Dear J & B,
I’m not performing as well as I would like. I don’t attend lectures. I do spend 3 hours per hour of lecture watching media site. I’m a visual learner so I color code my notes. I then try to draw all the mechanisms. I’m studying all of the time, yet I never have time to do more than 1 pass through the material.
— Overwhelmed and Underperforming.
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From CoachingPositivePerformance.com
Do you struggle with reaching your goals? The reality is that most people do struggle. When you set goals for yourself, you undoubtedly have the very best of intentions. You want to succeed with your goals and reap the many benefits that come with making successful and important changes in your life. However, there is something that you may fail to account for in your goal planning i.e. life itself. Just when you are ready to take the necessary actio
ns and make those vital changes; life gets in the way and you are unable to remain focused on your goals. If you cannot remain focused on your goals, you will lose momentum and fail to make the progress you desire. This soon leads to a loss of confidence and motivation.
Hiroe Hu is a student in Touro University California’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.
“Know the big picture.” Despite its simplicity, this was one of the best pieces of advice that I ever received in medical school (thank you, Dr. Lin!). Over the past year, this has become my mantra that served me well in both my academic and personal life.
My study strategy almost always involves the “big picture sandwich.” First, I listen to lecture or watch YouTube videos to grasp the summary of the material. My second pass would be a more in-depth look into the materials: reading the slides, referencing textbooks, memorizing facts, and taking notes to put the knowledge into my own words.
Med student Danielle Saenz made a wonderfully joyful video by using a second or two recorded during each day of her grueling fourth year, set to upbeat music. The good news is that it looks like she found lots of opportunities to live life in between epic bouts of work and study.
[This Is How You Eat A Buick from Danielle Saenz on Vimeo.]
Dr. J is Touro California Director of Academic Support Dr. Jill Alban.
Dear Dr. J,
I am already getting behind and I’m worried I’ll never catch up! What do you recommend?
— Behind the Wheel on Mare Island
Dear Behind,
Use your week-ends to catch up and get ahead. You have 48 hours. Even if you give yourself 9 hours of sleep, 2 hours of exercise and time for breaks, you’ll have plenty of time to catch up. The most important thing is to create a study plan. Research on study strategies has demonstrated that good students create a study plan and stick to it. Once you’ve made your schedule-set it in stone. Make a commitment to follow it.
Blogger Tim Urban wrote so many smart and lively posts about procrastination, they gave him a TED talk on the topic!
For more, you can visit Urban’s own blog. Here at EfficientLearning.org, we also have our own series of posts on procrastination exploring the problem and possible cures:
Dr. J is Touro California Director of Academic Support Dr. Jill Alban.
Dear Dr. J,
I’m having trouble sleeping because I’m having issues with financial aid. Is there someone I can go to talk to about that?
— Sleepless in Solano
No sooner did we post an item about a free speed reading tool than we found out the program had helped a current Touro student!
Christina Choy is a first-year student in the College of Pharmacy, class of 2020.
Legentas was very helpful at introducing me to speed reading. I had always thought that I read quite quickly, however after starting the program I realized that I was reading inefficiently.
This program offers various eye gymnastics exercises and trains you to increase your visual span, as well as read in a rhythm that allows for better retention. Before I started Legentas, I was reading 204 words per minute. By lesson three, I was reading at 334 words per minute!
Mey and her feathered friend, Nova.
We asked recent MPH alum Mey Saephan some questions about her time here at Touro — What did you find helpful? What did you find not helpful? What do you wish you knew before starting? — and this is what she had to say!
Public health is a broad field. Graduating with an MPH enables to you help people and hone in your skillset. Here are a few tips for how to be successful while you are here at Touro, finding your career path.
Because procrastination is such a common problem, especially for students, we are presenting a series of articles that explore the issue in depth. This week, we look at the crucial importance of prioritization in breaking the bad habit.
Christopher Scheer is a learning specialist at Touro University California.
In a way, priorities are everything. How our heart/mind weights our likes and dislikes, wants and needs, values and goals — these rankings, developed over a lifetime, are like the software code which runs under the conscious surface of our thoughts, guiding our decisions and actions.
Contentedly eating a malted at the baseball game because you prioritize joy and sugar? That will change in a jiffy if a line drive comes screaming at your head at 100 mph; your most basic survival programming will have you drop that treat, no problem, in order to better duck out of the way or put up your hands to try and catch it.
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