Posts tagged schedule

Scheduling Balance. Readers often ask me and I often talk about finding balance while being in medical school. It helps improve your learning, your productivity, and your lifestyle while preventing burn out. This is however - as I know first hand - easier said than done.  Today, I thought I might talk about one of the tools I use to scheduling balance: the calendar. We have all seen it; many of you might even use it on a day to day basis. It comes in many forms, from the large poster boards on your wall, to the agenda you carry in your bag, to the phone you carry in your pocket.  The balance I strive for is easily overcome by the demands of medicine. There is no shortage of work, calls, and rounds to attend if I was so inclined. To prevent this bias, my schedule has to be balanced by the counter argument: the personal events and interests. If there are important events or activities I would like to do, I waste no time putting them in, no matter how trivial it is. To have the calendars visible at all times side by side, reinforces the importance and interplay they have with each other. No calendar is more important than the other.  Since I am in a relationship, I have found the digital calendar that syncs between my computer and phone to be the best fit for me. Not only can I add activities and events from either device at any time, I also have access to my partner’s calendar and she mine, making it easier to plan get togethers. Scheduling balance works best when you are willing to put in the time to creating and maintaining your calendar as well as checking it regularly to make the most of your planning. Depending on how often you choose to do both, your mileage with the calendars may vary. With a calendar well stocked and at your side at all times, you can easily check before you say “yes.” At the end of the day, life balance cannot be achieved no matter what tools you use if you cannot confidently say “no.”

Scheduling Balance.

Readers often ask me and I often talk about finding balance while being in medical school. It helps improve your learning, your productivity, and your lifestyle while preventing burn out. This is however - as I know first hand - easier said than done. 

Today, I thought I might talk about one of the tools I use to scheduling balance: the calendar. We have all seen it; many of you might even use it on a day to day basis. It comes in many forms, from the large poster boards on your wall, to the agenda you carry in your bag, to the phone you carry in your pocket. 

The balance I strive for is easily overcome by the demands of medicine. There is no shortage of work, calls, and rounds to attend if I was so inclined. To prevent this bias, my schedule has to be balanced by the counter argument: the personal events and interests. If there are important events or activities I would like to do, I waste no time putting them in, no matter how trivial it is.

To have the calendars visible at all times side by side, reinforces the importance and interplay they have with each other. No calendar is more important than the other. 

Since I am in a relationship, I have found the digital calendar that syncs between my computer and phone to be the best fit for me. Not only can I add activities and events from either device at any time, I also have access to my partner’s calendar and she mine, making it easier to plan get togethers.

Scheduling balance works best when you are willing to put in the time to creating and maintaining your calendar as well as checking it regularly to make the most of your planning. Depending on how often you choose to do both, your mileage with the calendars may vary.

With a calendar well stocked and at your side at all times, you can easily check before you say “yes.” At the end of the day, life balance cannot be achieved no matter what tools you use if you cannot confidently say “no.”

I'm in my first semester of nursing. I literally have classes all day, plus 12hr clinical shifts twice a week. The professors in all my classes give us quizzes in every class session. So my days pretty much consists of school, study, and sleep. I don't have time for anything. Would you recommend that I quit my job for this? I work part time at a restaurant during and only the weekends. That way, I have more time to study and get rest. — Asked by Anonymous

Having a healthy balance in my life is important to me. When I feel like I have overextended myself, I will try to take a step back and re-evaluate my priorities and how I can restore some balance to my life.

From the sounds of things, you are having some challenges with having some time for yourself which could make you more prone to burn out. I certainly cannot give any particular recommendations since I do not know your full situation such as financial pressures or other factors. Having said that, I think you need to look at what matters to you and decide if you need to reduce some of your burdens to give yourself some breathing room.

All My Friends (London Session) by LCD Soundsystem.

Time sure goes by fast. I cannot believe it is already February, or Saturday for that matter. With my heavier course load spread out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, it feels as though every week is only three days long. Slowly losing track of time here.

SoundCloud / pepe2010

do you get the feeling that you might love your job more than your friends and family? Because I'm only in high school now, yet sometimes I feel as if I rather be studying or doing homework and learning then being with them. — Asked by Anonymous

School can be a little overwhelming at times and so sometimes I do find myself focusing more on studying than spending time with my family and friends. I would not say that I love the former more than the latter, but rather the commitments required of medicine can sometimes be overpowering and resulting in me being neglectful of others.

Finding that balance between the two, keeping them separate is something that I still strive for. While I may not have all the time in the world to commit to everything, setting time aside for myself and for those in my life is a crucial part of what I consider to be a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

Multitasking. When things get down to the wire, your schedule starts go into disarray. Then it becomes a matter of doing things when they are convenient. “Eat when you can. Sleep when you can.” That sounds about right. 

Multitasking.

When things get down to the wire, your schedule starts go into disarray. Then it becomes a matter of doing things when they are convenient. “Eat when you can. Sleep when you can.” That sounds about right. 

When you were in your undergrad, how much would you study for school and what did you do to relax? — Asked by Anonymous

Hi there, you can find a response to similar questions here and here. Pretty much what I do to relax is outlined in the second link. I also spend some time on here obviously updating the blog. I also try to go exercise about five times a week to clear my head.

just transferred from a community college to a university and i'm struggling with time management. do you give yourself time each day to just kind of chill, or do you try to give yourself a day in the week? — Asked by Anonymous

Hi there anonymous, I try to give myself a bit of time each day, on top of the short breaks in between my study sessions. I do have time I sort of reserve for blogging and doing other things that I am interested in like exercise or just relaxing as you say. However, this free time does vary by day and circumstance.

I try to find a balance between what I need to do immediately and what I can do a bit later, figure out my priorities and go from there. Whatever time is left over is what I work with to plan the rest of my day.

Friday nights or Saturday mornings can sometimes be a designated free time for me. It really does depend on the situation. What I have outlined here has worked well for me but it may not be for everyone. I hope what I have described might give you some ideas as to how you can manage your time. Good luck to you and I hope things turn out.

to the person in high school asking about extra curriculars, the point of them is not to have them just so you can list them off and show how many you do or that you absolutely have no spare time in your life, but rather to emphasize what you are passionate about. When I was in high school I devoted a lot of time to my school's science team and that was a rewarding experience for me. One thing to keep in mind though is that working in a hospital just to work in a hospital isn't going to help. — Asked by a-science-blog

I agree. As I mentioned in my answer, the key is character building and perspective building. If there is no passion and no true reward in that sense, then really you have not gained anything. That is more important than how much you can take on. However, if you have many things that you are interested in, always remember not to overcommit. 

I'm currently in high school and I was wondering what extra curricular activities you would recommend taking part in. I'm hoping to eventually make my way into med school. My marks are a little higher than average, i think, so I'm trying to make it up with my 'personal profile'. Thanks for your time! :) — Asked by Anonymous

I have answered questions relating to this topic before that you can see under #extracurricular and #schedule tags. My advice is to stay active and do only as much as you are comfortable. There are a lot of opportunities out there and all of them can be rewarding, both in terms of character building and perspective building. It is really up to you how much you are comfortable taking on as overcommitment can hurt you over the long run. Good luck.

How involved are you in your University in terms of extracurricular activities, volunteering, etc. ? I know most of your time will be with studying and retaining lecture information but is there a lot of pressure to go beyond just the academic aspects? — Asked by Anonymous

I would say on any given day, I probably have about three or four hours to myself to do extracurricular stuff. I spend a lot of time studying so the balance is quite skewed towards studying. Sometimes I might get more, other times less. It kind of depends on my schedule and the situation.