Plan with Me: Webster's Pages, Colour Crush Planner

This quote currently heads my dry erase board. Decorating my board with inspirational quotes and scripture has worked with keeping me in a positive mood when I sit down to study.

January is on its way out and February is quickly approaching and with a new month up ahead, that means it's time once again to set up my planner.

Last month I did my best to decorate my pages as to minimize the clutter and to leave enough space so that my layouts would be functional. For those of you who may not know, I recently purchased a personal sized Webster's Pages (WP) Colour Crush Planner (CC) and I've been using it to keep track of my class and study schedule as well as my blog posts and numerous lists.

As Trinidad and Tobago is limited in the assortment of washi tape, I've been purchasing most of my planner supplies from a few shops on Etsy and other craft sites like Blisty and the Webster's Pages official site as well. For the month of February I have decided to keep it simple for the most part, especially as it is a short month and because I do not have a whole lot of "love" themed washi or decorations at the moment.

This was last week's spread. I found a piece of cardstock lying around and decided to glue the quote "Believe you can and you're halfway there" by T. Roosevelt onto it, to serve as my inspiration for the week. To the bottom of the weekly page I added my owl washi and just used some thin yellow washi to separate the days.

The tassel I made using some yarn and I followed a tutorial I found on YouTube and I just added the charm that came with the planner onto the tassel for safe keeping.

I am in the process of making some journaling cards that I hope to gift to a great friend of mine once they are done. I will be laminating them and adding holes and possibly tassels to them. I've found journal cards to be the easiest way to spruce up a weekly spread without jeopardizing the space on the page. They are totally customizable and easy to create. To make these I followed Belinda Selene's journal card tutorial that can be found here.

More journaling cards that I made by using blank index cards and gel pens. No calligraphy skills needed at all to create something like this-simply patience and creativity and a little bit of imagination or a Pinterest account.

When planning a scheme for a monthly or weekly layout, I try to work around a colour scheme either based on the washi tape I have on hand or the journal cards that are inspiring me at the moment.

The ones pictured above are those that I have been grouping based on themes or colours that are complimentary to each other. By having an idea of what I want to use in my planner I will be able to plan without having to spend a lot of time doing so.

The inside pockets of my planner now house the washi tape I will be using for the month, a Project Life Card with the name that I gave to the kitten I rescued recently and a few more Project Life cards and a paper clip I made. 

I also decided to rearrange my planner and I've moved the vellum with the word "hello!" on it to the middle of my planner. It now separates the month of February from march. I also added another journal card I made and paper clip as well as one of the pages that came with the planner for inspiration.

Here's a look at what I've done so far for the month of February.

Decorating the title page is a simple way to add colour and inspiration to my planner and to utilize the colours I chose for the month.

I found this quote on Pinterest and I decided to make it my own by writing it out on an index card and using a cut out heart that I got with one of my planner purchases. To add a little more colour to it, I bordered it with washi tape. I'm very pleased with how it came out and for the fact that I was able to use supplies that I had on hand.

Right now this month on two pages is very empty. To add some colour to it I bordered the bottom of both pages with gold and white polka dot washi tape and drew in some arrows and wrote the word "love" in the blank spaces on the side.

The heart paper clip I made after watching YouTube videos. They're not perfect-far from it-but they're getting the job done for now.

For the week of Valentine's Day, I decided to use designs other than hearts and chocolate and other cliche decor, and so I went for a pair of love birds to decorate the header box with.

I decided to chance up the quote "Throw kindness around like confetti" for this spread as I had a lot of scraps from the holes I punched for the journal cards I made. By recycling them, I was able to create my own colour coordinated confetti.

Right now my sticky notes are serving as place holders for upcoming lectures and days off from class for the month.

I don't tend to write things in ink, on my weekly spread until the week of as things frequently change at the last minute.

Well there you have it. How are you planning for the upcoming month? How do you keep track of your daily "to dos"? Do you use a paper planner or do you prefer the ease of utilizing your smartphone and the ability to sync across your devices?

Feel free to share your planning methods and any of your planner spreads with me.










I am not affiliated with Webster's Pages, Blitsy or any of the sites I mentioned in this post. All items shown in this photo were either purchased by me or gifted to me.

Ways to Avoid Cramming

Image found here

Here I am sitting, trying my best to understand the presenting complaints along with the signs and symptoms of the patient presented in the problem for my Problem Based Learning class on Tuesday afternoon.

My PBL group, brainstormed this problem and gathered answers to the objectives we agreed upon a week ago and between then and now, the information has dissolved from my memory which is why I'm here, currently reading up on the differences in strokes and trying my best apply the information in a way that would foster and encourage my hippocampus to remember it all for now...until I can spend more time on it.

It's funny how there never seems to be enough time in a day when my plate is full, however during a holiday, I have no problem "resting". Now I'm reaping what I sowed-which seems to be nothing.
Today made me think about ways to utilize my time wisely and to ensure that every minute of the day is spent in a way that would encourage overall learning and understanding of new and not so new information. Below I've listed some ways that may help you avoid cramming information that may be familiar to many of you.

Ways to Avoid Cramming 

1. Pre-Read

During undergrad this was my go to method and even during my first semester and a half of medical school. 

If you're given a syllabus or schedule of your classes and the assigned readings this would make perfect sense and would allow the lecture session to serve as a first review of the material you already read before the class. 

2. Post-Read 

As the class session is over and depending on your timetable i.e. whether there is a break between lectures, you can use that time to read over your notes from the lecture and add anything of value to the notes you made before the class during your pre-read session. 

When you go home or have  more time in the evening, if you are one to record lectures, you can playback the audio, transcribe if necessary and review the information in a more comprehensive manner adding your textbook to the mix. By doing this you would have reviewed the three times. 

3. Plan Ahead

As mentioned in number 1; by receiving your syllabus you can spend time either creating a study schedule and a class schedule that would allow you to divide your study time realistically. 

I've recently rejoined the planner community and purchased my first Webster's Pages Color Crush Planner to assist in my planning of classes and study time for exams and to schedule my daily reading sessions. 

By making my planner colorful and filling it with motivational journal cards, it allows me to stick to what I have scheduled for a particular day. Some people plan their study time by the hours in the day, dedicating a specific amount of time for a particular area; I haven't had any success with the block method of timing so besides using it for my class schedule, I make a list of the things I would like to accomplish in a certain day and use the Pomodoro method during the sessions to make the most of my study sessions. 

4.  Make a List of Questions During Your Reading

Most times as I read, I find myself asking questions either of my friends or myself. Most times the questions can be answered based on the previous information I have learnt over the last two years of medical school and this serves as a means of reminding myself of the basic (normal) mechanics of the human body. 

Any questions that I cannot answer, I then add to another list normally annotated in my textbook near the material that I do not understand and which led to the initial question, so that I can then either email one of my professors or ask them after class if the information was presented in a lecture. 

This allows for further understanding of a concept or in my case a pathological condition that makes me appreciate the normal functioning of the body. 

5. Get Adequate Rest

Most times when I find myself cramming, it is because I have failed to do one or ALL of the aforementioned and to make matters worse I am usually tired and unable to function efficiently and effectively when I do finally sit down to "study". 

I have friends who actually plan their sleep on their study schedules which seems to work for them. I don't necessarily write my sleep times down in my planner however I do routinely take a "nap" between the hours of 4-6 p.m. and then wake up and do some form of physical activity when I wake up and then study from 8 p.m.- 2:30 a.m. all to get up at 6:00 a.m. 

Napping in the afternoons has helped me for the most part and I have noticed the difference in how much material I can cover by doing this as compared to years 1 and 2. 

I hope these 5 tips will be beneficial to you. If you have any suggestions on ways to avoid cramming please leave a comment below. 

5 Advantages of having an Undergraduate Degree before starting Medical School

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” --Nelson Mandela

The start of a new year brought with it another semester. For some this is their last, for others just another rung on the academic ladder.  I recently was asked to be featured on a blog for medical students and the questions made me reflect on my journey to medical school and allowed me to ask myself if there is anything about my journey I would change?

After some reflection and as I observe my younger classmates, I can say that I truly appreciate the fact that I followed the tradition of college after high school as a booster for my medical career.


There are some advantages and disadvantages of receiving a first degree before pursuing a Medical Degree and I have outlined a few of the advantages below.

This post will serve as a preamble to a few feature posts so stay tuned for those.

Advantages 

1. An undergraduate degree grants you exposure to different cultures

I pursued my Biology degree in Texas. As the song states "the stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas" this was something I had to get accustomed to along with everything else Texas offered as I came from The Bahamas, an archipelago of islands off in the Atlantic Ocean.

Everything was really bigger in Texas for example; the trucks, the roads and the land mass. During my first semester, I met students from more than 10 countries in the world, something I would not have had the opportunity of doing if I had attended the UWI after high school. I may have been exposed to students from Caribbean countries however, but not on a large scale as I did in Texas. 

2. By pursuing an undergraduate degree you are taught certain skills

As a Biology major, it was required as a fulfillment of my course requirements to take computer courses, physical education courses, a certain number of mathematics courses, Psychology courses and English courses. By doing this, I was exposed to other disciplines and learnt the importance of balance. That being a holistic balance (spiritual, emotional, academic, psychological and physical).

The computer courses taught me the basic skills such as creating an excel spreadsheet, creating a webpage using nothing but HTML, the ins and outs of Word and PowerPoint amongst other things. The physical education courses taught me lessons in endurance, the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle and it introduced me to long distance running. I never thought in my life I would be running side by side with people from Kenya and Angola and getting the inside scoop on breathing techniques for endurance races; to this day I use what I learnt.

Overall I got the opportunity to learn and improve my time management skills, my public speaking skills, an introduction to conflict and ways by which one can manage conflicts as well and I became comfortable with asking questions and active learning. 

3. Dorm life. 

The dynamics of living on campus and in campus housing is nothing like living at home. I am beyond grateful for the friendships I made during my stay at Lamson Hall and for the opportunity to be involved through my position as Resident and Dean's Assistant. Living in a dorm allowed me to develop leadership skills, organizational skills and allowed me to use my creativity in order to make the dorm a warm welcoming place for the residents by organizing various activities such as Christmas in June, decorative name tags, brunches and also teaching me how to listen attentively.

Living in a dorm can be a nightmare, especially if you are an only child and use to having your own space. I had a really great roommate and so for me it wasn't a total nightmare. After the first few weeks and once I got settled with my timetable and the layout of the land, it was home.

During my vacation or breaks I looked forward to going back to school and seeing all of my friends and fellow Resident Assistants. It truly is what you make it. 

4. Opportunities are available if you want to study abroad

Unfortunately I never went abroad to study, but the opportunity was available at my school in the event one would ever want a change of scenery for the academic year. Now that I'm in medical school, this luxury isn't available. Although you have the opportunity of completing an elective abroad, it's not quite the same thing.

This is something I personally feel young adults can benefit from. By being immersed in a culture for a year for the same cost of your regular tuition, one's character, worldviews and opinions can be broadened. This is vital especially in medicine. As globalization increases, we are now rubbing shoulders with persons of all walks of life and it pays to be able to understand a bit of their culture in order to examine, converse and treat them if ever they are your patient. 

5. An undergraduate degree gives you insight into your character

While college is a lot of hard work, no matter what Hollywood portrays it as, while there, you are guaranteed to learn a lot about yourself. It's not like high school where if you left your homework at home your mom can drop it off for you and everything will be alright.

College, is the place where your endurance, determination, values and drive will all be tested and possibly even at the same time. By facing these things in college, you learn the best ways to cope, overcome and move forward.

We all know medical school is no walk in the park, by knowing who you are as a person and what things you will and will not stand for, it will be easier to handle moments when you are overwhelmed by the coursework, or when a patient's story hit you to your core.