't get into meds). Wow. "Nothing" is a bit harsh, I would say. Perhaps you didn't intend it to be as arrogant as it sounds, so I do apologize if this is the case. But being a surgical resident is certainly not the end all and be all for everyone when they are in uni. Many of us didn't have the goal to go to med school when we were in uni, but that certainly doesn't mean we went on to do 'nothing'. People are motivated by different things. I for one was incredibly motivated by health and social justice issues around the world. Because of it, I meet amazing people in even more amazing places, all through my work... "nothing" doesn't even come close to how I would describe what I do... and what I will continue to do if I don't get into meds next year. Anyway, again... if your intention was otherwise, I apologize. Sometimes it's hard to "read" someone's tone in these posts. And for everyone trying to get motivated to study... ummm... I find a Starbucks Chocolate Brownie Mochafrappucino always helps... or at least it tastes good. Cheers, T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest capblues Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 Thanks everyone for all your help! For Cracker, I agree with you that I should have been studying as I wrote the post since my midterm was the next day, but I think one of my problems may be that I study too much. I definitly do find biology interesting, that is not why I wasn't studying. I do now realize that since school started, I hadn't been doing anything but studying. I wasn't enjoying school for its social asspects, or doing other things outside of school. When I wasn't at school I was doing homework. Now thanks to some of the others that have posted, I realize how important this part of my uindergraduate is. Thank you everyone for all your helped Tommy P.S. I got an A on the test Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 sweet! Congrats - now go out and enjoy "the other part of undergrad." Just be ready to hit the books come monday. . . or tuesday. . . I'm sure you'll figure out when Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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