Habits of Effective Medical Students

M = Manliness
E = Enthusiasm
D = Decision
I = Insight
C = Crystallization
O = Organization
S = Smartness

M = Manliness

Effective medical students act with gusto, with energy and with mentality of a real man. They are much like the soldiers; the only difference is that they don’t go the physical battlefields. Their corresponding battlefield more of a mental one which includes but not limited to: understanding complex details, unexpected test, laborious lab practicals, longer-than-normal lectures, and so on. The ones that act with manliness survive and thrive and those that succumb to laziness wither  in bewilderment. And here, both genders, as long as they are the elites act with manliness.

E= Enthusiasm

Medical school is real tough! There’s no doubt about it. And those hard times play no favorites; bright students fail tests in medical school. But that’s not the end, it’s just part of the journey. I discovered that the elite medicos maintain their enthusiasm for learning and studying even in the face of medical school adversities. They’re  the ones that kept their focus on the big picture with the mindset that after hardship comes ease, so temporal events do not bug them down.

D = Decision

Life has strange ways. I mean things happen in medical school that we did not anticipate. The elites medicos are those that don’t follow suit when things go wrong. They evaluate the event and make the decision to keep moving and adjusting. As I used to tell myself the mantra: “Decide or you remain beside”, I see that it perfectly matched the things we’re talking about here.

When things go upside-down, decide remain upright; When you fail, decide to get up; Whereyou succeed, decide to celebrate. Also, when you make a mistake, decide to learn; Where ever or Whenever you’re in doubt, decide to remain courageous. That’s how the effective medicos make their decisions.

I = Insight

Bombarded with plethora of information and knowledge, the common guy consumes straightaway and regurgitates back when asked. But here’s the difference: The effective medicos have the habit of digging deeper to find the true value of the information they were given. They ponder over it, they ask questions and as result, gain the necessary insight to see what the common guys missed.

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C= Crystallization

Effective medicos understand that knowledge become yours when you do all you can to interact with it frequently, then finding where and when that knowledge is useful or can be applied. They don’t despise any information no matter how irrelevant it may seem. What they do instead is that they crystallise the facts and figures into a constructive data that make a meaningful whole, bearing in mind that such a parcel of fact can be used in the future to treat Malaria, for example.

O = Organisation

Well, how do you go about your daily activities? Do you just go through the day with the hope things would fall into place? Effective medicos are very good at organising themselves around their time. Notice I didn’t say they are very good at organising their day. They have the discipline to block out time for study, for food, for socializing, for cooking, and for everything and they follow through. It is that habit that helped them do things at the right time.

They are believers of the Aristotle’s quote which goes:

“Discipline is the ability to make yourself DO what you should do, when you should do it, whether you like it or not”

S = Smartness

I used to say: ‘Working hard does not always equals hardworking’. If you think about it you’ll come to the realization that the statement has an element truth in it. Of course all medical students must work hard in order to make it, but the elites do work hard as well as intelligently. They figure out what’s yielding good or mediocre or perfect outcome and place each in its position.

Conclusion

Let’s all strive to incorporate these 7 habits of effective medical students to help us sail through the ocean of medical school successfully.