I’m a doctor working in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. I’m somewhat of a self-proclaimed expert when it comes to making lists to organise your day! I want to pass on this magical skill to you. Creating a list has many benefits such as:

• Helping you prioritise
• Improving your organisation
• Helping you remember all the ideas you have had
• The best part is the rewarding feeling you get when you tick off a task!

As a doctor I have become somewhat of an expert when it comes to making lists. My entire workday is guided by the list I make in the morning ward round. I start each day by seeing all the patients on my ward, a ward round can take several hours. It is therefore very important for me to make a list of jobs that I need to do for each patient, so I do not forget them. Once my ward round is finished, I use the list I have made to make a king size master list. This master list then allows me to organise my day.

Once the master list is formed, you can start to have more fun with it. I like to arrange my tasks in a couple of ways. Level of urgency being the most important one, working as a doctor I know some tasks are more urgent than others. For example, if a patient needs a medication to help with pain, I know this is an urgent task. Once all my tasks have an urgency associated with them, I can see with ease what tasks I need to execute first. This way of organisation ensures that I do not waste time on the unimportant tasks while neglecting the urgent stuff.

I have been making lists for years, meaning that I have been able to push my list making to a new level. I achieved this by adding on the time it takes to achieve a task alongside its urgency. This step is a great way to manage your time. For example, if I have 20 minutes left before a meeting, I know I can look at my list and find an urgent task I know can be done in that timeframe.

I now use lists in all aspects of my life. From planning my weekends to preparing for exams. The world has become even more high-tech now so I can use apps to manage my tasks even better! There are plenty of free apps that do a great job. Personally, I use an app called TickTick which is available on apple and android. It allows me to make a list of jobs for each day of the month. I am then able to add in the urgency of the task as well as the time it takes me to execute the task. Now I never forget to take the bins out on a Wednesday or miss Strictly Come Dancing on a Saturday!

My personal and work life have changed for the better ever since I learned the magic of to-do lists. My productivity has increased tenfold. I would recommend this method to any person I meet who has lots of things they need to do and is struggling to fit them all in. Use this method as much as you can, start by planning your schoolwork and exam revision using a to-do list. Make the list your own by adding in things like urgency and time taken to execute the task. Once you are like me and fall in love with using lists you can start using them to manage your personal life too.

Medic Mentor can help you by highlighting the most relevant and important things to focus on in terms of your extra-curricular activities via the Awards Programme.  Not only is it a fantastic thing to do for your CV but the Awards Mark Scheme is a list of extra-curricular activities that you should be doing for your application.  Therefore, using this will save you a huge amount of time and if you enrol onto the Awards Programme you will also get access to the Awards Zoom Drop-in Clinics on a Friday.  You can use this time to speak to a Mentor like me about how you are planning your time and extra-curriculars in more detail.  You can learn more about the Awards Programme here: https://medicmentor.co.uk/medic-mentor-awards-programme/

In order to ensure that you are working smart and not just hard on your application, you need to have a very good understanding about what is expected from you in your UCAS application.  So I would strongly recommend that you register for a Get into Medicine UCAS conference as early as you can.  You will be able to leave this conference with a checklist of things to concentrate on and how to better manage your time.  You will also have an opportunity to speak to the Mentors and you will receive a certificate for attending, which you can list on your UCAS application.  

You can book a free place on this conference by using the coupon code mmtransfer21 and clicking on the link here: https://medicmentor.co.uk/medicine-national-healthcare-weekend/  

Upcoming available dates:
15th Jan
29th Jan

So take a far more organised approach to your medical school application and I look forward to seeing you at a conference or Awards Meeting soon!

Best Wishes,

Dr Konain Ehsan

Chief Mentor for Medic Mentor

Your Medic Family