A few days ago, I was outside hitting fly balls to my son.
He wanted me to hit balls that are harder and harder to catch. Divers, on the run, over his head, whatever. And he’s been catching them!
He looked at me that day and said “The key is keeping your eye on the ball. You have to watch it the whole time.”
He’s stumbled on a major key in sports – one that a lot of people never get. What’s more, whether he heard it from somewhere or not, he’s internalized it now and he’s got it. He owns it.
Keeping your eye on the ball won’t help YOU necessarily, but it got me thinking. What are the keys to studying, what are the keys to passing your exam? What are the keys to success and moving forward? I’m going to start with a big one. I didn’t make this up. I got from Greg McKeown, the author of Essentialism. But it becomes so obvious once you hear it:
Key #1 “Research has shown that out of all of the forms of motivation, nothing is better than progress.” – Greg McKeown.
Nothing motivates like progress. Measurable, seeable progress. And the 180 degree opposite is also true. Nothing demotivates like lack of progress. My oldest gets a a hit and he all but begs me to go up the field and pitch batting practice for him. He strikes out three times, and I can’t drag him to the field.
Now for the real trick. How do you apply this to studying? I get emails all the time about lack of motivation. How do you get off the couch and study?
You have to see your progress. You have to see that it matters and that you’re making a difference. One thing that’ll help is a good study plan and only choosing a few appropriate resources. If you don’t have a plan and you have a stack of resources, you never ever FEEL like you’re making any progress. You have to get this down to only a few materials and you have to have a plan. Have a plan that you can see moving along.
How do you do the for your PANCE? Put a picture of a mountain on the wall of your bedroom. Cut out a little mountaineer from a magazine and put milestones along that mountain (Cardiology, Pulmonology…). At the halfway point, put a 300-question practice test. Move that guy up the mountain every time you finish something.
I’m not kidding. Everyone will think you’re nuts. Would you rather be nuts and passing, or cool and failing?
Earlier I mentioned using only a few content resources. The Final Step fits right in there because it doesn’t overlap with any other materials out there. I don’t think you need two of the same type of resource, just one good one in each category.
Get your copy here:
Brian Wallace