Listen, PA school is tough know that. It’s a slog and, when you’re in it, it feels like it’s going on forever.
Keeping the mission in mind is a major key.
The mission is finishing PA school and passing the PANCE.
Each individual test and quiz will get you there, but on their own each one is NOT the mission.
I’m sure you’ve heard the idea of
“Losing the battle but winning the war.” My wife and I deal with thatt all the time as parents. Our job isn’t to win every single battle with our kids. That would alienate them, and they’d think of us as tyrants. They’re allowed to win some battles because our ultimate objective is to grow good humans, not win too win battles.
What I didn’t know was that there’s a term for winning a battle at all cost and thereby losing the war. It’s called a pyrrhic victory.
A pyrrhic victory feeds your ego. You feel like you did the right thing because you won in the short term, but instead of sacrificing the one small battle you’ve sacrificed the entire war.
As a student, keeping your mission top of mind is essential. You can’t win every battle. There are too many fronts to fight on. You’re being attacked from all around you. You have to be a great general in order to complete the mission. You have to keep moving forward while you make sure the supply lines (food and water) stay open. You might lose here or there, but you keep moving forward to ultimately win the objective.
The April issue of the Physician Assistant Exam Scholars Newsletter will help you decide which battles you MUST win and which ones it may be okay to lose. Rather than throwing all of your energy at everything, and then everything slipping through the cracks.
You can do this. You’re going to have to let some things go in order to keep moving forward. This is exactly how I got through PA school, and it’s a tactic you should try. I can’t wait to help you with it.
Join here
Physician Assistant Exam Scholars
Brian Wallace
P.S. There will be an audio version delivered through the PAER app available on April 1st.