Date Published: April 8th, 2021
It’s after Spring Break, and the warmer it gets out, the harder it can be to focus on your nursing school studies. If you’re only a few weeks away from graduation, the NCLEX, and the start of the career you’ve been working so hard for, it can be even more difficult to maintain your drive. If you’re just about ready to launch your life and find yourself daydreaming more than usual, here’s how to keep yourself on track to end your nursing school career with your best effort.
1) List your accomplishments: If you’re having a hard time focusing, write down everything you’ve achieved in nursing school so far to remind yourself how far you’ve come. Feeling accomplished can help you be more motivated.
2) Create a to do list: This is the time to figure out everything you want to accomplish in the few weeks you have before graduation. Whether it’s focusing a certain number of hours each week on NCLEX preparations or making sure you’ve got the right outfit for graduation day, put it on the list so that you don’t worry that you might forget something big.
3) Schedule your time: The best way to make sure you can get through your to-do list, and to make it feel less overwhelming, is to organize your days. If you know you’re the type of person who procrastinates or doesn’t always follow their own schedule, build in the occasional catch up day.
4) Prepare for your job search: If you haven’t already started your job search, take some of your nervous energy and funnel it into writing your resume, putting your thoughts into the start of a cover letter, and looking through the listings for that dream job.
Hitting the job market? Here are 6 Tips to Kickstart the Search for Your First Nursing Job
5) Do some networking: Talk to some of the nurses you’ve met during your time as a student about how they got their jobs, what they like about their place of work, and any advice they may have for someone entering the field. Share your career interests and see if they know someone else who does similar work who might also be open to a conversation. Hearing how others have progressed in their careers can help you start to strategize your own, and it’s always great to meet new people.
6) Take a break: You’ve earned it!
Before you know it, your last classes will be finished, your final grades given, and you’ll be on your way to scheduling your NCLEX, getting licensed, and starting a whole new life. Keep up the hard work – you’re almost finished!
If you’re prepping for the NCLEX, here’s everything you might want to know about pass rates during Covid-19.
