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Nursing school is truly an amazing journey. You learn what interests you the most in the medical field, you gain a vast amount of knowledge in health care, and it pushes you. It pushes you to be a better person and healthcare professional. In some aspects of nursing school, it becomes a challenge and sometimes we feel a sense of resistance when we try to move forward. I am going to provide you with four tips to help you minimize and overcome those challenges that arise in nursing school.  

1. Time Management: This is a crucial skill to master during nursing school. Everyone has something going on in their life such as work, fitness, religious obligations, school, family, and children. It benefits you to understand what tasks you must complete for the hour, the day, or the week. Allot a specific amount of time to each task you have. For example, I will go to school for four hours, then gym for one hour, study for two hours, and then have some free time for one hour.  
   
2. Prioritize: Look at what tasks you have at hand and figure out which one should be done first. Understand what is non-urgent, urgent and emergent. The beauty of knowing how to prioritize makes us more productive with our work which develops a strong work ethic. Aside from prioritizing your work, do not forget to prioritize yourself. It comes off selfish, but you must take care of yourself before you take care of others. It is like being on an airplane and when the oxygen masks come down, you must put it on yourself first before putting it on someone else who cannot. Make sure you are receiving adequate sleep, minimizing consumption of malnutrition food, and staying active! 
   
3. Organize: In nursing school, there are going to be so many dates for when assignments are due, projects are due, and when exams are. Having all these dates and assignments recorded in an organized fashion allows you to stay on top of everything. There is a sense of being in control when this is accomplished, and you become more confident with what needs to be done. There won’t be any last-minute incidents where you realize you didn’t do an assignment or missed that online quiz that was due last night. Overall, being organized improves student outcomes and reduces unnecessary stress. Utilize calendars, planners, and various phone apps to assist you in staying organized. 
   
4. Positive Attitude: Although nursing school can be stressful at times and you may feel overwhelmed, always maintain a positive attitude! If you are in a nursing program, you are in a great position in life because there are people who would love to be in a nursing program who are not. Don’t look at nursing school as, “There’s so much studying”, but rather, “I have multiple opportunities to learn so I can become a competent nurse”. Additionally, do not forget why you are in nursing school. You went to nursing school to become a nurse so please don’t let grades negatively affect you. Striving for As on exams is the goal, however, it is not the end of the world if you do not get an A. If the minimum to pass is 70% and you get 71%, congratulations, you have exceeded the school's standard. In my opinion, there is no test in nursing school that will define your capabilities as a clinical nurse. I have worked in the medical field for five years and I have NEVER had any patient ask me what my grades are. Grades are a number at the end of the day. Your GPA will not be on your RN license. The impact you make on your patient is what matters. Your knowledge of patient safety is what matters. Your patient advocacy is what matters. Comforting those in need and in a vulnerable state is what matters. Do not forget the purpose of nursing school. It's to be a phenomenal and competent nurse, not to have the highest grades. 

Using these tips has helped me to be successful in nursing school, and I hope they do the same for you! You control nursing school; nursing school does NOT control you.