Dear PT Students,
As a new grad, I was struggling with a patient and voiced my frustrations to a co-worker. She listened to me and then asked me the following three questions:
1. Are you using all the resources you have to help this patient?
2. Are you trying your absolute best?
3. Will you keep trying?
My answer to all three questions was “yes”, but this did nothing to calm the frustrations. And then she looked at me and gave me the one piece of advice that I still carry today:
“You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to keep getting better.”
Perfection is unrealistic. While we all want to be perfect, chasing perfection is bound to leave us feeling like we aren’t good enough, as it did for me with my patient.
Chasing improvement is where growth replaces the fear of failure. So, whether a difficult course, a tough patient case, or an experience that scares you, focus on getting better. And ask yourself:
Am I using all my resources, am I trying my...
Dear PT Students,
You know how when you’re a kid all you want is to be an adult? And then you get to be an adult and you’re like why did I wish away my childhood?
I think being a PT student is the same thing. But, being a STUDENT is a superpower that I hope you don’t wish away.
Trust me, I don’t want to go back to test, practicals, or working for free… but here are the reason why being a student is actually great:
1. PTs genuinely want to help you- Just like how adults want to help children, experienced PTs want to help students.
2. You’re not expected to have the answers- Yes you are challenged to know the answers, but this is a time to mess up and learn from mistakes.
3. You have time to experiment- You don’t need to know what you want to do for your career and if you don’t know, you are more likely to try new things.
4. Your classmates are awesome- After school, you have to work really hard to seek out others trying to learn like you...