One of my favorite things to do is PLAN! It’s therapeutic and productive. In medical school, I’ve found that it is easy to get overwhelmed with all of the material content as well as everything else life throws at you. Planning can help you make time for things you may think you don’t have time for. The following are tips you can use to plan your schedule!
- Weekly Schedule: This is a technique I’ve been using for years and years now! This is my favorite one because it allows my week to go a little less stressfully. I usually plan my week on Sunday mornings and I’ll write out any important assignments and events, such as weddings, birthdays, or even White Coat Ceremony’s occurring for that specific week.
- Monthly Calendars: I use monthly calendars with a weekly schedule. I write out important events, such as birthdays and exams. This allows me to easily reference the dates when I’m filling out my weekly schedule.
- Hourly Schedule: I never used this technique until I got to medical school (of course). During block week every hour is critical. For this reason, I write an hourly schedule approximately one week before my block exam. In this schedule, I write out my entire days worth of schedule from practicing OPP to class times. This allows me to know exactly how I’m going to thoroughly review all lecture material.
- To-Do Lists: I actually do not use this technique as much for planning on dates, but I use this technique for studying. Many of my classmates use this to also plan out their schedules and it works very well for them!
Although this is not an exclusive list, it should help you get started on your future planning! It’s not one technique fits all. I use a combination of all of the above techniques depending on the week. What do you do to stay organized?
