There are various causes of procrastination. Fear of failing, fear of success, perfectionism and other people may be causing overwhelming anxiety that leads to procrastination.
It is critically important for medical school students to be honest with themselves and periodically self-reflect to consider if they are procrastinating. Consider what might be the cause of this problematic behavior and begin to turn it around.
A common reason for procrastination in school is the belief that every test, paper or assignment must be absolutely perfect. Humans are not perfect! Students can try hard, but constant perfection isn’t going to happen.
Procrastinating over fear of a flawed result must be attacked quickly before a huge amount of time is lost. Waiting too long can actually make fears of failure come true. Students can begin to think they made a mistake and give up on something very important to them.
Once accepted to medical school, try combating procrastination by starting to think and work like a doctor. This is the time to learn for the sake of learning.
[Read: What a First-Year Medical School Student Can Expect.]
Many individuals believe they have to be motivated before they can begin a project. We try to teach action before motivation. Forget about waiting for motivation or inspiration and just start doing what needs to be done.
Taking baby steps is much more important. I have heard it said that writing only five minutes a day, but writing every day, can enable a person to become an author in very short order.
We also remind our students that Mark Twain once said that if you have to eat an ugly green frog every day, you want to do it the first thing in the morning. That way it will be the worst thing you have to do all day. And if you have to eat two ugly green frogs, eat the uglier one first. Some of my students have kept little plastic green frogs by their computers, just as a reminder.
Doctors try to do their best with every patient. You can’t procrastinate or people will die. If you need to ask a question or look up a dose, do it at once. Doing what is the best choice at the critical moment, even if the solution is not perfect, will be necessary.
Failure to complete a task, such as charting a patient, means the doctor on call will not be able to figure out what you did or what the next step should be if the patient ends up in the emergency room.
Another cause of procrastination comes from making an unrealistic or unnecessary comparison to your classmates instead of focusing on your own efforts. Ask questions of your faculty and residents to learn — forget your pride for the sake of your future patients.
[Read: 4 Skills Every Premed Student Should Develop Before Medical School]
During medical school, you will be given opportunities to do research with your professors, often voluntarily. Students can be invited to watch procedures in the operating room that last for hours. Both of these sound enjoyable and helpful to your career.
However, before you say “yes,” consider your other mandatory commitments. Prioritize if tomorrow’s exam matters to you — and it should. Do you still have time to turn in the patient work-up that is due first thing in the morning? Can you really function well and recall what you need tomorrow if you have not slept?
Students might feel they cannot say “no,” and rather than communicating this, they say “yes” without considering, negotiating or acknowledging that this is not the time. Ask if the offer stands for another week. Try to start with a plan that can work, do not procrastinate and mobilize to begin.
When I was an intern, I remember having to finish dictations on 60 charts left undone by a resident who was terminated from the program. This was certainly a lesson I have never forgotten.
When hospitals stopped paying doctors if their charts weren’t finished on time, behavior changed quickly. This was certainly a message not to put off your duties.
Fear, perfectionism and feeling overwhelmed likely caused some residents to fall into a spiral of uncompleted responsibilities. There were little or no resources to deal with this problem.
[READ: 6 Signs of a Compassionate Medical School.]
Currently, medical schools and hospitals offer assistance when a student or resident is struggling. If procrastination is a problem for you, ask your institution what resources are available.
Waiting for inspiration won’t happen. Don’t put the cart before the horse; always think about action before motivation.
Most students will certainly not look forward to a hard task and long commitment, but breaking it into small pieces and initiating the first step will make each of the following steps easier. You will begin to feel satisfaction as you accumulate each success.
Take those baby steps. Nibble them off one bite at a time, just keep going and remember to eat that ugly green frog!
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Think Like a Doctor to Avoid Procrastinating in Medical School originally appeared on usnews.com
