Morning fellow medics,

I hope we are all keeping well and looking after ourselves. It has been a long 12 months with its ups and downs, but we are (hopefully) seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Despite what may be happening with the C word, we need to stay focused on the next big goal - passing the clinical exams to work within the NHS.

I am going to share my thoughts and ideas on what I feel can help you get motivated to start and more importantly continue on your revision journey. I practice these tips myself, have read around the topic and spoken to a good number of people who are successful in their area of expertise. So if you want motivation - keep reading…

1) EARLY RISER

Or should I say ‘earlier’ riser. This may not work for everyone, and as I have referred to in previous posts, you may like to do the majority of your revision in the evening/night. Despite this preference for the evening, there is something amazing about waking up even a little earlier than you normally would, say 30 minutes earlier. You feel you have achieved something which then perpetuates into positive vibes the rest of the day. Those 30 minutes could mean you spend more time reading, walking, eating, relaxing…whatever you decide to do, it gives you more ownership of your morning, and therefore the willingness to sit down and revise.

2) MOVE

Getting moving in the morning is naturally a good thing. It doesn’t have to be formal exercise, although if you do a cardio work out, this is great and I admire you! I mean, even a 25 minute walk in the morning, some stretching, even jumping around on the spot, can get you feeling a little more awake. Even throughout the day, avoid sitting in one spot by getting up and stretching. My Apple Watch doesn’t let me get away with sitting in one place for too long (annoyingly)...so I randomly stand up and stretch, get up and a make a tea, or just do some house chores.

3) EAT WELL

I love a good breakfast. I know some people who do not eat breakfast at all…so this tip does not fit all. Eating well and having a fresh selection of food keeps you full of energy and makes you feel good mentally. Drinking plenty of water and having healthy snacks are better for the mind and body. I am no food expert and do not claim to be, but one doesn’t have to be an expert to know which foods make you sleepy post lunch and which don’t.

4) GET SOME SLEEP

Get enough sleep for you (the numbers vary, so it does take trial and error). I tend to go to sleep early i.e. 9:30pm to get up at 5:30am. Due to the early rising, I tend to get sleepy around 9:30ish. Again, this will vary depending on when your most productive times of the day are, and so work around what works best for you. Do not deprive yourself of sleep, if you get tired in the evening, do not fight it, if your body is saying it is time to close the books and switch off the laptop..it probably is. You may feel fresher and less demoralised if you just stop and get some rest.

5) NO DISTRACTIONS

When I am doing solid work, I leave my mobile in another room. There is something about a phone…a bleeping phone…you can’t just help but glance at it…and then ‘boom’ you have stopped what you were doing, got distracted and then can’t focus on the original task. I love being in control of when I decide to look at my phone, usually after some good work for an hour, I get up, stretch, look at my phone and then have 5 minutes to return calls/messages. This art of no distraction can be extended to the morning (I tend to not even touch my phone for the first few hours of the morning - I know crazy).

I hope you found this above tips useful for you, everyone is different but even if you make one change to give you more structure to your day and to increase productivity, that is better than nothing.

Stay focused x