If not careful, poor time management skills can derail your medical school dreams. I hate to say this but it does not get easier as you progress through your training. Medical school will test your efficiency to the max. You will relish every free second and with each new stage in life, you will have to learn new strategies. Even as a practicing physician, I still struggle to free up precious personal and family time. Here are a few tips you may consider using to make yourself a more efficient student.

1. Recognize You Cannot Manage Time

Time management is actually an oxymoron. There is no way to control time itself. You must recognize that all you can control is yourself. The goal should be to become as efficient as possible. If you really think about it, there has been a paradox taking place over the decades. We have more and more tools which are designed to improve efficiency yet we complain more than ever that we have no time. This means all this extra time has been hijacked by distractions and we must fight for it back. The time is there. We just need to prioritize wisely.

2. Just Say NO

Simple enough. Overcommitment dilutes your commitment. It is good to allow yourself to diversify your premed experience but you must learn when you are overdoing it. Don’t wait until your grades are suffering to recognize you should not have taken on that extra position. I have heard many premeds admit to this huge regret. Learn to say no to people and activities that will eat away at your 24 hours. Always ask yourself, how will this benefit myself and others, can I realistically fit this into my schedule without significant sacrifice, and is this a task I can delegate to someone else.

3. Set Goals

This goes back to recognizing your “why” (check out PreMed Mondays on this topic). When you know why you are doing what you are doing you will maximize your time. Sit down and write down your ‘why’ and follow this up with your short term goals and longer term goals to bring this ‘why’ to fruition. Surround yourself with cues. If you have met Dr. Dale and I at a conference you may have received a wrist band with the words Premed G.R.I.N.D. on it. This is one of those little cues that will trigger you to think, “hey, I need to get back on track.”

4. Plan Ahead

Last weekend, I spent a good 3 hours creating templates in my EMR (electronic medical records). By doing this, I will be saving myself approximately 1 minute per note. This equates to roughly 20 minutes a day and 90 minutes a week. That was a well spent 3 hours planning ahead. Likewise, skimming your lessons or chapter summary before a lecture will often help you internalize the material better. Briefly preparing and familiarizing yourself with material will almost always put you ahead of the curve.

5. Follow the 80/20 Rule

This is known as the Pareto Principle. It states that for most events, 80% of the effects will come from 20% of the causes. Based on this principle, 20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results. This means that if you were to plan ahead and make a list of 10 important things to accomplish in a day or in a semester, 2 of those tasks will turn out to contribute more to accomplishing your goal than the other 8 combined together. Some of you are stuck on the wrong tasks and overlooking the game changers. It is important to learn what tasks belong in that 20% and strive to tackle those first. This will help you fulfill the “work smarter not harder” motto.

6. Phone Free Periods

Phones have become a major distractor if not the most major distractor for this generation. Some strategies you may consider using to combat this include scheduling checks twice daily for email and social media accounts. You may want to limit or stop notifications from websites that are not providing you with critical information. Try putting up automatic replies to your phone or emails during your study periods and let the other party know you won’t get back to them until the following day (during business hours). If you are bold enough, you may even turn off your phone or leave it at home.

7. Get the RIGHT Job

In college I worked as a basketball referee while my brilliant sister worked in the library. Guess which one of us stayed up till 2am catching up on their studies? Working while in college can be a great thing if you choose the right type of job where you can study in the right type of surrounding. You might as well knock out 2 birds with 1 stone by being allowed to study and earn a little bit of cash. One thing that surprised me through my training was the fact that many students at the top of the class were working through school out of necessity and some even had families. I think these classmates were successful because they were forced to become extremely efficient and they had a strong ‘why’.

8. Accountability

Many blogs on this site have brought up the importance of friendship. Your friends will be one of the biggest crutch or barrier to your success in life. They should serve as accountability partners pushing you to stay on track. A good friend should encourage positive habits. I would also recommend gathering a few more accountability partners including your premed advisor if you have one and the PreMed STAR community.

9. Learn How Best You Study

Please consider reading my prior blog entitled “the Study Hack” which discusses important study strategies. Everyone learns differently so you need to find which style works best for you. Taking the time to learn this while you are a premed will save you a lot of struggle and pain in medical school. It is critical that you are studying efficiently for the class or test at hand. I say this because some tests favor quality while others favor quantity. Efficient studying depends on the type of test you are preparing for.

10. Rest

We all need a little bit of rest and relaxation. Your body will remind you of that sooner or later. Gym time was always my kick-back period but it was important not to overdo it. Get your  7 to 8 hours of sleep and sit down to enjoy at least one meal a day. Spend some time for yourself (without a phone) to hear yourself think or pray. Your body will be rejuvenated and it will pay off in the long run. Burn out is a real, often times self-inflicted problem too many of us encounter. Start learning to avoid this now.

I hope these 10 areas will help you in becoming a more efficient student during your premed years and beyond. Please share with your friends and let the community know what tips you may have to maximize those 86,400 seconds in the day. Alright, now get back to your premed G.R.I.N.D.!

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