Habits I plan on adopting as I start PA school next week

THE WARM UP

Well, folks, the time has come.

PA school is finally starting this Monday!

“Extremely nervous” is an understatement, however “extremely excited” is also a top emotion right now.

Because of the anticipated rigor that comes with PA school, as well as trying to stay on top of my personal mental and physical health, I wanted to physically remind myself of 5 primary habits I plan on fostering while surviving this new chapter.

Let’s dive in…

THE WORKOUT

1. Prioritizing a morning routine

I plan on accomplishing a consistent morning routine to set the tone for a productive day.

I’ve decided on a 5 AM wake-up time for two reasons.

One, this is the time I’ve been waking up for the past 2 years while working as a Medical Assistant, so this is something I’m used to.

Secondly, classes this semester start at 8:30-9:00 AM, so waking up at 5 AM will allow me to make breakfast (because I always wake up famished…), review notes & material for class, and do some deep work (aka write this newsletter or write in my gratitude journal). 

2. Meal Prepping

Every weekend, I plan on meal prepping my meals for the week.

This allows me to do two things (again):

One, I also got into the habit of doing this over the past two years while working full-time as a Medical Assistant, so this is an easy habit to foster.

Two, meal prepping allows me to reduce the mental friction of having to decide what I’m eating during the week. Because of this, it allows me to focus my mental energy on other more important tasks, like studying, etc.

3. Intentional Study/Schedule Blocks

With everything on my plate now–class, studying, exams, going to the gym, spending time with my girlfriend, friends, and family–it’s extremely important to schedule all of this into my Google Calendar during allotted times.

Blocking off specific times during the day to do specific tasks not only reduces the mental friction of having to decide what to do with my time each day but also ensures that I’m prioritizing my tasks efficiently.

To also organize my life, I’ve inputted all of my exams, assignments, important events, etc., into my Notion Second Brain, which should help immensely.

If you’re interested in getting a sneak peek at how I organize my Notion, here’s a free Holistic Living Starter Kit I created that’s hosted on Notion.

4. Blocking off “Recharge Time”

This kind of relates to #3, however, I think it deserves its own section.

Since I will be intentionally blocking off my schedule and agenda each week, I will also be highly prioritizing “recharge time” as well.

This will be a scheduled time each week to just focus on recharging my battery. Doing things that “fill my cup”.

This may be going to the gym, spending time with my family, or going on a nice date with the love of my life.

Either way, I realized it’s important to not let the school work consume me because this will ultimately lead to burnout, and who wants that?

A precious grad student once broke it down to me in a really interesting way.

The weekends are the only time we’re not in class. So, they broke the weekend down into 5 main parts.

A. Friday night

B. Saturday morning

C. Saturday night

D. Sunday morning

E. Sunday night

They said that we should be sure to take at least 2-3 of those 5 blocks for “recharge time”, and this is what I plan on doing.

5. Practice Gratitude Daily

You may read this last habit and automatically think, “Oh please, you lost me here, Corey”, but hear me out.

Although these next two years will be a very rigorous and stressful time, it’s also a period of my life where I will grow and learn as much as possible to set myself up for an abundant future and career.

With this in mind, it’s extremely important to take a step back during anxious times and realize this very thought.

It’s only 2 years of my entire life. Time flies by so fast, I’ll have PA-C next to my name in no time.

It’s time to use this chapter of my life to study hard, absorb as much information as possible, and become an even better version of myself so that the chapter after this one will benefit from it all.

To further practice my gratitude, I'll be keeping a gratitude journal every morning.

If you want a free copy of my gratitude journal, you can grab it here.

But, to give you a brief overview of how it’s formatted, here’s the gist:

In the morning, write down two things:

• 3 things you woke up grateful for.
• 1 thing that will make today great.

In the evening, write down two more things:

• 3 things that happened today.
• 1 thing that could’ve made today better.

Repeat this daily.

THE COOL DOWN

In the end, I’m extremely grateful to finally be starting this journey, that is–PA school.

I can’t wait to make new friends, learn a ton, and see the type of person I’ll evolve into after 2 years.

These 5 habits are just the drop in a bucket of habits I plan on adopting and fostering, but I hope these top 5 are useful to you.

I’ll be sure to talk about many more in these essays, so stick around.

Be well and Keep Pluggin.

-C.