No matter how much time you spent psyching yourself for your dream career, it is not going to be as you anticipated it in the beginning. When you start out you have a lot of fantasies as to how fantastic the journey is going to be. And to a certain degree it is. 
 
However, the harsh reality is there are also some gruelling moments of diligence that defines the tumultuous journey of being a doctor. You never know what to expect. When you taste that encounter and come to the hard biting reality of the situation, it's important to remember why you started the journey in the first place. I know it’s not easy, but then that’s the tradeoff, right?
 
Here are the general things that you should keep in mind while becoming a physician:

1. Have a well planned out schedule: Unlike other professions, medicine requires a whole new level of dedication and HARD work. If you don’t keep a tab on your time, you can barely cope up. So make sure that you have a well planned out schedule and you stick to it.
2. Don’t try to compete with others: Everyone has a different time management style and coping mechanism. So don’t try to look at others and get excited or discouraged. Be accountable to yourself and make sure you just keep beating your previous self and efforts:)
3. There are NO rules: You might think that medicine is a purely scientific discipline, that follows some chemical equation, and math which if understood well can be easily understood. Well that is only partly true. Because practicing medicine is not always clear cut. You have to wads through a lot of material, but every case is unique and you have to formulate a unique solution to every problem every time.
4. Personal Time is a must: As you must be well acquainted, medical study is gruesome and tough, so it is easy to get lost in work. However, it is imperative that you don’t let it affect your personal life. It is important to take out time for yourself and your interpersonal commitments, so that you have a sustainable and healthy work-life balance. Remember, medical study is not one that can be completed in a day or two. So enjoy the journey as you go. 
5. Prepare for licensing exams from the beginning: It is a really bad idea to prepare for exams at the last moment, especially USLME. We recommend that you start the exam preparations from the first year itself. When you start early and know the syllabus well, you can also be more vigilant of the study material that you should focus more on to get the job done. 

That’s all for this blog post. We hope that you found this informative and that you can apply some of these in your medical studies!
Good luck!