Event 17: How to Avoid Falling Behind in Nursing School - How to Plan Your Semester

00:12 Hello friends, welcome to another live event! Today we are going to be discussing how to plan for your semester so that you don't, you know, fall into a hole and cry, which is never what we want.

00:26 Um, I'm echoing back to myself.

00:29 Let me know if I'm echoing back to you in the audience. Um, today we have Prof. Lawes who's going to be guiding us through how to actually plan things out and make sure that you will succeed in your semester and you don't make goals that are way too lofty. If you're anything like me, you make them, and then all of a sudden it's like, well, none of this is actually working because I wrote down the entire world and now I'm not accomplishing anything, which makes me more discouraged. And it's just sad.

00:51 And we don't want that.

00:52 So do let us know where you're listening from.

00:55 If you suffer from this exact same problem that I have, and maybe you have too, she's going to give us some very tangible tips that we can take with us into the world and just plan a little better.

01:04 Make it so we don't immediately fall behind, which is always sad if you're watching for the first time ever. Welcome.

01:10 I'm Liz. I'm a family nurse practitioner.

01:12 I'll let Prof Lawes introduce herself in just a second.

01:15 And if you stick around until the end, right, there might be something worth you sticking around for.

01:20 And it might be a discount code, so. Okay. Stick around. Excellent. We're going to have a lot of very, hopefully very down to earth tangible tips today for you to just ease your way into the semester, right. Because the beginning is just it's a lot.

01:33 All right. I'm going to hand it over to you and then I'll disappear.

01:37 Thanks, Liz. Hey, I think someone let us know that we have some students waiting in the live events part, so I'm sure you can help them get in.

01:45 Hello, everyone. We. I'm so glad you came to just hang out today.

01:49 This is just meant to be casual conversation.

01:52 You can put your questions anywhere, whether you're on YouTube or you're here in our discord, which I hope you are, because we hang out in there a lot.

02:01 Just pop a question in, or I'd love for you to give me feedback on what you're saying. First of all, Kimberly Greenwald, I went to high school in Illinois, so it's fun to see you here.

02:11 Welcome. So we're glad to have you, um, on the screen.

02:15 Um, nurse Liz, they can see what's on our screen right now.

02:20 They can? Alright. Okay.

02:24 That's good. Okay. So every one of us has felt this way about nursing school, right? This is it can be completely overwhelming.

02:34 And sometimes if this is your first semester, you maybe have not experienced it yet because some people do start in January, but everyone feels this way at some point.

02:45 So what we're here today is I want to help you understand how your mind works and what are things that can actually work for you.

02:54 Now, if anyone on here knows that they are ADHD, know that that's one of my passions.

03:00 I love studying about that and I understand what that mind works.

03:04 So I'm going to give you some different strategies that might work a little bit better for you. And whether you're diagnosed ADHD or not, it does not matter because you need to pick and choose what works best for your life.

03:16 Okay, so this is a picture that we would like to take.

03:20 All that is about nursing school and help it be an for you.

03:26 So what I'm looking for.

03:29 Oh, Dirk, that's a good question.

03:31 Um, can someone study online and still take the exams? If you find an online program that certified, you sure can. Alright, so now let's start talking about what you guys have done in the past.

03:44 How many of you have some type of planner that you use for school? Not just for personal events, but for school? All right, so tell me in the comments how many of you actually use a planner? Oh, you guys are shy today.

04:04 Well, I'm going to tell you from my experience in nursing school, um, this isn't predominantly what people do.

04:11 And this is where I see you can make your take your biggest steps, right? I see that, hey, freedom.

04:17 521 you use both the Google Calendar and a paper day planner.

04:20 I like that a lot. Okay.

04:23 I like doing that. So I want you to be thinking through as we talk through some strategies, what are ways that you can sharpen your System? So if you're already using a system it's fantastic.

04:35 That's good. And if any of you are parents or you're working, which many people are in nursing school, you have to be really on top of your schedule as you're doing it. So when you look at what you're currently doing, let's talk about the things that make you feel overwhelmed in school.

04:53 So if you want to add that in the Chat.

04:56 What are the things that, if you've been in nursing school, have made you feel most overwhelmed? Okay, we're having some challenges with the Chat.

05:10 Not a big deal. I'm going to tell you what I think nursing students have told me lots of times you're in multiple classes, so you have lots of different faculty.

05:21 On top of that, you have clinical nurse scheduling, right? You've got to go to clinicals.

05:25 So you're out for an entire day.

05:27 Some of you before you go to clinicals you have a big assignment due.

05:31 So here's some things we're going to talk about in the beginning.

05:34 At the end, I'm going to give you a little more practical strategies like try this and try that and we'll go through it.

05:41 But first I need you to kind of let go of your fantasy self.

05:45 Um, do you know who your fantasy self is? It's probably that student that sits in the front of the room and knows everything about class, right? They're super organized.

05:55 They're always on time.

05:56 They're turning their stuff in early. It's like, wow, how can someone be like that? Well, I want you to let go of.

06:03 That's not what success in nursing school is.

06:06 We just did a study and asked over 250 nursing school students what they how they would define success in nursing school.

06:14 So do you know what the number one answer was? Grades. That's what came back as the number one answer.

06:22 Is that legitimately the the way that you measure success? Well, it might feel that way, but I'm going to challenge you look at nursing school from a different perspective.

06:31 Now, those of you that may have had other jobs and you're a little farther along in life, you may be like, I just want to make it through.

06:37 I'm not worried about what my GPA is.

06:40 But maybe you're trying to get into another program and so you're concerned about it.

06:44 Here's the point. Before we start talking about not feeling overwhelmed, I want you to really take a second and think about what does success mean to me? What do I honestly me want to get out of nursing school? Okay, so take a minute.

07:01 And you know what? I'm a faculty, so I can stay quiet.

07:05 I'm going to give you one minute to think and then just write a brief word in the chat, okay? So here we go. I'm looking at the timer.

07:13 One minute. Go.

07:47 Okay. There's no judgment here. It's what is important to you.

08:08 Okay. Time's up. So let's talk about it.

08:11 Why would we like? You came here to know.

08:13 How do we get that? Ah, I love that, Tara.

08:16 Deep and solid critical thinking.

08:17 Hey, if someone also. I see that you said that you were interested in GPA.

08:22 I get it, there is no judgment here.

08:25 But what I want you to be focused on.

08:27 If that is what is your most important goal, then that's what needs to be part of your planning and how you're going about what you choose to do with your hours and with your time. Okay. So we're going to how do we take all this chaos of multiple courses, multiple faculty, different expectations? I know you guys have all told me horror stories about one faculty grading, you know, one way and another faculty grading the other way.

08:51 So I know that that's all a part of the humans that are in nursing programs.

08:56 But once you start focusing on what is really, truly most important to me, and kind of what you're saying to also comes back to, you want to give safe patient care, right? So let's take a look at how your brain works.

09:10 What is the way that you can put information into your brain in a way that you can still have a personal life and feel like you're not completely out of control in nursing school.

09:22 Now, as we're going to walk through this, what I want you to be thinking about is that sometimes studying feels like this, right? You don't know what the expectations are.

09:31 You've tried to make a plan.

09:33 So the first thing I'm going to challenge you to do is when a basic calendar, I'm going to assume that everybody on this call already does this.

09:41 They have either a digital calendar like Google Calendar, or they have a paper calendar like freedom five has five two.

09:48 One has both. Right? They have both.

09:52 So you need something that works best for you.

09:56 For me, I'm a visual person, so I'm like, freedom 521 I have to have both because I can pop it into my digital calendar really quickly.

10:05 But then when I'm sitting down to plan my week, that's when I really need to focus on, all right, where is my time going to be laid out? Now, for those of you that struggle with ADHD, time blocking might be better for you.

10:19 If you can estimate how much time something is going to take, you might just kind of block big chunks of your day on how you would fill that out.

10:27 Here's a challenge, though, with determining how much time something's going to take for you. If you have ADHD, you are a classic.

10:35 Have challenges with estimating how much time it's going to take you to do something.

10:40 But I'm going to say that most everyone when they start nursing school probably underestimates how much studying they need to do and what that really entails.

10:49 So what I want to make sure is when we're putting stuff in your planner, we're all on the same page that you either need paper or digital, and you need to make sure that it has all the important dates in it.

11:02 Right? So it needs to have every class period locked off on your schedule.

11:07 But in addition to that, you want to put travel time.

11:09 You want to put travel time to and travel time from because that time is locked up.

11:15 You're not going to be able to do that. So you're going to get your calendar in whatever format you want to do.

11:20 First thing is you plug in all your class dates.

11:23 Well, the one thing I like about digital calendars, I can just put it in there once and tell it to repeat for the rest of the semester.

11:29 You're good. Next piece that goes into your calendar is obviously going to be exam dates.

11:36 And on that exam date, I want you to block time before and after the exam date before it's for you to calm yourself, not to cram, and afterward is for you to de-escalate yourself so you know how you're feeling. So, so far on your calendar, you have the dates of every class that you have, and now you have the exam dates.

11:56 Now, some of you don't get your syllabi until the day class starts.

11:59 I know that is so annoying, isn't it? But as soon as you get that, that's where you want to lay that out.

12:06 Do you want to put down the exam dates and the dates of class? So we've got those blocked off.

12:13 All right. Now those are the non-negotiables. You can't really change class time and you can't exam time. Now the next thing next item that you should on your calendars is negotiable. Personal time if you are married, if you are dating, if you have children, if you are whatever else you want to do outside of nursing school, I want you to kind of put a pin in that and think about it, that you want to keep that time.

12:43 Like, how much time a week do I want to make sure that I spend with my kiddos or my partner, my significant other.

12:50 Alright, so let's kind of put that on the side.

12:53 You've got all the school dates, which if you guys are in nursing school, you're like Prof laws, I already know this.

12:59 I know, but I'm just making sure we're all on the same play.

13:03 So we've got your calendar, you've got your class dates, you've got your clinical dates, you've got your exam dates.

13:08 Those are all there. Once you get your syllabi, you know the next piece that you're going to put in keeping in mind what is that personal time you want to have? You also want to put in, um, when big projects are due.

13:20 So when you have like a major care plan, when you have an exam and a test, you want to get a feel for, how much time are you going to need to prepare for that? Now, I'll talk about that in just a minute, but know that so far that's what we've got on your schedule.

13:36 Here's where I want to start talking about your fantasy self. Do you see this picture up here? No. Right. That's a race car driver.

13:44 That's someone who seems to pick up things.

13:46 Now, if you think about them as a learner, they pick up everything fast.

13:50 You're sitting in lecture, they're talking to the faculty.

13:52 I mean, they're just catching your things and you feel like I can't even tell what we're talking about. And this person seems light years ahead of me.

13:59 Well, if your goal in nursing school is to really become a safe nurse, or even if you're still if you're focused on the GPA, that's okay. I'm just telling you, this isn't normal, okay? This isn't everyone.

14:14 So if you're thinking unless you're the person that catches it right away, I'm telling you, that's not the rest of us mere mortals.

14:21 We need to take a little bit more time.

14:25 So what I want you to look at when you're looking at that calendar is all right.

14:29 If I'm being completely honest with myself, how much time before an exam do I actually start studying for that exam? Here's a harder question.

14:41 Before I go to class, what do I do to get ready for class? Is there anything that I can do so that I can get more out of the Lecture? Now, whether you guys are in a flipped classroom where most of the content is done, the straight up content is done before you go to class, and then when you get into class, it's supposed to be active learning activities. I want to post this for you because some some people are really frustrated with that model.

15:06 Now, if your school is like, I want lectures, I think you think you want lectures.

15:11 But really, if you've sat through very many nursing lectures with straight up PowerPoints, um, they're really painful sometimes.

15:19 So know that if your school is using a video format, then you are still getting those lectures.

15:25 And the cool thing is they're edited.

15:27 They've got great pictures.

15:29 You know, they're shot. Well, those type of videos are going to be better than what you would get in a classroom experience, because you have teams of people looking at it like we do at Lecturio.

15:39 But in the classroom, if you come prepared with something to work with, like you've got kind of an idea of what the topic is.

15:46 You're going to get so much more out of class, no matter whether you feel the faculty is interesting or not.

15:53 That's key. So a lot of students are frustrated.

15:56 They don't. They don't. They feel like I have to teach myself.

15:59 That's really not what you're doing.

16:01 You're getting your brain ready to learn.

16:04 So when you spend time looking at what the subject is for class, when you spend time starting to dig into it a little bit and to do some of the background stuff of it, that's the minimum you need to do to not feel overwhelmed in nursing school.

16:19 So as each class is going, when you go back to that calendar, put in the topics for that week.

16:26 Okay. So just write them in on your calendar, because we all know that when you have goals, unless you can see them visually, you're not as likely to accomplish them.

16:35 So if you know that, hey, every Tuesday I'm going to have this class and these are the topics for the rest of the semester.

16:41 I'm going to have this class on Thursdays. These are the topics I'm going to have clinicals. Now we can start reverse engineering.

16:48 So the race car driver.

16:50 Very few people in nursing school can do that.

16:52 I have had one student in my career and I've taught a really long time, but I've had one student in my career and I was teaching pharmacology, and this dude sat in the back of the classroom.

17:03 He had sunglasses on. He was slouched back in his chair, and I swear he was sleeping.

17:08 And I was like, hey, I cannot wait till you take your first test.

17:13 This is going to be awesome because you're going to blow off class like this every time, and now you're going to take a test.

17:18 We're going to see how that works out for you. He finished the test.

17:21 One of the first people.

17:23 Do you know how he did? Amazing.

17:26 He did amazing. I told him, you are not normal, but you enjoy your nap in the classroom or whatever that is and how it's working for you. Because it's working for you.

17:37 But I'm telling you, that's not normal.

17:40 When your study habits are the race car driver, you're just going to try and race through it and get whatever you can out of it. Very few humans can do that. So let go of your fantasy self because very few humans can do that.

17:53 You're probably not one of them.

17:56 Does that make sense? So you have to own that and know that, hey, I'm going to have to take some more time to really dig into the content.

18:03 So maybe you can even ask questions in your class.

18:06 I know that questions are not always welcomed in a nursing classroom, so know that on discord here with me and Nurse Liz, we love questions and we'll do our best to get answers back to you that are helpful.

18:19 So on your calendar, when you have those topics of the classes, you have to start looking at where are you going to prepare for that class? You know, the night before is is really good.

18:32 If you can look at the content 2 or 3 days before that class, that's brilliant. I'm going to tell you, your brain does better with small amounts of material that are repeated, rather than just trying to sit down and overwhelm your brain. Yeah.

18:49 How you prefer to learn is great, but I can tell you something, Raphael. All of you are capable of being visual learners.

18:54 Auditory learners, all that.

18:56 We just have preferences of what we want, right? So know that. Know what you prefer and really use that to your strength.

19:04 But sometimes it just depends on the topic and the content.

19:07 So first point you have to have a baseline calendar.

19:10 Don't be that student that uses other humans as their calendar.

19:14 You put the baseline in and the one part that might be different is I want you to start planning. What are the study session times that you're going to be getting ready to go to class and you determine, hey, if it's an intense patho or acute and chronic illness class, you're probably going to need to spend a little more time than going to, I don't know, medical terminology, right? Or maybe not. But that's what you want to do is backwards plan.

19:36 Hey, I need to get in 20 minutes of review of this topic, or I need to get in 30 minutes of review, whatever that works out for you.

19:46 Some topics I can catch on really quick.

19:47 Other topics. Oh my lanta.

19:50 If it is math, I'm going to need a lot of extra time with it.

19:54 And my doctorate I had to take super hard math classes and I tell everyone I cried all the way through those, but the only way I made it through that class was to touch it once a day.

20:05 For me, that's what worked.

20:07 You have to figure out what honestly works for you.

20:10 If you're some people are like, I just want to pass.

20:12 I don't really care what my GPA is.

20:15 Your goals may be different, but just be honest with yourself.

20:19 You know, we did a study where students felt like they were just overwhelmed with studying, and they were doing so much of it.

20:25 Well, when we looked at the actual time they were spending per day.

20:29 Anyone want to guess how many minutes it was per day? Go ahead, just guess. How many minutes a day? I mean, they're like, hey, I'm killing myself for this class.

20:43 This is unbelievable. I study and study and studying, studying, studying. There's nothing I can do. Less than nine minutes a day.

20:54 So that's what their activity? Yeah. No, not five hours.

20:57 Less than nine minutes a day is what they were studying for that course.

21:00 But in their minds, they thought they were studying just hours and hours and hours.

21:05 Well, I have to tell myself worrying does not count as studying, so don't be that student.

21:10 At least own an accurate picture of what your work you can put in.

21:15 And then for that time you are all in, right? Don't have your phone on, don't have distractions.

21:20 And we'll talk about some methods that you can do that.

21:23 So first point you have to be really aware of what your basic schedule is, what your class is, what are your assignments, what are your exams and what times are you willing to prepare for that class before you go to class, not after class.

21:40 So let's talk about how you prime your pump.

21:42 Now I asked you on your calendars.

21:44 Also, plan some debrief time after each class.

21:47 Here's where this is the gold for you.

21:50 Next time in two weeks, I'm going to teach you how to take notes, because I've learned from my students that no one teaches you how to take notes, particularly in college courses.

22:00 So that's what I'm going to do next week. We're going to practice for two weeks. Right.

22:04 I'm going to practice giving you just a little mini lecture about something silly.

22:08 So it's not intimidating.

22:09 You can actually take notes on it as you're going through.

22:12 And then I'm going to help you critique your own notes and show you how you can take notes. In a way, they're going to be effective for you. And I can tell you a clue.

22:19 It is not trying to transcribe everything your faculty is saying.

22:23 That's not the magic in notes.

22:25 The magic is learning where key points and I'll show you how to do that.

22:28 So let's talk about how you can prime the pump of your brain, because that's the purpose of not feeling overwhelmed in school is that you have your brain functioning as efficiently as you can.

22:41 So look at this drawing up there.

22:44 You see this guy? It looks kind of like that's like a really old fashioned pinball machine, which some of you may not have ever seen one.

22:50 But you notice that ball goes in. You see how it's all kind of stuck in this pattern? Well, maybe you've had the experience where you're taking a shower and all of a sudden, ah, you remember something that you've been trying to think of, or you figure out a solution for a problem and it happens at like in the shower.

23:08 Really? Or it happens sometimes right before you're going to sleep or when you wake up.

23:12 Your brain is working in the background all the time.

23:17 Sometimes it doesn't feel like it.

23:19 Sometimes you think yours is stuck somewhere, but it really is. When you're in something like this with focused brain, you're just really trying to understand something.

23:29 Sometimes the best thing you can do is step away.

23:33 Now look at how much area in the diffuse brain Springtime that you can cover that ground. Remember I said on your calendar here I want you to do is like, put in non-negotiable time with your family.

23:43 You need to fuze springtime in nursing school to earn that GPA or to learn those contents differently. Yeah, so I'm never the faculty that would tell you.

23:52 Well, you can't see your friends cut out your social life.

23:55 Your marriage is going to be in trouble.

23:57 I mean, I've I've heard people orient others to nursing school like that.

24:01 That's crazy. Now, honestly, this is something that I struggle with because I tend to overload my schedule.

24:08 So I'm I'm still trying to work on that even at my point in life.

24:12 But here's what I want you to understand.

24:14 I'm not saying you should have all free time and a tiny bit of study, but your brain needs time to process the information that you put into it.

24:24 So put the information into your brain in an orderly way.

24:27 I'll show you how to do that and give your brain time to process it.

24:31 Allow your brain to be like a microwave, and if you're really good, maybe an Instant Pot, but you you don't want your brain to be like a microwave. You want it to be something more like a slow cooker.

24:42 Really thinking things.

24:44 I said that wrong the first time, I apologize.

24:46 So no, that time that does not involve studying for nursing school, studying for an exam, reading content that's diffuse time and that's really important. So if you're taking any notes, if you're a note taker, just kind of not that down. Note that down in your notes.

25:01 Like what would diffuse time be for you? What would be the kind of things that would be really fun for you to do something that's not nursing school focused? Um, I can tell you that napping counts, sleeping counts, exercise counts, and it's really, really good for your brain.

25:18 Did you know that exercise actually makes your neurons more susceptible to link together? So it's brilliant.

25:24 The more you exercise, within reason, you get these extra spikes that come out of your neurons.

25:29 It's a beautiful thing.

25:30 So exercise. Even in nursing school I know it's difficult to fit in is also really, really good. Tara, you're not alone.

25:38 That's why we're all here today. Because we've all felt overwhelmed in school.

25:42 There's a ton of material, and connecting the dots is the hardest part.

25:48 So what I would do with you is.

25:49 Yeah, where do you restart in the videos? I think you could, um, and you know, we can take this longer offline so I can give you some additional tips.

25:59 But what we really need to do is look at the courses that you'll be taking and see what are the main concepts there.

26:05 And then look for the best foundational knowledge that you need to start a way you can identify areas where not sure what where you need to study more is we have practice questions in all those topics.

26:18 So those can give you an idea where you're kind of rusty or where you need to connect more of the dots. And also, you always have us as a resource.

26:26 We're going to be adding more nurses to help us in the discord so that we can get you answers quick, because we know a lot of times you guys are under a time crunch.

26:34 But keep in mind, Tara, one of the best things you can do for yourself is have a solid schedule that's realistic that you're willing to work with, and then plug in diffuse brain time.

26:45 So figure out what works for you.

26:46 Napping and exercising always work, but you have to make sure that you come back to work on your nursing school stuff too. So we're not all race cars.

26:54 Most of us are the hikers.

26:57 We're the ones who need to move at a relatively slower pace.

27:00 But you're still learning a ton of school.

27:03 But see, when you're doing focused brain stuff, that is all prefrontal cortex.

27:08 It's right here. And I know if you have ADHD, we have some executive dysfunction things going on in there. But know that when you are you're really trying to lock down in study.

27:18 You're using your prefrontal cortex.

27:21 Diffuse brain time uses all over your brain.

27:26 And that really will help you make connections.

27:29 Tara, there's another thing I would recommend that I always recommend to students, whether I'm doing an NCLEX review or I'm talking with them in school.

27:37 Two questions I want you to ask yourself about anything that you're studying.

27:41 First one. Uh, so why would a nurse need to know this? Right. So I am looking at you.

27:48 So you've got med surge.

27:50 Why do I need to know that? Um, pulmonary edema is, like, the worst thing that can happen to somebody with CHF. Well, I need to know that because I need to watch for it. Because first question is, why would a nurse need to know it? Second one is, how can I keep a patient safe with this knowledge? Okay. So I'm looking at CHF because you said med surge.

28:14 I know that they can develop pulmonary edema.

28:16 Now, without going into the path of all that.

28:18 Because I love that part.

28:20 But why do I need to know that somebody on CHF has pulmonary edema? Ah. Because I learned in health assessment that if I listen to the lungs and I hear crackles, that's fluid volume overload.

28:33 That's a really bad deal in CHF.

28:36 So I know why do I need to know that pulmonary edema is a problem? Because I need to be on the lookout for it.

28:41 So I know whenever I take care of a patient with CHF, I know to watch for fluid volume overload.

28:47 And one of those key factors is pulmonary edema.

28:50 That's a pretty serious overload.

28:52 So write those two questions down.

28:54 Why would a nurse need to know this too? How would this help keep a patient safe.

29:00 And start asking you those.

29:02 That's how we write test questions.

29:04 That's a really quick way for you to learn how to do application and analysis.

29:09 Those higher level, really weird nursing questions.

29:12 And we've got lots of study videos for you on how to answer nursing questions too.

29:17 Check out our NCLEX review course.

29:19 I think I have 66 videos there right now.

29:22 They're already published. They're available for you. We're coming out with some really cool stuff too. In addition to that, I've got 66 videos where I will walk you through how to take test questions and things you should be looking for, and you can apply those same principles when you're studying. Cool.

29:37 Yeah, we love it when you guys ask us questions.

29:40 Now this is one of my favorite words.

29:42 It's like, yeah, you know what I'm saying? I think it just sounds so fun.

29:49 But that's what it means is like, oh crap, I can't do anything.

29:52 I don't get it. I can't understand it.

29:55 Because, see, you need your neurons to fire together, to stay together. That's what we want them to do.

30:00 But when I'm in, I'm still Link.

30:03 It's not happening, right? I am stuck, I can't get things moving forward.

30:08 I got a major problem, and that's just the word I would say to myself when I was in multivariate statistics, and I couldn't make sense out of those concepts.

30:17 Continuing to study sometimes is not what you need to do.

30:20 Kenny Rogers says you got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away and know when to run.

30:28 In studying and prepping for nursing school.

30:30 You need to program around this.

30:31 Know that sometimes if you're not getting anywhere, it might be best to come at it from a different angle or switch to a different subject, or go do some diffuse brain time and then come back.

30:43 Okay, that's my word. I'm studying when I can't get those neurons to fire together, to stay together. I remind myself that's what it is, and I know I either need to take a break or I need to switch to some other type of activity. But if what I'm finding myself saying is I'm never going to get this, I'm never going to get this.

31:01 I need an X percentage on the next test.

31:03 Otherwise I'm not going to pass that.

31:05 When I hear myself saying those kind of things, then I know that this is no good.

31:10 This is no bueno. I'm not doing myself any good.

31:13 My attitude is going right down the dumper.

31:15 So that's when I know I need to switch gears.

31:18 I need to go do something else, and I would encourage you guys to do the same. Now, usually when we have habits and we have trouble with school and we're really having a hard time. We're feeling overwhelmed. It's usually based in fear.

31:33 So when I'm afraid of something, when I'm afraid of my multivariate statistics class, am I likely to just dive right into that subject? No, because you know that you actually feel physical pain when you are like when you're procrastinating, you get released from that pain.

31:50 So your brain, like, senses things as in pain, like, say, I'm really dreading that.

31:55 Um, acute and chronic final like, ah, I don't know what I'm going to do about it. Why do we procrastinate studying? And I am gifted in procrastinating.

32:05 But why do we procrastinate studying? Well, because one studying isn't fun, but we're afraid of what the result is, so we'll make excuses why the tests are impossibly hard.

32:19 Um, I'm way too busy. No human should ever be able to do this.

32:23 If you all haven't made any of those excuses, I Absolutely have. So I want you to be thinking about what are some keystone habits.

32:33 These are things that you can do because what negative patterns have you fallen into? So how do you avoid feeling overwhelmed? We talked about a practical thing your calendar.

32:45 You've got the time blocked off.

32:47 And you notice I keep using repetition with you.

32:50 Yeah. It is not meant to be like, oh, we got it.

32:55 That's how our brains learn.

32:58 Stopping, pausing, recalling information and going back at it.

33:02 That's how you're going to have better encoding and retention.

33:06 Now Danielle, you're talking about successful in your maternity, OB clinical and lab Lecture in nursing.

33:13 Yeah, that's a lot. And honestly I like to hold babies after they're all cleaned up and out of the hospital. Like I am not a women's health.

33:22 That is not my scene. But many of you like myself.

33:25 You're gonna have to go through a maternity class. So what I would best recommend is follow these strategies that we're talking, but also check out Doctor Jackie McMillan.

33:35 She her class is fantastic.

33:37 She is from, um, Duke University.

33:40 And check out how cool this faculty is.

33:42 When she knew she was going to be teaching this class. She's also a doula. She went back to work, working night shifts on an OB ward so that she could make sure her practice was current. So that is really killer.

33:55 So check out her stuff that's also on our website.

33:59 You can take a look at it.

34:00 So let's start talking about the negative habits that you have in your life.

34:05 How many of you and I know you do not need to tell me in the chat, how many of you have those automatic negative thoughts? You worry and fret about what your GPA is, that this faculty has it in for you, or this faculty is not fair, or you're never going to get this.

34:22 And how come everyone else can answer questions in class and I feel like I.

34:25 I can't catch up. Those are automatic, negative thoughts and they pop into your mind without control. You have to be really intentional about getting rid of those negative thoughts. Negative habits are also like that.

34:41 Yeah. Hey, nurse Liz, can you put a little note in about the class? Uh, the maternal child class on our website so that Danielle can have knows right where to go? I know because we have so much stuff on there, sometimes it's hard to find Danielle.

34:54 So your negative keystone habits, these are things that you're doing that are self sabotaging. These are the things that are self-inflicted that you're doing in nursing school. How likely are you to procrastinate? Are you writing notes and then you don't look at them again until right before the test? And if that is one thing you could change about your next semester, and not getting overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge you have to learn is that we'll teach you more about note taking in two weeks.

35:22 But right now, hey, and you can evaluate if that works for you.

35:26 But the best thing, no matter how you want to take notes during class, is what you do immediately after the class, or at least before you go to bed.

35:39 Okay, so your behaviors, your habits, what you do with your class notes immediately after class till the at least before you sleep.

35:48 That's critically important to you encoding and retaining that information.

35:52 Now I didn't just read this somewhere. This is what I studied in my doctorate.

35:55 Educational psychology is what? It's so nerdy, but I love it.

35:59 So that's why I know I can tell you that if you really want to get that solid in your brain, what you just talked about in class, stop at the end of class at least before you go to bed, because sometimes you have to run off to something right away. I want you to write a brief summary of your notes, look over them, make a note of what doesn't make sense or what you need to clarify.

36:21 Do it right away. On that same day anytime before you go to bed.

36:26 But if you invest 15 minutes in going over your notes, making some quick summaries, identifying what's unclear for you, and then trying to pick out wow, if I had to pick like the three most important things in these notes, what would it be? Like, how do I know I'm a student? That's the gig. That's what we want to teach you how to do is how do you find the most important thing? Because it's not always what was held in class.

36:53 Right. So we want to do well on the exam.

36:55 But when you want to be a safe nurse, you want to think about what have I just studied that could really harm a patient if I don't know it? What could I miss as a nurse if I didn't know it? So one negative keystone habit I would like you to try and overcome is make your notes useful. Stop just trying to transcribe everything that your faculty says and you walk out of class hardly knowing what class was about. You're just going to be a really good dictation. If you want that, you could go be a court reporter and make way more money than a nursing student.

37:29 Okay, so what I want you to think about is it's the mental gymnastics that you're doing in class and how you're able to take thoughtful notes.

37:38 It's going to do you much better.

37:40 Because, listen, you really need to go to class and you need to be visible with your faculty. La la la la. You guys all know that routine, but your notes are not serving a lot of you as well as they could.

37:53 And so these little strategies, I promise you, if you do that, it's going to help you a whole lot, even if you don't change how you take notes, if you pause and reflect on them and hit the highlights, that is going to be the gold for you.

38:06 Your brain is just going to eat it up.

38:08 And then when you go to sleep, that's when your brain starts sorting through information and picking up the things that you don't need and really kind of cleaning up every all the information stuff that's in there.

38:18 So you want to do it before you go to sleep.

38:22 So you know those negative habits, the dreading that we do for like studying.

38:26 That's because. Is anyone else like this? Like you make something bigger than it has to be.

38:30 I know, and I have to do the dishes or unload the dishwasher. I'm like, oh, this is going to take forever.

38:37 And if you have ADHD, you're really good at dreading things.

38:41 Our mind just kind of warps in that way.

38:44 Let me challenge you for something. Use a timer for a positive way.

38:48 What I've done is I have just like, like to teach myself, like, okay, this is not a big deal.

38:54 You're being really dramatic about doing this task.

38:56 I will set a timer. And then I look at how much time it actually took to take me.

39:01 And it's usually embarrassing. Far less than I thought. I'm like, wow, I was throwing a real fit.

39:05 So with studying, if you set timers to identify how long you're studying and what you're doing, I think you will be amazed because studying only counts if you're actually focused on topic, right? You can't check your email.

39:20 You can't be on your phone.

39:21 You can't do any of those things that I want that dopamine hit for.

39:24 In my world, you just have to stay focused on studying.

39:28 Now, for those of you that, um, gaming something really helps.

39:31 Like, hey, let's see how many drug names I can get in the next ten minutes.

39:34 Let's see how many. That's another strategy that kind of gets you into doing it.

39:39 But here's I'm going to wrap up this final part of this section.

39:43 And then Nurse Liz is going to kind of come on. And we're going to do a question and answer in case we missed anything.

39:49 The best way to not get overwhelmed in nursing school is to reframe your thinking.

39:55 Yes, you need to have a calendar that really works, and that has time plotted in every day on what you need to do.

40:02 Studying just doesn't happen.

40:04 You need to plan out, hey, I'm going to study pharm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.

40:10 I'm going to study acute and chronic two on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays.

40:14 Oh, I've got clinicals every third Friday, so I know I'm going to be worthless when I come home. So I'm going to look for things that I can refresh in my brain during clinicals. You've got to have some type of calendar because good study habits don't just happen, you have to hold yourself accountable.

40:30 But reframing the way you think about yourself.

40:33 I have worked with, um, I usually tutor in my community if anyone is here in my community, and they were unsuccessful on the NCLEX.

40:41 If I've taught their class, I tell them I will tutor you so that I until you pass the NCLEX because usually it's not a knowledge problem.

40:50 I mean, you guys are bright.

40:52 You're smart. I know in nursing school we don't make you feel that way a lot of times, but you really are. And when you get to a test, sometimes it just freaks you out a little bit.

41:02 So I want to talk about how you reframe both when you're in taking a test and when you're just in everyday nursing school.

41:09 Right. It's just three steps.

41:11 I want you to remind yourself now, I've got the really nerdy, um, educational psychology theory down there in case there's any other Ed psych nerds out there. But I know this is a little cartoon, but I want you to really say, like, I find myself saying, I can't do this.

41:26 Like you can. You just haven't been able to do it yet, right? So when you find those automatic negative thoughts saying, I can't do this, I'm never going to pass this test.

41:36 I'm never going to get a decent grade on this care plan.

41:39 And oh, I wish I could just give you a hug if you're still having to do care plans.

41:43 But when you find yourself saying that, you need to reframe that and say, no, wait a minute, I can do it.

41:49 And how you do that is if you want to tell yourself, I've done lots of other things that were pretty difficult, I can do it.

41:56 I was like, I can't walk into class one more day.

41:59 Yep, I can. I can do it.

42:01 I can handle it. And I can push through this.

42:06 Okay, now that sounds super cheesy.

42:08 I get it, but you don't have to say it out loud or to an audience.

42:13 But I want you to start reframing those thoughts when you convince yourself you can't do this. This is too much.

42:19 It's unfair. It's not right.

42:21 They grade too hard. All those things are probably true.

42:25 We're not arguing that.

42:26 But they are what they are.

42:27 This is what you have to get through.

42:30 So I wish you would write those some down.

42:32 Like I can do it. I can handle it.

42:34 I can push through it.

42:36 Keep reframing those thoughts.

42:37 Keep your calendar in line.

42:39 Make sure that you have a written plan when you're going to study what and when you're taking those notes, come back and I'll show you some really cool strategies for taking notes. Also, how you can take notes in a way that will help you answer exam questions.

42:52 Beautiful example. So get that calendar done.

42:56 Make sure you take time at the end of class.

42:58 Review your notes and write a summary. I'll walk more through that next time and work on reframing those thoughts about yourself in nursing school.

43:06 Recognize when you are stuck, go do something else and make sure you always program in diffuse brain time with your friends, with your family, or by yourself.

43:18 Nurse Liz, you want to come back for Q&A? Sure. Are we all done with the on your beautiful slides? We are. We can take those away.

43:29 Lovely. I thought that was very helpful.

43:31 Definitely good to bring yourself back to reality and be like, hey, friend, let's get into a realistic zone because as we know, I never, ever lived there.

43:40 Uh, Tara says, thanks so much, Sirius.

43:44 She knows you the best.

43:45 We got it. You know, um, if it doesn't go well, and I think in nursing school is the worst for that.

43:50 Like, do you remember the vipers that would stand out in the hallway? What'd you get? Like, they always want to ask what your grade was.

43:57 I was like, I'm going to go eat tacos immediately.

44:00 People. Stop it. Don't do that.

44:04 Absolutely. Yes. Um. So.

44:06 Yeah, if you guys have any questions, uh, let us know.

44:09 No question is. Well, I won't say that this isn't my channel.

44:13 I was going to say no questions. It's too weird, but I was like, no, no, probably not for here. Um, yeah, just let us know.

44:19 And if you want to continue conversations with other people who are in the exact same situation you are in, we do have a free discord.

44:28 It just has a ton of case studies that we do every day with like questions and answers and rationales. And then we have it's just filled with other nursing students who are going through exactly what you're doing. We're covering a lot of this, like getting ready for the semester and then in the middle of the semester, we all like, you know, are chugging through it. And then at the end, everyone's like, yes, we can do it. Uh, so go check that out. The link is in the description below.

44:49 Um, it's totally free and you get to hang out over there and, uh, it's my baby. So I think it's pretty cool, but I'm probably kind of biased.

44:56 And, um. Yeah, Raphael has our vote of confidence.

44:59 I love Lecturio, thanks for everything.

45:01 Um, I'm glad you like it.

45:02 Uh Lecturio. Also, it is a great.

45:05 I mean, it's a learning platform.

45:06 We obviously both work there, so we both like it.

45:08 Uh, if you do need, like, video resources or help, Prof. Loss teaches a bunch of the classes, you can go watch them.

45:14 Um, and so that's always there to that link is also in the description and right here.

45:19 And since you're here, if you sign up you get 20% off.

45:22 If you get like the annual thing.

45:24 So you can just take off.

45:26 I know I very last minute acquired a coupon code for you.

45:30 Uh, if you're watching this and it'll be good for two days from now.

45:33 So the codes. Hello, 2023.

45:35 If you want to snag that, if you're watching it.

45:37 And it's been already two days.

45:38 Um, make sure your notifications are on for the next live event, because there may or may not probably be another one.

45:44 It'll be a different code, but that'll be encouragement for you to sign, subscribe, and hit the bell.

45:49 I'll do all the things so that you're notified, but that's where it is. The description, uh, links also in the description.

45:55 And it's a great way if you don't like reading books.

45:58 Okay. Uh, if you're like me and you're like this, uh, I would like to make these lovely goals in my planner that are realistic, but then I fall asleep on page two.

46:06 Hello. You might be related to me.

46:08 Our brains might be the same.

46:10 Videos. My friends. Videos are magical and are the way to go.

46:17 Absolutely great. Amika. You're welcome. Thank you, thank you. Ben Keller, thanks for doing this. I started Lecturio in May and started an accelerated nursing program. Ooh, ooh. I already have a step up with pharm and accelerated.

46:27 Man, that is fast. Good job.

46:29 Oh, I'm glad Pharm. Yes, I love Pharm.

46:31 And we're going to be updating adding more things to farm. So good times.

46:35 Yes all the good things.

46:37 Um, yeah. There we go.

46:39 Any other last words? If you guys don't have any questions, then, uh, we might, unless you have anything else to say.

46:45 Prof. Laws? No. Everybody likes to get out early.

46:49 I know, seriously? Which never happens with either of us.

46:51 So it's like we did it.

46:55 We made it. Hey, join us.

46:57 And we put the discord invite in the link right there so people can join discord if they want to. Yep. So you can go join that.

47:03 Um, if you, uh, knows, like, everything, uh, for real. And she's in there all the time answering questions.

47:10 If you just have anything, you're like, uh, I was like, why did I get this wrong? Or, like, this doesn't make sense, or I just need help with this.

47:18 She's over there all the time answering questions she knows with the way the NCLEX thinks, uh, she knows it.

47:24 She's in the NCLEX. Mind if you have a life question where you're just like, I'm not doing well and it really is.

47:29 Should just be like, I'm not doing well because that's where I excelled. Was it not doing well? If you're like, I'm not doing well, I need a pep talk. I'm like, I'm your girl. If you need anything academic prof loss, she's in there. She's going to help you.

47:40 Yes. So if it's complex, we'll crack out a quick podcast for you.

47:45 So we'll get those answers to you in a way that you don't have to end up reading a whole lot either. Yes. And she's done that on different.

47:51 I post case studies every day with like questions and answers and rationales of breaking them down a little bit more and going into that. So we're doing all sorts of that, and we want it to be helpful for all of you.

48:01 So whatever you need. Um, the like I said, the discord is completely free for whoever wants to go over and join. Tell all your friends again, it's my baby. It makes me look good when you share it, so go share it with everyone.

48:13 But it is everything I wanted in like a community when I was in nursing school and NP school, which is why I made it so I'm hopeful that it will be helpful for all of you.

48:23 And you can go check it out.

48:24 The links down there and the Lecturio link is there too.

48:27 Uh, if you're signing up for the annual membership, just use that code. Hello, 2023 and you'll get 20% off.

48:33 I can't recommend it enough.

48:34 It's why I work here is because I was like, oh, that's actually everything I also would have needed in school was for you to tell me exactly what to study and when and how.

48:43 Bam, done. Um, so that's what we have.

48:46 And this is going to kind of be an educational series.

48:48 We have two more that are scheduled coming up, like we talked about, uh, how to actually study and then how to take tests. So we're going to get you through this semester, we promise. And next time, I might even figure out discord and I are going to go have a long chat.

49:02 Uh, we were this was supposed to be streamed also on discord, and, uh, didn't quite work.

49:07 So we're going to go have a very long chat with discord.

49:10 I am, but you're here.

49:12 If you're watching this live or on the replay, we are grateful you're here.

49:16 Um, make sure to come back for the next one.

49:19 Anything else in two weeks? Yeah, in two weeks. So I think everyone will be back.

49:23 At that point, it looked like when we did a poll over, uh, in discord the other day that everyone was kind of like starting next week was kind of like the week of everyone returning, so that's exciting.

49:34 Um, live it up till then, I know.

49:37 Go enjoy your time. Everyone always asks what you can do before school starts. Just relax.

49:41 Once it starts. It's just a lot, right? It's just a lot. So just do nothing.

49:48 Watch a lot of Netflix.

49:49 Just be very lazy and enjoy every second of it.

49:53 You deserve it. Good deal.

49:56 And on that note, my friends.