As I’m entering my senior year, second semester of college, I am most excited about starting a new chapter in my life. Since I switched majors twice, this year is my 5th year in college. Counting 1 year of preschool, 1 year of kindergarten, etc this is my 19th year in school. I am excited to find out who I am outside of an academic setting and really apply what I’ve learned to make a difference. One thing I’m working on from a personal standpoint is celebrating my victories and progress towards my goals. I feel like over the years I’ve always been such a busy person I haven’t allowed myself enough time to celebrate the small wins. I usually text my roommates about a quick exciting blurb and then move on. Over the last couple months, I’ve recently worked on this with one of my roommates. We have begun writing sticky notes on our upstairs living room wall of things we’re proud of ourselves for. Progress is progress and I’m getting better at celebrating day to day victories, but I’ve always had myself to such a high standard and don’t leave enough time to celebrate. 

Entering this new chapter brings on a lot of excitement but also a lot of anxiety. I am most anxious for either NCLEX, but also I guess I’m most anxious for what I’m most excited for which is starting a new chapter in my life. On a weekly basis, I plan to implement my SMART goals and keep myself on task by using my spreadsheet of assignments and planning out a day to day rough schedule on a 2 week rotation. I have a weekly schedule of commitments, but how I really keep myself on track is my day to day allotted time I tell myself what is due when and force myself to do one specified task in that time chunk. I hold myself accountable to my goals by putting completed homework assignments in my “hw time sheet” where I write down what task I did, how long I did it for and if I write down the number of distractions I had. The clock in clock out mentality helps me stay on task more and off of my phone. It’s a bit of a process, but it really does help me to focus more to stay on task and be intentional with one or two specific tasks rather than 4 assignments open at once. This ensures I achieve my goals in a timely manner. The four Nurse Logic 2.0 Modules from ATI have also helped with easing some of this anxiety from a process oriented approach. I’ve really learned that priority setting frameworks are not just simple things to memorize of ABC’s, Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, urgent vs emergent, acute vs. chronic. You really have to use the framework and figure out who is going to die first. How you prioritize has direct repercussions or impacts on the patient’s outcomes. Another thing to note is just how important it is to remember medications interactions with each other not only for the NCLEX but more importantly for my patient’s safety. Lastly, the nursing modules taught me more about how we all have common fundamental needs and if we can help our patients get those, you’re doing it right.