Being a nurse is a hugely rewarding career, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy one. In fact, it’s very hard. There is a huge amount of responsibility involved, a lot of learning to undertake, and it’s even physically demanding too.
It’s the learning that can often take people by surprise, especially if they aren’t used to so much study, or they didn’t realize there was so much to think about. Sometimes, this can lead to a dip in motivation, and when that happens, studying becomes even harder. When there is no motivation to continue, sometimes that can spell the end of a nursing career altogether. So, with that in mind, it’s useful to know how to keep motivated when you’re studying to become a nurse. If you can do this, you’ll get much further in your career and your life. Read on to find out more.
Establish Goals
The sheer amount of information that a nurse needs to know can seem overwhelming, and when you look at the years of study ahead of you, it will appear very daunting. You might lose motivation there and then, thinking you’ll never get to the end of it. Or you might start well, but if it feels as though you’re not getting any closer to the end, you’ll lose motivation at that point instead. So, what can be done?
The best solution is to establish goals. Of course, your ultimate goal will be to qualify as a nurse and start working, but that’s potentially too broad and vague to be of much help when it comes to keeping you motivated. Break down this larger goal into small ones, and work towards each smaller, manageable goal one by one. This will keep you motivated because you’ll see your progress much more easily. This is a skill that will help you later as well; if you want to progress in your nursing career, you’ll need to keep studying, and having small goals to keep you moving forward is crucial. One goal might be to apply for an online adult-gerontology nurse practitioner program, for example. Another might be to work in a private clinic, or perhaps even to become the head of a hospital. Whatever it is, break the goal down, take it a step at a time, and you’re much more likely to succeed.
Have Good Time Management Skills
Demotivation can often occur when you have a few bad days or bad assignments in a row. It can feel as though nothing you do is good enough, and you’re just not making any headway. One of the reasons this can happen is through lack of time management. If you’re always rushing because you haven’t planned things out well, then your quality of work will suffer. On top of that, you’ll always feel stressed and as though everyone is always asking something of you.
By having good time management skills, neither of these things needs to be a problem any longer. You won’t be rushing anymore as you can plan out your assignments, reading, lecture attendance, and so on, with time to spare. This will take the stress out of everything and make you feel less burdened. You’ll keep your motivation because, although the work will still be hard, you will be able to tackle it and not feel pressured about it.
Ask For Help
It’s so important to understand that nursing and studying to become a nurse or to advance your nursing career, is hard work. It’s also incredibly important to understand that, although you’re the one who must gain all the knowledge and do all the work, you should ask for help if you need it. There is no shame in doing this, and it can be a huge help.
To begin with, when you ask for help, you immediately de-stress. This will help you see things more clearly. Secondly, you’ll regain your motivation. If you ask for help from someone with no nursing experience at all, you’ll see things through their eyes, and understand that you know a lot more than you thought you did. If you ask someone with nursing knowledge, you can be motivated because you’ll see what’s possible in your future. Either way, it’s going to help immensely if you share the load. It might not even help with studies; it could be that you ask your partner to take the kids to the park or to cook dinner so you can concentrate on what you’re doing, for example. Everything helps.
