 You need to stop trying to survive medical school. Guys, what is going on? I'm Lexi from the MD journey helping you succeed on your medical journey with less stress. This video, we're going to talk about why you need to get out of the survival mode of just surviving medical school and tips on how to get past it and why it's important to make sure you make these a habit in your medical school career. So let's first talk about why you need to get out of survival mode. We use this term a lot, right? I just need to survive medical school. I need to survive anatomy. I just need to survive and get past this test. We're always trying to get to the next thing and we're trying to get to the next finish line. But honestly, guys, there is no finish line medicine at all, right? There's always going to be another test, another rotation, another reason you're going to be stressed and you may tell yourself to make yourself feel a little bit better that I just need to get past this obstacle and I'll be fine. But you're going to be continuing to tell yourself if you just use that survival mode. And that's where burnout arises, where you keep having to tell yourself, I just need to survive. And every time your motivation of saying that and realizing that it's a never-ending cycle is going to burn you out, it's going to discourage you. So I'm going to give you three things that you can do on your medical journey to get out of the survival mindset. I think this is really what's helped me enjoy my four years in medical school without really feeling burnt out. I've enjoyed the experience and I know that every hurdle is part of the journey, but I still have a good picture. Use these three tips, especially if you're a student who is going through the early years of medical school and is wondering like, I don't know if I really can do this and I totally get that sentiment. It arises in every single person, but I think if you use these three strategies, you'll really be able to use a different perspective on approaching medical school. Everything will become a lot less stressful. So number one, you need to look at everything as if it's a lesson. Sometimes we're trying to speed past things because there's something more important that we want to get through. You're trying to speed through assignments because you need to study for an exam. You're trying to get past a rotation because it's stressing you out and you really want to just get to the next easier rotation, whatever that may be. But you're also losing and speeding past a lot of the important lessons. The thing about medical school that really separates you as from like a pre-med that's in college is that sometimes your patients may actually rely on the knowledge that you're learning in your classes today. You may be learning something in lecture that you zoned out for and a patient in the future may require you to know that info. So that makes it a lot more pressing and important to actually pay attention. So look at everything as a lesson. Use your lectures as actual lessons. They're going to be things your patients are going to rely on you for. But also if you are on, for example, your rotations, look at every patient encounter, every interaction with your residents and attendings, your pros and cons, and how well you do with your patient report. Be able to reflect back on those and look at each thing as a lesson. Because if you look at everything as a lesson, then you know that there's something of value that each day, each obstacle can give you. That way when you move on to the next step, everything becomes a little bit easier because you went through the hard part of being able to analyze it earlier. We actually do this when we're studying for a test, right? We're always told that when you go through a test that you take for the MCAT or step one, whatever it may be, make sure you read the explanations for your right answers and wrong answers. Because that way we don't get those and make those same mistakes later on. It's the same concept of everything else in medicine as well. So make sure you look at everything as a lesson because then you have a lot more rich experiences during your four years that you can reflect back on versus looking at everything as just another hurdle to get to the next step. Number two, and I feel like everyone kind of wants permission to do this or just wants to hear that it's okay, which is don't be a 24-7 medical student. I love to have what I call a checkout or a clock-out time every single day. So for me, that's usually like seven o'clock. I'm done being a medical student. Whatever that time is for you based off your schedule, make sure there are times of your life where you're not like John the medical student, but you're John the person that likes the basketball or go work out or read a book or whatever it may be. But make sure there's parts in your life where you can be that person that's you without medicine being attributed to it. So don't be a 24-7 medical student, especially if you have a significant other. If you have family in the area, whatever it may be, if you have kids, make sure you have time for them. So when you're scheduling your week, you're scheduling your day, make sure that there's times where you literally say, like I'm done being a medical student, chill time, whatever it may be. If you don't schedule your day and you want more insight on how to do that more productively as a medical student, then check out this link down below where I talk about how I schedule my day and you guys can get some examples and inspirations. And finally, number three guys is you need to make sure you focus on your progress. I hit this on a lot of my videos, but I want to make sure this is the first video you watched or the last video you watched on my channel. You understand this concept, which is focus on your abundance and not your deficiencies. In medicine, we are always comparing ourselves to others. We are always looking at everything that we do wrong. We always understand that our grades aren't as good as that person over there. Maybe they have more info than we do. Maybe they are better at interacting with patients, whatever it may be. But we're always comparing ourselves and we're finding and identifying our shortcomings. And more often than not, it is going to be a downfall for you. So focus on your abundance and not your deficiencies. That's why if you go back to my first tip, if you use everything as a lesson, you'll be able to be critical, but in a good sense. How can I improve from some of your weaknesses, some of the things that don't go well on a day-to-day basis? If you make everything a lesson, then you can focus on progress. And you can make sure that you have more things of abundance. Day in and day out, if I compare myself to who I was four years, I am happy with the progress because I made sure that I was critical in a short term, but in a long term, I'm happy with what I've been able to do. I'm not comparing my applications at this time when I'm applying to residency to other people. Whatever I've done, I feel comfortable with and I feel proud of. So to get to that point, you need to look at everything in a progressive mindset. Look at everything as a lesson and then worry about just making progress. The day in and day out, every week, try to become a little bit smarter when your rotations, a little bit better in your classes, a little bit more prepared, more productive, make that goal, whatever it may be for you, but try to be better every single day. Once you get through four years of medical school, guys, you'll understand that you didn't just survive. You were thriving the whole time. You looked at everything as a lesson. You weren't a medical school student the whole time, which is usually some of the biggest reasons for burnout is we tried to trap ourselves in a 24 seven schedule. And then finally, you're improving every single day because you're making that a priority. If you do that day in and day out, guys, I will promise you at the end of four years, you'll be able to look at your experience and understand I did it right. I've enjoyed it and I'm happy with the end result. So if you enjoyed these tips, let me know comment below what's one thing that helps you kind of get out of that survival mode. And if you're in that survival mode, comment below and also tell me like, what do you feel is the thing about medical school that is forcing you to always kind of be in that mode? Is it your test? Is your productivity kind of being overwhelmed by the material? Whatever may be comment below. Most of my subscribers know if you're subscribed and you comment below, you're entered for my drawings for my books and my courses for free. So make sure you are part of the community and you let me know what you think. But if you did enjoy this video, guys, and you want more content like this, first of all, like the video, subscribe to the channel. I'm putting out video on a weekly basis, more tips like this about medical school. So and check out the rest of the channel to get more tips on studying time management, whatever it may be. But I will link some of the videos I've referred to down below, which is kind of how to schedule your day. It's going to be one of the most important ones I posted. So make sure you guys check that below and make sure you like and subscribe to the channel. And I will see you guys in the next one. Take care, guys.