How to Build Nursing School “Atomic Habits”

If you want to have an excellent nursing school experience, you need to build consistent habits to get you there. Mobilize your intention for education success and create good habits so you can thrive. In this article, we explore what these practices are, key book takeaways, the best nursing school habits, and how to build them. 

What are Atomic Habits?

Atomic habits are the micro-choices, decisions and actions we make that shape our day. Because the effects of such small decisions compound daily, these 1 percent changes lead to massive results in the long run. Building these atomic habits is a proven self-improvement strategy. 

In effect, “every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. . . . as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. This is one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change. . . . if a change is meaningful, it is actually big. That’s the paradox of making small improvements.” (James Clear, Atomic Habits)

We build or eliminate habits by altering our cue-craving-response-reward habit loops. For example, if you have a morning routine, your cue is waking up and your craving is to get the day started on the right foot. Your response is completing your daily routine and your reward is feeling good about having done that. Laying the groundwork for new habit loops or short-circuiting bad habit loops helps you build better habits.   

3 Key Takeaways From Atomic Habits

Every habit begins with a seed of action. Plant that seed and see how a habit can sprout. Lifelong habits begin with the smallest decision to just start. Repeat that decision and you will grow your habits into consistent, durable practices. Nurturing these habits are essential for college discipline and career success. Here are three of the biggest lessons learned from the book:

Takeaway #1: Small Habits Have a Big Impact

Daily, small, repeated improvements can lead to immeasurable benefits over a lifetime. If you can better yourself by 1 percent every day, you will have improved yourself 37 times over by year’s end. With commitment, you can become your best self with these incremental changes. 

It doesn’t matter if you implement these habits perfectly, just keep on improving incrementally each day. Expect to succeed at your college exams when you make micro-habits that you sustain daily. 

Takeaway #2: Focus on Making Systems, Not Setting Goals

Goals are your target end-result. Systems are about how you go about achieving these objectives. If you’re struggling to have solid study habits, or a dependable routine, the problem is not you. It is the systems you have in place that are not supporting your successful habits. 

As James Clear says, “you do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” Spend some time organizing yourself for your nursing education by developing study systems that reward your focus and stamina. 

Set aside a quiet time and place for your study practice every day by implementing specific cues. For example, silence your phone and eliminate other distractions. These system practices help cue you to know it’s study time.  

Habit Stacking

Habit stacking, or pairing a new habit with a healthy current one, compounds these system-focused benefits. In this way, you take advantage of connecting behaviors to prime your good habits. For example, you could stack your daily coffee with time spent reviewing yesterday’s class notes.  

Takeaway #3: Build “Identity-Based” Habits

To master new habits, you need to first build yourself a new identity. Your habits are based on the kind of person you think you are. So when you reimagine who you could be, you increase your chance of having new habit success. Instead of focusing on outcomes, you zero-in on your self-image. This is the key to establishing identity-based habits. 

In effect, creating identity-based habits is a two-step process:

• Decide who you want to be.
• Prove it to yourself with consistent, atomic wins every day.

Changing habits becomes much easier because you are simply acting in alignment with who you believe you are. Every action you choose to make is a step toward the person you want to be. 

What Kind of Nursing School Atomic Habits Do I Need?

Whether you’re new to the profession or bridging your RN to BSN, your nursing education success requires effective study habits. Nursing studies can be demanding, so it requires no less than giving it your all. Here are a few tips for creating good nursing school study habits while you are completing your education.

How to Create Good Nursing School Study Habits

Master Time Management

Effective nursing school study habits begin and end with time management skills. Once you can block off time for studying, sleeping, family and work, you’re one step closer to winning the game. Time management depends both on the quantity of time you spend and also on the quality of your attention and focus. So plan ahead and make it count. 

Study Smart

Studying smarter involves more than listening to classes and rote learning. If you want to achieve at your nursing education, you need effective study techniques that prime you for success. Set SMART goals and set a reasonable amount of time to focus. 

SMART goals are goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound. Such nursing student goals include: 

• Volunteering for extra learning opportunities; 
• Seeking mentorship;
• Keeping a healthy work-life balance; and 
• Preparing for the best nursing specialty. 

Also make sure you avoid distractions while you devote yourself to study time. Remember to go over your notes before classes and practice review questions. And be realistic about how long your class and test preparation will take so you don’t underestimate the completion time required. 

Attend to Family and Work Responsibilities

Build positive, healthy nursing school study habits that celebrate quality time with family and also double-down on your work focus. Ensure you are prioritizing your family and work obligations so that you don’t struggle in your nursing education. 

This is especially critical if you are enrolled in an accelerated nursing program. The upside of having these responsibilities is that you sharpen your time and stress-management skills. Such skills will benefit your professional nursing career. 

Practice Self-Care & Reward Yourself

Don’t forget your me-time! Build time into your schedule to replenish and recharge. You are likely balancing a trio of work, school and family priorities so ensure that your self-care practice is on point. Once you build a new education habit, reward yourself for a job well done. 

How to Break Bad Nursing School Study Habits

Your education can be as much about unlearning bad habits as it is about mastering effective habits. Here are some nursing school study habits that might be best to avoid:

Don’t Stress About Grades

Your education experience is more about building solid, long-term habits than it is about acing a specific class. Even if your GPA is not where you’d like it to be, focus less on making the grade and more on the habits that will get you there. In this way, you’ll master the systems that bring you to positive outcomes and your grades should naturally improve with consistency. 

Don’t Always Study Alone

Always studying alone can be hard to do. So remember to keep social. When you study in groups, you welcome versatility and sharing in your study habits. Become and get an accountability partner that holds you to task about your education habits. And if you don’t know anyone else currently enrolled in your program, you can sit down and study while your kids focus on homework for some extra family bonding. 

How Can I Master Atomic Nursing School Study Habits?

You can action these habits through the Four Laws of Behavior Change, also known as the Golden Rules. Here’s how to implement habit change in your life:

The Golden Rules for Building These Habits

The process of mastering such habits is divided into four phases: cue, craving, response and reward. This process forms a neurological feedback loop that drives automatic habits. Optimize each step so that the new habit easily adheres to you. Here’s how to do that:

1. Make It Obvious (Cue): Become aware of your present habits and ensure your new onboarding habit is obvious and visible. 
2. Make It Attractive (Craving): Apply “temptation bundling” by pairing your new target habit with an old habit so the craving is optimized. Implement a motivation ritual that induces you to go for the new habit.
3. Make It Easy (Response): Apply the “two-minute rule” where your new habit can be done in two minutes or less. Ensure that your environment is also conducive for your new habit. 
4. Make It Satisfying (Reward): Use a habit tracker to ensure execution. And remember to give yourself a reward for having successfully completed your new habit.

Inversely, if you’re wanting to break bad education habits, here’s how:

1. Make It Invisible (Cue).
2. Make It Unattractive (Craving).
3. Make It Difficult (Response).
4. Make It Unsatisfying(Reward). 

Start Right with Achieve Test Prep

Your nursing education is a proving time for your career because it lays the groundwork for future healthy habits. Ensure you are primed for success by going with the best nursing school test prep program out there. 

‍Are you ready to succeed in nursing school with Achieve Test Prep? We help you succeed in your TEAS, HESI PAX, KAPLAN, NCLEX-PN or NCLEX-RN exams. Whether you’re an LPN to RN or BSN, RN to BSN, or CNA or medical assistant to RN, we’re here for you every step of the way. Master your nursing education and pass exams with the confidence only nursing school atomic habits can give, with Achieve Test Prep by your side.