5 ways to stay organized
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[00:00:00] If you're an occupational therapist looking to develop your skills in hand therapy. This podcast is for you, your host, Hoang Tran occupational therapists, and certified hand therapists turned serial entrepreneur with her own therapy clinic in Miami. Hoang is an author and successful coach helping occupational therapists get jobs, develop their skills and become certified hand therapists so they can become experts in their.
Hoang worked with occupational therapists from across the United States and around the world. She talks about everything from hand therapy, skills, career development, leadership skills, money, mindset, and business. You two can become an expert certified hand therapist, business owner, and have more choices in your career.
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How are you guys doing? I have been talking to a lot of people studying for the exam. . So if you're somebody who's setting this topic may help you. So this topic may help you. So come join, say hello.
Don't be shy. My name is Hoang. I'm an occupational [00:01:00] therapist, certified hand therapist, and I'm in my clinic right now, so I'm also a business owner. and I, all I do is I teach and I train, and my mission is to really help OTs develop their skills, whether it be clinical skills, so that you can get a job, advance yourself in your job, and also advance your skills.
So one day, Your own business as well. It was definitely something that was on my radar when I was younger and I was studying for the exam. I said, one day I wanna have one day I wanna have my own therapy clinic. And I think that having my C H T will just really help me and it's such a great marketing tool because people do know you as someone who treats specific types of injuries.
Doesn't have to be, it can be a slew of things, but your, chds are known for helping people with surgical cases. So all the hand, the wrist, the elbow, the [00:02:00] shoulder can be known to help people with surgical cases. You can also be known to help people with non-surgical cases, like they can be injured, they can have tons of nerve compressions.
Nobody can figure out is something that I actually really do a lot in my own clinic. people come to me people come here to my clinic because they're not getting results. In other places, they're going to their doctor and the doctor's wear this brace. Stop moving your arm, , it can't happen.
You use your hands for everything. So yeah it's such a huge thing to keep in mind when you are an occupational therapist. You have the capacity and you have the ability to work with so many different types of people with various different injuries Just here at hand, therapy seekers really focus on helping you nail down your ability to treat.
Hand and arm injuries, and I think that there's so many different settings in which you can do that. But as you're developing your skills, and if you [00:03:00] are somebody who's ready to make that jump, make that leap already, know that it's something you want and it's just to become a certified hand therapist, then this talk is gonna be for you because.
as we always come to the end of the year, everyone's already thinking about the following year. I know I'm doing it. I know you're doing it. So really, let's take a few moments to talk about ways in which you can combat the unfocused, disorganized way of studying to help you get over the overwhelm.
The thing that I talked to the most, Recently in the last several weeks as the exam prep program is open for enrollment right now. So I'm talking to a lot of therapists who just, they're overwhelmed with the idea of studying. They're overwhelmed with the amount of topics that they have to study.
So what happens to a lot of people is they start and stop. They start and stop. And then before it's taking them six months, 12 months, a year, five years, and they still haven't yet. [00:04:00] Gotten up the card to take the exam. So I really want you to to make that commitment to yourself.
It's not to me , it's not to me, it's a commitment to yourself that if it's something you want, this goal or this dream will chase you. , if it's, if this is the goal, if this is a dream that's chasing you, then let's buckle down and let's find ways, let's find strategies in which we could really just make it easier for you.
So I'm just gonna talk about what are the five things that you can do to combat that unfocused way of studying? Because what makes it so painful and what makes it so hard is. that you're dragging it over months and years, right? You have this goal, you wanna hit it next year. The studying starts now, right?
If you've been studying, then you can take a little bit of break, right? If you've been studying, you can take a little bit of break. If you took the exam and failed. [00:05:00] Take a little break, recoup. Take a little bit of break and still listen to this one. Still listen to this. I'm gonna leave, I'm gonna give you some, a golden nugget in here.
If you failed, I'm gonna leave you with a golden nugget in here. That's also gonna help you, but you can start in January . But of course, don't wait until it's so painful. What do I mean by wait until it's so painful? Painful is that you wanna get that job, you wanna get that job, and you still can't get that job right.
That's pain. What's another pain? You know that something's gonna be happening soon. You might be moving, you want to move and everyone's looking for a cht. And so if you had your credentials, it would be that much easier for you in terms of getting a. , right? What do I mean by painful?
If you're still having to sit there and explain that you have the hours and explain that you have the experience but you study and you're like, I'll just see how it goes. That is [00:06:00] painful, right? Because it's something you want, something that's your goal. So let's prepare in a way that's gonna help you.
Help you get more focused, help take the overwhelm away. When you're overwhelmed, it's tends to be because you're looking too far into the future, you're looking at everything that you need to do. And so the over Mel, the overwhelm just mounds and amounts. And amounts, right? So let's cut back some of that fact.
and let's get focused. Let's get focused. So these are my five tips to help you get focused and to help you get more organized. I e combat unfocused and disorganized studying habits. Let's get this thing on the road because the last thing you wanna do is continue to waste your time. , right? So one of the ways I always talk about, let me see if I can you see my.
Let me see if I can shift. I'm on Facebook, I'm on Instagram, I'm on [00:07:00] YouTube. So let me shift this. So let's talk about the five ways. So what you wanna do is you wanna, number one, you wanna chunk out, right? Chunk out your topics. Chunk out your topics. So when I talk about chunking out your topics if you've heard about the exam prep program before, this is essentially the way I do it.
Let me see. I basically, I. Chunk out some of the major topics, and then in between you could filter in some of the smaller topics that you want to study, but you have to be careful about where you're putting your focus and your time and energy, right? Because not everything counts the same. But one of the things that I do is I break up hands and then I go into wrists, and then I go into tendons and people are like, oh, but tendons and [00:08:00] hands go.
Hand in hand, right? They do. But in the topic of hands, there's, it's so big, you can actually break it down into smaller chunks. So when I talk about hand, I'm talking about the thumb, I'm talking about the fingers, I'm talking about the metacarpals. I'm understanding the biomechanics of it. I'm understanding how things move normally.
So I know what happens when things move abnormally, and there's different injuries, right? Who gets. If this helps you, then definitely, leave me a comment, let me know whether you're watching this now or you're watching this on replay. But that's how you break it down and inside the chunk of topics, you can even chunk it down even further into like hand injuries that are nonsurgical.
versus surgical, because then that can help you just to organize how you're studying better. When it comes to risks, I do, I usually do fractures and then I do soft tissue, like I do [00:09:00] bones versus ligaments because there's a huge difference in terms of how you're studying for some of that.
When it comes to tendons, there are extensor tendons and then there are flexor tendons. So you also wanna break down how you're studying for that. So break down your topics and break down your topics even smaller, if that helps you. I don't know what happened to Instagram, but she frozen. That's okay.
We'll come back to it. So let's see. Can you guys see me? Can you hear me? Let me know in the chat if you can hear me. If you can see me still. Throw a light button up. I don't know. Something's going on over there and I can't tell, but we're gonna keep going. All right, number two. So number two. So outside of chunking down some of the major topics then what you wanna do is you wanna plan out your study sessions, right?
Plan it out. [00:10:00] Plan out your study sessions, right? Plan it out. Plan it out. Always you know how you read a book. I'm gonna show you my journal. So you know how you have your book and then you have a book marker to note where your page ends. So that can be something that you can do to help you stay more organized, to help you stay more focused so that you don't waste time.
So what happens when you start studying? I don't know about you, but I hear about this and I have done it myself, which is when I get ready to do something, if I'm studying to If I'm studying to teach her something, if you're not organized and you're not focused, what happens is you'll spend the first 30 minutes bullshitting.
I dunno, what am I gonna study? Now? Let me grab my notes. , who here has done that? Before you know it, you voiced it. 30 minutes of your time. if you're lucky and didn't waste more. So [00:11:00] plan out what you're going to study. And that goes hand in hand with the chunks out topics. If you're gonna do hands, do several sessions of hands.
Say, okay I'm gonna focus on fractures, right? For example, I'm gonna focus on fractures. I am gonna focus on fractures. What about these fractures? I'm gonna read, or I'm gonna watch a certain amount of videos. So in the program, I'm like, watch these videos, go to the chapters look through the chapters, right?
So you can speed r read through some of the chapters. and then go to do a few practice questions depending on where you are in your journey of studying. So when you do that, okay, I'm gonna give myself two hours to study. I'm gonna be able to go to these many videos, or I'm gonna be able to watch these many this many parts of the chapters, right?
And then as soon as you're done with your studying, you wanna bookmark it. , you wanna book market and so the next time you go to study, you're like, okay, I ended here. I'm gonna start here. [00:12:00] So that can help you stay a lot more organized and help you stay a lot more focused every time you go to study. So you don't keep like wasting time, plan out what you're gonna cover, plan out like how many hours, even if you can't fully 100% sit.
who can do stuff at a hundred percent anyway. If you do it at 80%, you're golden, right? Plan out which days. So I might do things in two hour chunks, and if something happens, I might shift it down to a lower part of the day. I might shift it up to another part of the day to another day. I might shift it over to a weekend.
But really, you gotta plan out your study sessions, number three is all about how you're taking notes and Oh gosh. I don't know why my pen is not liking me right now. Take notes, right? So when you're taking notes, , before you end your session, you need to read them , [00:13:00] you need to read them, right?
So that's almost studying and then not reviewing what you've written down. So when you're studying, make take notes and. and be judicious in terms of what notes you are taking. Don't write everything down because not everything is that important. So you need to like really think about, putting down the key fundamental aspects of the lecture that you're listening to.
Or if you're reading, if you're reading. So I'm talking as if it's as if you're in the program, but if you don't have videos, if you're reading, you wanna read and ma be sure to scan the chapter first, and then do your reading so that you're not sitting there and you're, who's done this, where it feels like you're literally copying the whole chapter down.
And then you wanna know why after a whole week you still on chapter one, right? Overwhelm through the [00:14:00] roof. Can't get nothing done. You feel like I've got pages and pages of notes, but I still don't know everything. I still don't know anything. I feel like I didn't really study. It's probably cuz you started going to this thing where you're trying to memorize, trying to write everything down to memorize this because your brain is just, that's just what it does it, it just wants to do the easy stuff.
So take your notes and then read them so that you can You can remember what you just did, so before you move on to the next topic, do that. And that can help save some time. And again, that is also a strategy of bookmarking yourself so that you don't waste time the next time you start studying.
These are essentially the first three ways in which you can combat how unfocused or unorganized you might feel while you're studying, right? We have two more to go. So the first one is chunking out the topics. The second one is plan out your study sessions. And the third one is take [00:15:00] notes and then read them at the end.
Now, four is to use a Pomodoro method, right? Let me make sure I can spell this right, Pomo. Let me see. Yep. The method, now, this method is just, it's 25 minutes and then five minute break.
All right, so all it is chunked out time. So remember how we chunked out our topics. We're just chunking out time. So if you are giving yourself two hours to study, it should be 25 minutes, five minute break. 25 and turn your timer on. So if I'm really focused on working on something in my business during that, during the day and I feel really distracted, I feel like I, I just wanna check my email all the time.
I want to putz around and [00:16:00] if I'm working on one thing, but then I keep doing something else, like that's, I know that happens to you when you're studying. It happens to me when I'm just working. and I have to sit down and concentrate. So this method works really well, especially on days when you feel really distracted and you would be amazed at how focused you can get.
Once you start doing this, set a timer, 25 minutes. And then and if you start looking up and playing with your phone, check your time or just see how long it's been that you got on focus, right? Because that's gonna tell you something and say, maybe I do need some help studying for the. , right? Because let's face it, you might ask, there's a lot of people who study in a lot of different ways and a lot of different methods, but that doesn't always work for everybody.
I remember when I first was applying to graduate school and I just knew I needed help studying. for the gre. I got, I enrolled in one of those programs to make [00:17:00] sure that when I studied, I only needed to do it once because I couldn't risk not getting into grad school. The biggest difference here is like you're already working, so you are the only person who can apply a certain amount of urgency to it, right?
The urgency is that you want the chc, the urgency is that if you don't get it, like opportunities will pass you by. , right? They will, you won't even notice that they pass you by because you're not even looking for them because you've already dis discounted yourself, right? So put some urgency to it. Become a certified hand therapist, and really just comes down to studying.
It really just comes down to studying, be able to execute and you'll be able to get it. So try that method out. Let me know how that works for you. It has worked really well for me and hopefully it'll, it doesn't work all the time 80% is still pretty good statistics, right? Pretty good math.
So you might not, you might need, a little help at the beginning, but as you go [00:18:00] along, it might help you. think it'll help you. But you gotta give it a try. Give it a try. So the last one is really to use your resources in the best way possible, right? Ah, to use the resources is in the best way possible.
What can I tell you? Using your resources is like, is like exercises. It's like exercises. Who knows how to do a shoulder exercise? There's 1,000,001 ways to work on your rotator cuff, right? And internal external rotation, blah, blah, blah. It's 1,000,001 ways to do the same exercise. Now, if you exercise in the wrong.
right? If you exercise in the wrong order, you won't feel the results if you exercise with the wrong resistance. You're not gonna feel the results, right? You're gonna feel some kind of pain. If you [00:19:00] exercise with bad form, you're not gonna get the results that you hope for, right? So it's essentially the same thing as with the resources.
You have. These resources, use them right in the right way, in the right order. It can really help you to connect the dots when you're. and when you get going with the resource, when you get going with the studying as you go, the beginning is always the hardest. The beginning is always the hardest because first of all, it feels really hard, and the second of all, you don't get the results right away.
It's like I, it's like I wanna go to the gym, but I want that two times, and why haven't I gotten stronger, gotten skinnier, fixed my arm. How many of your patients, as a hand therapist, as an occupational therapist, how many of your patients have come to you and within one or two sessions think that wise?
Wise? I still have. , it's okay. I move my arm, right? [00:20:00] Because just getting started gets you started, but you need to keep going in order to get the end result right? And using the resources is a really key way of ensuring that you're gonna be able to connect the dots. There's some people who just don't read really well, and for those people they usually come into the program with the intention I want help to be able to get through the topics much faster.
And they just like my teaching style. So I'm really honest, I'm just, I go in on the major topics that people have the most problems with. and that helps them, it's like breaking down all these major topics and then making Cliff notes out of them so that it's just broken down easier.
Some people are readers so they like to read, but the problem with reading sometimes is you start to read and you get confused by the words. And the way the writer is, has written. All right. So if you use your [00:21:00] resources in a way that it's helpful, it can help you connect the dots. Some people use the Purple Book.
The purple Book is great for practice questions. One of the key things that I see people do unintentionally, is they do the practice questions. And what happens is they start to. Want to memorize, not because they're intending to memorize, but because that's just what the brain ends up doing.
And then the test is not like that. The test is going to they're going and it's not, they're not quizzes, right? Do you know this? Do you know that? It really isn't. It's about applied knowledge. So when you study in a way, using your resources to read or to gather the information in a way, That allows you to apply the information, right?
So you have to know, for example, in the shoulder, I'm talking a lot about shoulders cuz it just finished the mentorship program on shoulders and we're talking about rotator cuffs and we're talking about labrums and we're talking about what is [00:22:00] constructed what constructs. The glenohumeral joints and then what are the muscles that move everything.
There's a group of muscles that move everything and they're either stabilizers or they're they're they're, ah, they're stabilizers of the glenohumeral joint, or they're other muscle muscles that stabilize and support the scapula. So you have to know those things in order to know, okay, if something happens and someone has.
What is it? You have to know how to test, where you have to rule in and rule out. Then you have to know about the different types of imaging that are possible to rule in and rule out. So as a certified hand therapist, even though you don't take MRIs, even though you don't read MRIs for the images, you still need to know.
The effects of how that's going to affect your treatment, your recommendations, right? You're gonna need to know from a conservative standpoint, how to talk to your patient, how to educate them, what to do. Do they need surgery? Make certain [00:23:00] recommendations. Even if you yourself don't do this normally the exam requires that you do the exam.
Requires that you think like you. And then in practice, you might find yourself in a place where you can actually be the decision maker. My patients come to me all the time and ask me, can you read this, Mr. I have to translate it for them, and then I have to, make a recommendation, share my perspective, tell them what I think based on evidence, right?
Based on what I know about a normal shoulder, based on what I know about the nature of the. . And then based off of that, what you as a human being want to do cuz your age, your activities, your profession, blah, blah blah. I'm gonna make the best recommendations for what is possible for you. Is conservative treatment possible for you?
Is surgical treatment possible for you? And if it's surgery, what needs happen? If it's conservative, what needs to happen? [00:24:00] And then I have to actually do the work to give you the. I have to actually do the treatment that will get you the results that you're looking for. So that is essentially the exam in a nutshell.
And that is on one small minute topic without even. Like the biggest amounts of details. So if you understand conceptually what that is, then you have to start to apply the depth of knowledge there using your resources. Rehab of the Hand is still my favorite book, still my favorite resource.
I know a lot of people don't like the thick of the reading and stuff like that, but let me tell you hands down, it's solid information and it is it is. So one of the things that happens sometimes people start reaching out into lots and lots of different resources online, is that the information can get really confusing.
the information can get too far out of depth [00:25:00] for what you need to know on the exam, and that then you got too many resources. You're over, overdoing it and then you lose your focus. So how you use your resources is just absolutely key. , right? It's just like an exercise. If I increase the weights too much and you're not yet ready, shit's gonna hurt.
If I don't put any weight and you are ready for the weights, you're not gonna get results. The order in which you do things, the depth of which you do things right, and the form in which you do things, plays a role. Whether you're in therapy or whether you're studying and sitting for the exam, studying for the.
All right. Sometimes people ask me should I just study from the Purple Book and just take a practice quest task just to see where I am, to see where you are. You haven't started studying. You haven't started studying. See where you are? , you're gonna just shoot yourself in the foot, [00:26:00] right?
You're either gonna shoot yourself in the foot and be like, oh my God, I'm so far. or you gonna be overly confident and be like, sh, I don't have to study that much. And then the exam will kick your ass. , right? Why? Put yourself through that. Start studying. Start studying, and then take the exam. start studying and then take the exam start chunking out your information and then, start doing practice questions as you start studying.
So I do believe that there's an order in which to do things to make it easier. Now y'all people could do whatever stuff in whatever order you want but sometimes it makes it harder. . It's just like our patients, got someone who can't move their arm and I'm like, let's do their band. You don't even have passive range of motion yet.
You don't even have active range of motion yet. Let me throw you on the floor and get you to do pushups. It doesn't feel good. Then why? If you don't do that to them, why are you doing it to yourself? If you don't do that to your patients, why you're doing it to yourself, [00:27:00] right? Give yourself the best opportunities to be successful.
Give yourself the best opportunities to be successful. When you're studying things are hard enough, why make it harder for yourself, right? Make it easier. Make it doable, right? Make it easy, make it doable. And when you do that, it will be more enjoyable. It really will. If you do that, it will be more enjoyable and you'll see how much it advances your actual clinical.
That's it. Done with my rant. , I've been talking to a lot of people. I don't know if you can tell, I've been talking to a lot of OTs and these are some of the questions that they tell me, or not questions, but some of the pain points, some of the ink, some of the things that they struggle with.
And it's just getting focused. Getting organized, right? Oh, here is my golden. , if you have taken the exam and you have failed [00:28:00] in the past, here's my golden tip, y'all people about to start over. You're like, I'm gonna take a little break. Come January, I'm taking the exam, I'm gonna go to May. If that is you, my golden tip is if you have been studying for a while, de-clutter your notes, declutter them declutter them.
right? It's important because what happens is you have all this clutter in your notes, all this clutter on your desk. The clutter that is there is the clutter that is in here. Declutter, organize your shit. What needs to go? What needs to be reviewed again. , right? That way you have an opportunity to know where your strengths are, where your weaknesses are, and it gives you an opportunity to connect the dots.
It gives you an opportunity to fill that gap, right? , it's possible for you. It's your turn. It's your turn to become an expert in your area. It's [00:29:00] your turn to sit for the exam. It's totally possible for you, but I can say it's possible for you, but you have to see that it's possible for yourself, right?
The exam the exam prep program is currently open for enrollment. You can click the link in the description if. Instagram, you can go to link in the bio apply to get help in the exam prep program and see how this program can help you with studying and get you more organized. All right, so peace out.
I'm off. If any of this has helped you definitely comment and share with your friends. Out of all these five. , leave me a comment, let me know which one works for you. Try it out. Let me know which one works for you. If you have tried this out before, let me know which one is your favorite currently.
Currently my favorite is my, the method. [00:30:00] The method. I've been using that method quite a bit this week and last week. Cuz I'm planning out, I'm planning out my life, I'm planning out my life. I'm planning out 2023. There's a few classes that I plan to teach live. I'm closing exam prep program this week and in January we're, we're setting up to.
To get ready to teach in that cohort. And I'm, just committed to helping everyone, study and pass. We're making some improvements behind the scenes in the front end. And yeah, we have a lot of things going on next year just stay tuned. But this program it's gonna. at the end of the year and it won't open back up until April.
So if you're looking for help, now is the best time to hit me up. Send me a message, apply online to get into the program, and You can grab more of the details and stuff like that of how this program can help you get organized, save you time, [00:31:00] and just help increase your chances of passing help you increase your chances of passing.
Leave me a comment if you have a favorite. The POR method right now currently is my favorite, but I will tell you my second favorite. Take notes and read, take notes and read. That is my second paper, but I'm gonna stop sharing My favorite. You leave me yours. All right, I have to go. I will talk to you guys soon.\
Hey, thanks for listening to Hoang's world podcast. If you are brand new to the hand therapy world, head over to my website, www . Hand therapy secrets.com, where you can get started with some of our free guides and paid programs for both OTs and PTs diving into the world of hand therapy. Or if you've been listening for a while watching on our YouTube channel and you think you could benefit from developing and moving your career further along in hand therapy, reach out to me and my team at info @ Hand therapy.secrets.com and tell us exactly what you're looking for, By the way, if you know someone who could benefit from today's [00:32:00] show, please share.
Thanks. See you on the next episode.
