Nurse in the making @studyjournalofastudentnurse - Tumblr Blog

OH MY GOD whyyyy did no one tell me you’re supposed to send thank-yous after interviews?? Why would I do that???

“Thank you for this incredibly stressful 30 minutes that I have had to re-structure my entire day around and which will give me anxiety poos for the next 24 hours.”

I HATE ETIQUETTE IT’S THE MOST IMPOSSIBLE THING FOR ME TO LEARN WITHOUT SOMEONE DIRECTLY TELLING ME THIS SHIT

a-windsor

NO ONE TOLD YOU???? WTF! I HAVE FAILED YOU. Also: Dear ______: Thank you so much for the opportunity to sit down with you (&________) to discuss the [insert job position]. I am grateful to be considered for the position. I think I will be a great fit at [company name], especially given my experience in __________. [insert possible reference to something you talked about, something that excited you.] I look forward to hearing from you [and if you are feeling super confident: and working together in the future]. Sincerely, @mellivorinae

exmellivorinae

THIS IS A LIFESAVING TEMPLATE

a-windsor

YOU ARE WELCOME

emeraldboreas-deactivated201809

My brother got a really great paid internship one summer. The guy who hired him said the deciding factor was the professional thank you letter my brother sent after the interview.

suaimhneas-peace-deactivated202

should it be an email? or like a physical letter?

daminwayne

email, you want to send it within a few hours at max after the interview if you can so it’s fresh in their mind who you are.

khirsahle

Confirmed! I interviewed for a job right after arriving in NY. The interview went incredibly well, and I went home and immediately wrote a thank you letter and put it in the mail. I had a super good feeling about this interview.

I didn’t get the job.

However, a few weeks later, I was called in to interview with another editor in the same company, and I did get that job. I found out later from the initial editor (the one who didn’t hire me) that he had planned to offer me the job, but since I didn’t follow up with a thank you letter, he assumed I didn’t really want it. He offered the job to another contender–but when he got my letter in the mail shortly after the offer had already been made, he went to HR and gave me a glowing recommendation. It was based on that recommendation that I got called in for the second interview.

So: send an email thank you immediately (same day!) after the interview. If you’re feeling extra, go ahead and send a written one too. OR go immediately to a coffee shop, write the letter, and return to the office and give it to the secretary.

Either way, those letters are important.

neurofancier-deactivated

Pro tip: If you really want HR to develop a personal interest in your application, publicly thank them on linkedin. Just make a short post telling your network about how X recruiter really went above and beyond to make you feel welcome, or about how be accommodating and professional they were, or whatever. Make sure to use the mention feature so they’ll get a notification and see it.

Flattery will get you everywhere… and public flattery that might make its way back to their manager, doubly so.

oaky-dokey

Obligatory plug for one of FreePrintable.net’s sites: ThankYouLetter.ws. They have a whole section with interview thank you letter templates, and a page with specific tips for interview thank you letters. (There are also tons of other letter templates if you browse around a bit.)

cricketcat9

As a former professional recruiter and recruiting manager, I confirm, especially for entry-level positions, where you are competing with oodles of people. This little thing can make a difference. Also the fact that, maybe, you took time to google the “interview etiquette”.

boogiewoogiebuglegal

SIGNAL BOOST

ironswordandstarshield

The post-interview thank you notes can be a good way to recover in case you got asked a question whose answer you either didn’t know or felt was super weak. So if you follow the above given template, jump in with something like “upon further thought to your question, here’s my revised answer.”

But yeah always send a thank you note after an interview. It’s a small thing but it makes a hell of a difference. And def send thank you messages to any recruiters who may have helped. And also after you get the job. Small things like that really go a long long way.

dxmedstudent

I didn’t, but UK medical interviews are centralised to your deanery rather than by hospital. Also they are rather points based. Otherwise if you’re directly being interviewed by an employer, it sounds like good advice.

thegraymethod

PSA: The questions people ask you while you’re in the hospital or at the doctor’s office matter

So I’ve been spending about two hours in a neurosurgery clinic waiting room every day for a couple of months now (waiting for my husband to get off work because we carpool). And it has brought to my attention the number 1 thing patients complain about: questionnaires.

“They ask me these questions every time.”

“This information is none of their business.”

“Why do they even need to know this?”

“Who cares?”

“You’re like the 100th person to ask me my birthday.”

Ok. Let me just make one thing really clear. Every single question we ask you as healthcare professionals we ask for a REASON. We NEED to know this information in order to provide safe and effective care, even if the question doesn’t seem relevant to your current issue.

One thing I specifically hear patients (especially elderly patients) complain about is being asked about their sexual activity. Listen, I know it seems inconsequential. But if you’re sexually active, we need to be aware so that we can determine if your symptoms could be caused by STIs. If you’re on hormonal birth control, you could be at risk for blood clots and we need to treat you for that. If you could be pregnant, there are certain drugs we can’t give you and procedures we can’t do.

We NEED to know your medical history. It’s what helps us determine if heartburn is really an MI, or if that stomach ache you’ve had for weeks could be cancer. It helps us decide what tests to run. Most symptoms aren’t specific to one pathology – they could be related to any number of things. Your medical history gives us clues as to where we should start. It might even save you money if it means we don’t have to run a thousand tests to figure out what’s going on.

The particular clinic my husband works at also does quality of life surveys pre-op and post-op that people love to complain about. PEOPLE, THIS IS THE ENTIRE POINT OF HEALTHCARE. If the surgery didn’t improve your quality of life, what the fuck is the point? Especially spinal surgeries that are supposed to improve chronic back pain. The only way we can determine we are doing our jobs correctly is by YOUR RESPONSE TO TREATMENT.

And as for my own recent experience in the OR, SO MANY PEOPLE complain about how much they get asked what their birthday is. I know it’s annoying, but we are literally just making sure we don’t operate on the wrong person. You are a total stranger. I’ve never met you. I need to know I have the right patient before we remove the uterus of a 32 year old woman who might still be using it. It’s a safety issue and it is FEDERALLY MANDATED so just bear with us and trust that everything we do we do for a reason.

My point is this: trust your healthcare workers. Trust that we don’t give ourselves the extra work of handing out and reading forms just for fun. We are doing procedures and providing medications that can affect your body and your life – we like to be thorough to make sure these things won’t kill you. It’s that serious, guys.

/rant

oraclesofnorway

Your body is an incredibly bizarre machine.

“What you see is a myosin protein dragging an endorphin along a filament to the inner part of the brain’s parietal cortex which creates happiness. Happiness. You’re looking at happiness.”

andrewbelami

Look at her STRUT!!! She is dragging that endorphin for filth and using that filament as her runway, bitch.

thebrothersjonas

writing conclusions in papers is like the stupidest thing ever though like what’s the point of dedicating an entire paragraph to “so yeah i know you just read my paper but this is a summarization of what you read in case you need to be reminded about what you just read” like why can’t the paper just end

field-thistles

I keep seeing this post and similar ones, and if y'all’s teachers and professors have left you with the idea that a conclusion is a summary, they have failed you in a big way.

Your conclusion is your “so what’s the fucking point” section. You’ve given you’re reader a lot of info and now they need to know why they care. Depending on the type of paper you should be giving a plan of action, explaining how this knowledge changes our understanding of the topic, link your paper to other disciplines, suggest further areas of study, etc.

One of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve ever received is that if you can’t envision yourself dropping the mic and strutting off stage at the end of your conclusion then it’s probably not strong enough.

inspirelocked

“So whats the fucking point” is more helpful than all 6 years I’ve probably been writing papers

elodieunderglass

Listen up, chucklefucks: I have a point to make.

Some shit went down. Here are the receipts.

Here is the tea.

^ Introduction, supporting paragraphs, conclusion: a basic essay structure.

bri-ecrit

There are three major things to put into any major essay:

The What

The “So What?”

And the “Now What?”

Your conclusion is the “Now What” — you’ve convinced your readers that they need to pay fucking attention to something, and now you tell them what to do next. It’s not just summarizing and wrapping up your main points for the sake of repeating yourself. It’s like the last five minutes of class where I’m reminding students of the big takeaways about what we learned and giving them the homework that reinforces it in a way that holds their attention while they’re trying to pack up their shit and get out.

belle-and-bowties

Would’ve been nice to know this while I was in school!

buddhaprayerbeads

A simple mental health pain scale.

southernbitchface

I’m so thankful this exists. I think that many people with mental health issues (myself included) downplay what they’re going through.

I’m an 8 right now. If I hadn’t seen this chart tonight I’d keep denying my struggle. Now I have to face it.

nekkid-and-famous

Been sitting at a 7 for….a really long time.

janedoemd

ECG: quick and dirty

I’ve had countless sessions and lectures on ECGs. I don’t know how many websites I have bookmarked, or how many times my eyes glazed over reading Dubin. I’m also terrible at cardiology. I was on my way to accepting my fate of being horrible at ECGs forever, until I had a life changing session on ECGs taught by a great ER doc. I want to post it here because it was probably the most useful thing I learned in med school, and it will stick with me for the rest of my career.

WHEN LOOKING AT ECGs FOR THE FIRST TIME:

1. One ECG is never enough. Always get old ones for comparison. If none available, do another one. Because. One ECG is never enough.

2. RATE. Look at the number on top of the printed ECG. It’s stupid not to use that number. Yes, you should know the rule, 300-150-100-75-60-50. People say you shouldn’t trust the machine because… well, it’s a machine, and it can make mistakes. This is true. I don’t like to look at their “diagnosis” until I have gone through it myself. But the rate is just a number. Plus you should be able to eyeball it and be able to tell if it’s tachy, brady, etc. If the machine is telling you it’s 200 and if it looks tachy, then it’s probably the right number.

3. RHYTHM. Is there a p-wave for every QRS and a QRS for every p-wave? Is the p-wave upright in lead II and down in aVR? Good. Done. BOOM. It’s sinus rhythm. ***if you cannot clearly see the p-waves then you cannot call sinus. move on.

4. AXIS. Again, look at the number at the top of the page. If it’s between 0 and +90, then it’s normal axis. If the number isn’t provided, or if your preceptor doesn’t believe in the convenience of machines/technology, look at the QRS complex of lead I and lead II.

up in lead I, up in lead II: normal axis

up in lead I, down in lead II: left axis deviation (most common causes are left anterior hemi block and left ventricular hypertrophy)

down in lead I, up in lead II: right axis deviation (most common causes are right ventricular hypertrophy…PE)

5. did someone say HYPERTROPHY?

look at V1

is the R wave tall? (greater than 7mm?) right ventricular hypertrophy.

is the S wave tall? (greater than 11mm?) left ventricular hypertrophy.

6. P-waves

look at lead II

is it wide? left atrial enlargement.

is it tall? right atrial enlargement.

7. PR interval

should be between 0.12 sec and 0.2 sec (3-5 small boxes). I used to always get this interval and QRS complex (less than 0.12 sec) mixed up. Think: atria depolarizing + shit getting to ventricles is gonna take longer than ventricles depolarizing. [2 things happening] versus [1 thing happening]. [0.12 sec-0.2 sec] versus [<0.12 sec].

long PR interval means there’s some sort of block at the AV node.

1st deg block. PR interval is long. everything else is normal. cool.

2nd deg block

type I: PR interval progressively gets long. eventually a dropped QRS.

type II: PR interval is constant, but randomly dropped QRS.

3rd deg block “complete block”

there is no association between P waves and QRS. they run separately. **QRS does NOT have to be wide. Just look for P wave/QRS complex disassociation. I sometimes get this and 2nd deg type II mixed up. The only difference I try to remember is that PR interval is constant in 2nd deg type II, but is variable in 3rd deg.

8. QRS complex

narrow or wide?

narrow: good. signal coming from somewhere above ventricles.

wide: think BBB (bundle branch block)

LOOK AT V1 ONLY.

if the last deflection of QRS is DOWN, then it’s a left BBB

if the last deflection of QRS is UP, then it’s a right BBB. super easy. no more of this bunny ears crap.

9. ST segment

always look from J point, and compare with the isoelectric line of T-P segment (NOT PR interval).

elevated/depressed… STEMI… duh. indicates ACUTE ischemic changes.

look for reciprocal changes of the heart. if ST elevation in lateral leads, could see ST depression in the septal leads. PAILS:

posterior up, anterior down

anterior up, inferior down

inferior up, lateral down

lateral up, septal down.

LBBB can look like STEMI. How to tell?

disconcordant changes is normal. (QRS and STEMI on opposite sides of the isoelectric line.)

concordant changes is abnormal.

massive discordance is abnormal. (STEMI is greater than 5mm)

this isn’t that important. Moving on.

Inferior STEMI. Could right ventricle be involved?

DO NOT GIVE NITRO DO NOT GIVE NITRO DO NOT GIVE NITRO.

order a 15 lead

is STE in lead III > lead II? likely RV involvement

INFERIOR MI? 15 LEAD NO NITRO

10. T waves

is it inverted? indicates recent ischemic changes.

11. Q waves

is it significant? indicates old ischemic changes. will likely be present if followed rule number 1 of reading ECGs. (1 ECG is never enough= look at old ECGs).

I literally go through this list of 11 points in my head when I’m reading an ECG, regardless of whether or not I have an atrial flutter jumping at my face or if I see a massive anterolateral STEMI. Obviously I needed background knowledge on ECGs and the physiology of the heart before constructing this list, but this basic checklist has been very, very useful to me so far. It might look lengthy, but it doesn’t take a lot of time at all- a patient is not likely going to have all these issues with their heart.

Anyway. I still don’t love ECGs, but it feels pretty wonderful to be able to be able to evaluate it in a systematic manner, and get the theory behind interpreting the scribbles of an ECG reading. I don’t get these moments as much as I would like to, but it’s that crosspoint where my classroom learning actually meets real-life applications that gives me happy brain-gasms for days. I love knowing things and more importantly, knowing why.

priorisn7-deactivated20180719

This is Medblr gold. Reblogging for anyone staring down the barrel at 1 July.

cranquis

I learned a lot here.

bedbugbiting

My face is having uncontrollable spasms. Great. It hurts really, really, really bad.

I think part of why I have trouble explaining pain to the doctor is when they ask about the pain scale I always think “Well, if someone threw me down a flight of stairs right now or punched me a few times, it would definitely hurt a lot more” so I end up saying a low number. I was reading an article that said that “10” is the most commonly reported number and that is baffling to me. When I woke up from surgery with an 8" incision in my body and I could hardly even speak, I was in the most horrific pain of my life but I said “6” because I thought “Well, if you hit me in the stomach, it would be worse.”

bomberqueen17

I searched and searched for the post this graphic was from, and the OP deactivated, but I kept the graphic, because my BFF does the same thing, uses her imagination to come up with the worst pain she can imagine and pegs her “10″ there, and so is like, well, I’m conscious, so this must be a 5, and then the doctors don’t take her seriously. (And she then does things like driving herself to the hospital while in the process of giving birth. Probably should have called an ambulance for that one!)

So I found this and sent it to her. Because this is what they want to know: how badly is this pain affecting you? Not on a scale of “nothing” to “how I’d imagine it’d feel if bears were eating my still-living guts while I was on fire”.

I hate reposting stuff, but I’ll never find that post again and OP is deactivated, so, here’s a repost. I can delete this later, i just wanted to get it to you and I can’t embed images in a chat or an ask.

derryderrydown

This is possibly why it took several weeks to diagnose my fractured spine.

petralemaitre

Pain Scale transcription:

10 - I am in bed and I can’t move due to my pain. I need someone to take me to the emergency room because of my pain.

9 - My pain is all that I can think about. I can barely move or talk because of my pain.

8 - My pain is so severe that it is difficult to think of anything else. Talking and listening are difficult.

7 - I am in pain all the time. It keeps me from doing most activities.

6 - I think about my pain all of the time. I give up many activities because of my pain.

5 - I think about my pain most of the time. I cannot do some of the activities I need to do each day because of the pain.

4 - I am constantly aware of my pain but can continue most activities.

3 - My pain bothers me but I can ignore it most of the time.

2 - I have a low level of pain. I am aware of my pain only when I pay attention to it.

1 - My pain is hardly noticeable.

0 - I have no pain.

airagorncharda

It’s also really important to get this kind of scale to people who have chronic pain, because chronic pain drastically lowers your perception of how “bad” any kind of pain actually is, and yet something like this pain scale is extremely user friendly.

For example, if someone asked me how much pain I’m in at any given time, I’d say hardly any, and yet I’m apparently at a chronic 2.5, and it only goes up from there depending on the day.

There’s also a similarly useful “Fatigue Scale”

jedijenkins

I haven’t been below a 5 on this scale for 4 years

nerdgasrnz

Here’s the fatigue scale

yokhakidfiasco-deactivated20210

Financial security is when you forget it’s payday.

the1movement

Can’t wait for this to be me

oscarwildeboytoy-deactivated201

Hey, unpopular opinion, apparently. But people don’t just “have pain for no reason” doctors say this all the time (especially to women and chronically ill people) and the truth is, Thats literally not possible. Even if your pains are psychosomatic (a word I hesitate to even use because of the way its used so often) there is a reason you are having those pains whether its mental illness, abuse, etc. If your doctor consistently tells you that “well some people just have pain for no reason” get a new doctor. That’s a doctor who is not going to give a shit what your actual symptoms or experiences are.

kamorth

I just wanna add to clarify the psychosomatic thing.

That word DOES NOT MEAN you’re making it up. It doesn’t mean you’re imagining the symptom. What it means is that the symptom ISN’T DIRECTLY CAUSED BY ANY OF THE THINGS THAT WOULD NORMALLY CAUSE IT.

I fought to get a PCOS diagnosis for 2 and a half years. For the ENTIRE time I was fighting, I was dealing with 3 cysts that were not going away by themselves and eventually required surgery to remove. At one point close to the end of the battle, I suddenly went blind. I was visiting my parents and was standing on the veranda looking out over the tree we had planted in memory of my dog and suddenly I got one of the shooting pains that I was quite frankly used to at that point and my vision started to go dark. It was like the sun was setting while being completely hidden behind storm clouds but it was 2pm in the middle of Summer on a clear day. Within about 30 seconds I couldn’t see ANYTHING. I was 27 years old and I was screaming for my mother.

My mum raced me to her doctor (he was a 15 minute drive away as opposed to 45 minutes to the nearest hospital) and he quickly worked out that there was nothing wrong with my eyes and what had happened was totally unrelated to them. Then he said it was psychosomatic and I freaked out, yelling that I was NOT making this up and I definitely wasn’t imagining it. Very quickly he calmed me down and said he believed me and I had misunderstood. He explained that whatever was going on with my abdominal pains (he suggested PCOS which I hadn’t even heard of at that point) had been ignored for so long that my body was starting to do things other than the normal pain response to try to draw my attention to the problem. My sight going was my body basically jumping around in front of me going “HEY ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME HELLLOOOOOOO??????”

He gave me some prescription strength painkillers and my sight started to come back as soon as they started to kick in. About 45 minutes after it started I could see well enough to walk around without help and within a day and a half I was back to normal. On top of that I finally had a scan booked to figure out what the hell was causing all the pain.

Psychosomatic symptoms are NOT imagined or fabricated or happening for “no reason”. Experiencing them DOES NOT make you a liar. It makes you someone who has been battling with something serious for so long that your own body has started to get impatient with you.

oscarwildeboytoy-deactivated201

I completely agree. Thank you for sharing this.

virqosgroove

Slide this fast and look at the magic

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Reblog for good luck if you saw purple!!!

Original post here

megumi-divine-deactivated202209

WHoT IN THE NAME OF DARK MAGIC IS THIS OMF

medicalbasics

Sepsis: Fact or Myths? | Healthier You Blog Home | Wellness Library | UPMC Pinnacle

themed-student

Medical School Resources! (and other human biology,physiology,biochemistry-related resources)

Hi Everyone!

Update: I am now officially done with my second year! I know i’ve been MIA on here for a while now - but that’s only because I was drowning in textbooks and assignments! I will be writing a whole other post on what my second year in medical school was like - so watch out for that :)

I, for one, can not just rely on one method of learning. Meaning, I’ll jump from videos, to textbooks, to flashcards. In this post I’m going to list some of my holy grail youtube channels that have helped saved me.

1) Handwritten Tutorials

https://www.youtube.com/user/harpinmartin

Every video in this channel is short, but not so much that you feel like you’re missing out on information. Definitely one to save as a favourite!

2) Armando Hasudungan

https://www.youtube.com/user/armandohasudungan

The best thing about this channel is the fact that there are over 300 videos, covering a wide range of core topics in endocrinology, neurology, physiology and pharmacology. Another pro is the presentation of topics (otherwise considered snooze-worthy) in an artistic manner!

3) Speed Pharmacology

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-i2EBYXH6-GAglvuDIaufQ

Raise your hand if you’ve ever fallen asleep trying to read about the mechanism of action of opioids, their side effects and contraindications. I know I have. Fret not, for this youtube channel will introduce you to a world where pharmacology is actually interesting.

4) Wendy Riggs

https://www.youtube.com/user/wendogg1

Wendy Riggs is a very down-to-earth professor in Northern California, and she covers a wide range of topics in Anatomy, Physiology and General Biology.

5) Anatomy Zone

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAnatomyZone

A better way to learn anatomy is to supplement your textbook information with videos from this channel. The explanations and visuals provided are absolute gold.

I hope you all find these channels as helpful as I did!

thatadult

sending “I hope you get that job” vibes to the people out here tryna get jobs

theeeprotagonist

reblogging for yall bc the shit worked for me lol

blkmedusa

Karma will pop me if I don’t

amer-s

42 Practical Ways To Improve Yourself

Books are concentrated sources of wisdom. The more books you read, the more wisdom you expose yourself to. What are some books you can start reading to enrich yourself? Some books I’ve read and found useful are Think and Grow Rich, Who Moved My Cheese, 7 Habits, The Science of Getting Rich and Living the 80/20 Way. I’ve heard positive reviews for The Tipping Point, Outliers and The Difference Maker, so I’ll be checking them out soon.

Learn a new language.As a Singaporean Chinese, my main languages are English, Mandarin and Hokkien (a Chinese dialect). Out of interest, I took up language courses in the past few years such as Japanese and Bahasa Indonesian. I realized learning a language is a whole new skill altogether and the process of acquainting with a new language and culture is a totally a mind-opening experience.

Pick up a new hobby. Beyond just your usual favorite hobbies, is there something new you can pick up? Any new sport you can learn? Examples are fencing, golf, rock climbing, football, canoeing, or ice skating. Your new hobby can also be a recreational hobby. For example, pottery, Italian cooking, dancing, wine appreciation, web design, etc. Learning something new requires you to stretch yourself in different aspects, whether physically, mentally or emotionally.

Take up a new course. Is there any new course you can join? Courses are a great way to gain new knowledge and skills. It doesn’t have to be a long-term course – seminars or workshops serve their purpose too. I’ve been to a few workshops and they have helped me gain new insights which I had not considered before.

Create an inspirational room. Your environment sets the mood and tone for you. If you are living in an inspirational environment, you are going to be inspired every day. In the past, I didn’t like my room at all because I thought it was messy and dull. A few years ago, I decided this was the end of it – I started on a “Mega Room Revamp” project and overhauled my room. The end result? A room I totally relish being in and inspires me to be at my peak every day.

Overcome your fears. All of us have fears. Fear of uncertainty, fear of public speaking, fear of risk… All our fears keep us in the same position and prevent us from growing. Recognize that your fears reflect areas where you can grow. I always think of fears as the compass for growth. If I have a fear about something, it represents something I’ve yet to address, and addressing it helps me to grow.

Level up your skills. If you have played video games before especially RPGs, you’ll know the concept of leveling up – gaining experience so you can be better and stronger. As a blogger, I’m constantly leveling up my writing skills. As a speaker, I’m constantly leveling up my public engagement abilities. What skills can you level up?

Wake up early. Waking up early (say, 5-6am) has been acknowledged by many (Anthony Robbins, Robin Sharma, among other self-help gurus) to improve your productivity and your quality of life. I feel it’s because when you wake up early, your mindset is already set to continue the momentum and proactively live out the day. Seth recently wrote a waking up early series which you should check out to help cultivate this habit.

Have a weekly exercise routine. A better you starts with being in better physical shape. I personally make it a point to jog at least 3 times a week, at least 30 minutes each time. You may want to mix it up with jogging, gym lessons and swimming for variation.

Start your life handbook. A life handbook is an idea I started 3 years ago. Basically, it’s a book which contains the essentials on how you can live your life to the fullest, such as your purpose, your values and goals. Sort of like your manual for your life. I started my life handbook since 2007 and it’s been a crucial enabler in my progress.

Write a letter to your future self. What do you see yourself as 5 years from now? Will you be the same? Different? What kind of person will you be? Write a letter to your future self – 1 year from now will be a good start – and seal it. Make a date in your calendar to open it 1 year from now. Then start working to become the person you want to open that letter.

Get out of your comfort zone. Real growth comes with hard work and sweat. Being too comfortable doesn’t help us grow – it makes us stagnate. What is your comfort zone? Do you stay in most of the time? Do you keep to your own space when out with other people? Shake your routine up. Do something different. By exposing yourself to a new context, you’re literally growing as you learn to act in new circumstances.

Put someone up to a challenge. Competition is one of the best ways to grow. Set a challenge (weight loss, exercise, financial challenge, etc) and compete with an interested friend to see who achieves the target first. Through the process, both of you will gain more than if you were to set off on the target alone.

Identify your blind spots. Scientifically, blind spots refer to areas our eyes are not capable of seeing. In personal development terms, blind spots are things about ourselves we are unaware of. Discovering our blind spots help us discover our areas of improvement. One exercise I use to discover my blind spots is to identify all the things/events/people that trigger me in a day – trigger meaning making me feel annoyed/weird/affected. These represent my blind spots. It’s always fun to do the exercise because I discover new things about myself, even if I may already think I know my own blind spots (but then they wouldn’t be blind spots would they?). After that, I work on steps to address them.

Ask for feedback. As much as we try to improve, we will always have blind spots. Asking for feedback gives us an additional perspective. Some people to approach will be friends, family, colleagues, boss, or even acquaintances, since they will have no preset bias and can give their feedback objectively.

Stay focused with to-do lists. I start my day with a list of tasks I want to complete and this helps make me stay focused. In comparison, the days when I don’t do this end up being extremely unproductive. For example, part of my to-do list for today is to write a guest post atLifeHack.Org, and this is why I’m writing this now! Since my work requires me to use my computer all the time, I use Free Sticky Notes to manage my to-do lists. It’s really simple to use and it’s a freeware, so I recommend you check it out.

Set Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). I’m a big fan of setting BHAGs. BHAGs stretch you beyond your normal capacity since they are big and audacious – you wouldn’t think of attempting them normally. What are BHAGs you can embark on, which you’ll feel absolutely on top of the world once you complete them? Set them and start working on them.

Acknowledge your flaws. Everyone has flaws. What’s most important is to understand them, acknowledge them, and address them. What do you think are your flaws? What are the flaws you can work on now? How do you want to address them?

Get into action. The best way to learn and improve is to take action. What is something you have been meaning to do? How can you take action on it immediately? Waiting doesn’t get anything done. Taking action gives you immediate results to learn from.

Learn from people who inspire you. Think about people you admire. People who inspire you. These people reflect certain qualities you want to have for yourself too. What are the qualities in them you want to have for yourself? How can you acquire these qualities?

Quit a bad habit. Are there any bad habits you can lose? Oversleeping? Not exercising? Being late? Slouching? Nail biting? Smoking? Here’s some help on how you can quit a bad habit.

Cultivate a new habit. Some good new habits to cultivate include reading books (#1), waking up early (#8), exercising (#9), reading a new personal development article a day (#40) and meditating. Is there any other new habit you can cultivate to improve yourself?

Avoid negative people. As Jim Rohn says, “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”. Wherever we go, there are bound to be negative people. Don’t spend too much of your time around them if you feel they drag you down.

Learn to deal with difficult people. There are times when there are difficult people you can’t avoid, such as at your workplace, or when the person is part of your inner circle of contacts. Learn how to deal with them. These people management skills will go a long way in working with people in the future.

Learn from your friends. Everyone has amazing qualities in them. It’s up to how we want to tap into them. With all the friends who surround you, they are going to have things you can learn from. Try thinking of a good friend right now. Think about just one quality they have which you want to adopt. How can you learn from them and adopt this skill for yourself? Speak to them if you need to – for sure, they will be more than happy to help!

Start a journal. Journaling is a great way to gain better self-awareness. It’s a self-reflection process. As you write, clarify your thought process and read what you wrote from a third person’s perspective, you gain more insights about yourself. Your journal can be private or an online blog. I use my personal development blog as a personal journal too and I’ve learned a lot about myself through the past year of blogging.

Start a blog about personal development. To help others grow, you need to first be walking the talk. There are expectations of you, both from yourself and from others, which you have to uphold. I run The Personal Excellence Blog, where I share my personal journey and insights on how to live a better life. Readers look toward my articles to improve themselves, which enforces to me that I need to keep improving, for myself and for the people I’m reaching out to.

Get a mentor or coach. There’s no faster way to improve than to have someone work with you on your goals. Many of my clients approach me to coach them in their goals and they achieve significantly more results than if they had worked alone.

Reduce the time you spend on chat programs. I realized having chat programs open at default result in a lot of wasted time. This time can be much better spent on other activities. The days when I don’t get on chat, I get a lot more done. I usually disable the auto start-up option in the chat programs and launch them when I do want to chat and really have the time for it.

Learn chess (or any strategy game). I found chess is a terrific game to learn strategy and hone your brainpower. Not only do you have fun, you also get to exercise your analytical skills. You can also learn strategy from other board games or computer games, such as Othello, Chinese Chess, WarCraft, and so on.

Stop watching TV. I’ve not been watching TV for pretty much 4 years and it’s been a very liberating experience. I realized most of the programs and advertisements on mainstream TV are usually of a lower consciousness and not very empowering. In return, the time I’ve freed up from not watching TV is now constructively used for other purposes, such as connecting with close friends, doing work I enjoy, exercising, etc.

Start a 30-day challenge. Set a goal and give yourself 30 days to achieve this. Your goal can be to stick with a new habit or something you’ve always wanted to do but have not. 30 days is just enough time to strategize, plan, get into action, review and nail the goal.

Meditate. Meditation helps to calm you and be more conscious. I also realized that during the nights when I meditate (before I sleep), I need lesser sleep. The clutter clearing process is very liberating.

Join Toastmasters (Learn public speaking). Interestingly, public speaking is the #1 fear in the world, with #2 being death. After I started public speaking as a personal development speaker/trainer, I’ve learned a lot about how to communicate better, present myself and engage people. Toastmasters is an international organization that trains people in public speaking. Check out the Toastmaster clubs nearest to you here.

Befriend top people in their fields. These people have achieved their results because they have the right attitudes, skill sets and know-how. How better to learn than from the people who have been there and done that? Gain new insights from them on how you can improve and achieve the same results for yourself.

Let go of the past. Is there any grievance or unhappiness from the past which you have been holding on? If so, it’s time to let it go. Holding on to them prevents you from moving on and becoming a better person. Break away from the past, forgive yourself, and move on. Just recently, I finally moved on from a past heartbreak of 5 years ago. The effect was liberating and very empowering, and I have never been happier.

Start a business venture. Is there anything you have an interest in? Why not turn it into a venture and make money while learning at the same time? Starting a new venture requires you to be learn business management skills, develop business acumen and have a competitive edge. The process of starting and developing my personal development business has equipped me with many skills, such as self-discipline, leadership, organization and management.

Show kindness to people around you. You can never be too kind to someone. In fact, most of us don’t show enough kindness to people around us. Being kind helps us to cultivate other qualities such as compassion, patience, and love. As you get back to your day after reading this article later on, start exuding more kindness to the people around you, and see how they react. Not only that, notice how you feel as you behave kindly to others. Chances are, you will feel even better than yourself.

Reach out to the people who hate you. If you ever stand for something, you are going to get haters. It’s easy to hate the people who hate us. It’s much more challenging to love them back. Being able to forgive, let go and show love to these people requires magnanimity and an open heart. Is there anyone who dislikes or hates you in your life? If so, reach out to them. Show them love. Seek a resolution and get closure on past grievances. Even if they refuses to reciprocate, love them all the same. It’s much more liberating than to hate them back.

Take a break. Have you been working too hard? Self-improvement is also about recognizing our need to take a break to walk the longer mile ahead. You can’t be driving a car if it has no petrol. Take some time off for yourself every week. Relax, rejuvenate and charge yourself up for what’s up ahead.

Read at least 1 personal development article a day. Some of my readers make it a point to read at least one personal development article every day, which I think is a great habit. There are many terrific personal development blogs out there, some of which you can check here.

Commit to your personal growth. I can be writing list articles with 10 ways, 25 ways, 42 ways or even 1,000 ways to improve yourself, but if you’ve no intention to commit to your personal growth, it doesn’t matter what I write. Nothing is going to get through. We are responsible for our personal growth – not anyone else. Not your mom, your dad, your friend, me or LifeHack. Make the decision to commit to your personal growth and embrace yourself to a life-long journey of growth and change. Kick off your growth by picking a few of the steps above and working on them. The results may not be immediate, but I promise you that as long as you keep to it, you’ll start seeing positive changes in yourself and your life.

42 Practical Ways To Improve Yourself

restoringsunshine

I am tired of seeing medical professionals, predominantly nurses, vilified for proper prioritization/time management. (I also see you, doctor friends of mine! But I am not one so I cannot make a lengthy post about it) In a shift at the hospital, and in the mind of a nurse, tasks are separated into categories: Emergent- codes, rapid responses, critical lab values/vitals, change in patient condition that requires immediate intervention, falls, chest pain, shortness of air Urgent- time sensitive medication (lots fall into this category,) acute wound care, abnormal labs that require time-sensitive intervention, abnormal vitals, suction/chest tube/trach care, pain management Important- general patient care like bathing, changing, other hygiene, ambulation, phone calls, routine consults, routine labs These are by no means exhaustive lists, but it gives you an idea of what the nurses/medical team are having to sift through with every single patient of theirs. Believe me, almost EVERY nurse I know (and I know a lot of us) would get every last thing on these lists done with complete proficiency at exactly the right time every shift…if we could. But we can’t. And I get it…I am a BIG proponent of recognizing that hospitalized individuals have heightened emotions secondary to the uncertainty and vulnerability that comes with a hospitalization. This is why I do my absolute best to treat with tenderness as I interact with every patient and cater my care to their needs. And I won’t disclose to my patient WHY I arrive to bathe them an hour and a half later than I had originally said…it is not their fault, or their problem, nor is disclosure appropriate. But unless they hear “Code Blue” announced overhead, I often get met with anger. They assume I could not have been doing anything emergent, though many emergent things that we do are not announced on the intercom. And, sorry to be harsh, but your bath fell to the bottom of my list when another nurse called out for help as her patient began to decline, or fell out of bed, or lost their IV access… (Please, spare me your stories as you try to tell me not every nurse is well-intentioned…“but but but I had an ACTUALLY bad nurse that…” Sure. Sure you did. And if he or she were actually “bad,” then they ARE NOT the subject of this post. And if they are genuinely neglectful/abusive, they will hopefully/likely lose licensure.) I am talking about the honest, diligent nurses… I am talking about the new nurse, who is learning prioritization and time management, but tasks take a little longer… I am talking about the nurse who would multiply him/herself if they could and be in every room at once… So, next time you are hospitalized, allow us to be human, and do YOUR best to realize that we are doing OUR best. We know you are sick. We know you are hurting. We want to help; we are doing our best. (And for the love of all that is holy, don’t get mad if we take a lunch break)

funnilyrelatable

Best sites to kill time on

Been bored after school a lot nowadays so made a list of my most used sites. Am I missing any?

** DISCLAIMER I’m not responsible for late homework assignments, sleep deprivation, missed deadlines because of this list**

• Commaful - really addicting short stories and poetry

• The Oatmeal - funny web comics

• Find The Invisible Cow - watch the audio for this one….

• The Onion - fake news that’s actually hilarious

• Pornhub - not gonna link it. self explanatory.

• Useless Website Generator - literally does what its name says

• Best of Reddit - warning extremely addicting stuff here

• Funny Or Die - watching will ferrell as george bush never gets old

• Cyanide & Happiness - hilarious comics

• Rich Kids On Instagram - this makes me cry a little

• One Tiny Hand - they literally make hands tiny. it’s so great

And there it is……remember. With great power comes great responsibility

lonelyteengurlz

omg commaful and the oatmeal made me forget my midterm last semester

studyally

If you go to school/uni and have friends, this post is for you. Here are seven tips to help you balance school and social life. Read on.

Use social events as alarm clocks or deadlines for you to finish your homework, or any school work. If you’re going out with friends on a certain time, do everything you have to do before that certain time.

Know when you can actually do what you have to do. Don’t force yourself to finish everything because that can lead to frustrations that will mess up your work, leading to more work, which is counterproductive.

Use social events as rewards. It could be after you’ve finished exams, or if you have reached a goal. This is what me and my friends do. Even the simple act of getting ice cream after exams is a gift when done with friends.

Never go out a week before any exam. Dedicate that time to studying and reviewing. Nuh-uh. Gotta stay firm on this. You’ll thank yourself.

Use social events as a challenge to yourself. This is something I made up. I study before going out, and make flashcards or type questions. When I arrive home, I question/test myself. If I got at least 80% of the questions right, I reward myself. The reward depends on my current mood, really, but I usually reward myself with reading a certain number of pages of a book (not academic books, please, I need a break).

Make flashcards. You can review these flashcards even when going out. Just don’t overdo it. Your friends might think it’s inconsiderate. I mean, hey, you came there to have fun, put down those flashcards and actually have fun and relax. You had your time, and you’ll have more time for that later. Tip: don’t go out unless you’re done or unless you still have a lot of time on your hands. Be honest to yourself.

Commence a group study! For people who study better with people (not me), this is a great way to bond with your friends and your lessons. You can ask your friends about something you don’t understand. And, come on, if you’re with your friends, something fun/crazy is bound to happen. Just be careful not to procrastinate.

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