Elise Cantu (00:19)

Hey, Onco PT and welcome back to this episode of the Onco PT podcast. Now, if you’ve been following the podcast for a little bit, you know that we just concluded our pre APTA CSM series where we highlight the different sessions that are coming up. There’s a lot of really good sessions. I would be remiss if I did not mention our own session one more time, which is taking place on Thursday at 8 a.m. with Alex.

Kelly and Kelly, we are so, so excited to be bringing radiation fibrosis content to this conference. ⁓ And I really hope that we get to see you there. So please make sure if you’re going to CSM, mark that under your calendar. We would love to get to see your friendly faces in the audience and to get to share this information with you. But on that note, we have now entered the final weeks leading up to the ABPTS oncology specialty certification exam.

And for those of you who have been preparing, who have been working so hard over the past few months, this is where, I mean, this is kind of where it all comes together. And this last month of preparation is perhaps one of the most important ones in the entire time. And what I find is interesting, I’ve been preparing future specialists for several years now through oncology specialist bootcamp. And what I find is interesting about this process,

is that this last month is really where the overwhelm kicks into hyperdrive. And it’s interesting because initially you’d think that the overwhelm would happen more at the beginning of the process. Like as you’re trying to navigate the application or as you start to get into the studying for the first time. Like you open up that, you know, the candidate guide and you’re looking at the different topics that are expected to be on there.

You’d think that’s when the overwhelm would really kind of have its strongest hold when you first get started, but that’s actually not what I see. In fact, this is the time when the overwhelm is perhaps at its highest and it’s

Sometimes it’s quiet, sometimes it’s a little louder, but this is where that panic shows up. ⁓ And it’s actually late in the exam prep process, AKA right now. And so what I wanna do today is really talk about that overwhelm and really sit with it. Because if you are going through this process, if you are studying, you have been working for months at this point, excuse me, to make sure that you are prepared, that you have been.

covering all the information that you need for the exam. You’ve been applying it in your study sessions. You’ve been applying it with your patients, all working towards this big goal that you have set for yourself, which is so exciting. And then this overwhelm can kind of creep in. And this overwhelm can sometimes be what actually stops us in our tracks. This is when I see future specialists almost start to throw their hands up in the air.

and just kind of had this attitude. I just want to be over with it. And let me be clear, that is totally normal. That is totally expected at this time of year. But we need to talk about how to get through this, how to actually make it to the other side, to actually cross that finish line, to get to the exam without either cruising or like having kind of an avoidant approach to preparing for the exam in these last few weeks.

or without losing your mind in the process because you’re so overwhelmed and you kind of like dig your heels in and get super, super almost, I won’t say crazy on this, but get so deep into studying that you kind of lose yourself. So we’re gonna work on that happy medium today and how to really achieve that, especially when this overwhelm is really creeping into you.

Now, the reason that this overwhelm peaks so late in the exam prep process is because you care. And I mean that with all sincerity. When you’ve been studying for so long, when you’ve been putting in so much work into your preparation, it’s because you care. It’s because you care about becoming the best possible oncology physical therapist for…

your community for your patients and really elevating that standard of care in your community because you know like that is the ultimate why behind this exam, right? It’s you know, yeah like some more letters after your name are cool. Sure you get a great certificate after it all and you get a pin. That’s not why we do this, right? The reason we’re doing this is because you want to be the best possible version of Onco PT for your patients in your community that you can be. And so when you’ve been putting in this effort,

so diligently into preparing for this, it really comes down to there is a lot competing for your attention. If you even glance at that topic list, which I know you have at this point, there’s a lot on there and it can feel like you’re being pulled in a bunch of different directions. I need to look at the neurological stuff. ⁓ what about the musculoskeletal stuff? I need to make sure that I’m feeling really, really good about differential diagnosis of this.

There is a lot that all feels really important. It all feels equally important, truly. And because your brain right now is, my God, there’s a timeline. There is an active deadline that we are counting down towards. I have so many things that I’m trying to study and look over in these last few weeks. Your brain is in hyperdrive because it is interpreting all of these things as the priority.

Equally, everything is a priority right now and there is time sensitivity to it. And so when we acknowledge that this is the reason behind why overwhelm happens, we can start to say, ⁓ this is what I’m feeling right now. This is why I’m feeling it. And we can kind of get to that deeper layer of, all right, now that I know what I’m feeling, I know why that I’m feeling it. I know how to proceed forward while working with this feeling of overwhelm that I’m experiencing.

And I want to be super clear right now. Overwhelm is not failure. And when you treat overwhelm as a personal failure, as if this is somehow a problem because of what you’ve been studying, how you’ve been studying, this creates panic instead of clarity. And panic is the last thing that we need right now as you are in those final days of preparation for this exam.

And again, this is why we see this true overwhelm happen so late in the game again, because our brains are viewing everything as all important. Everything is equally important and I need to be focusing on everything right now. And that is not the case. What we need to instead do, what you need instead to do is to prioritize. It is really tempting as you are in these last few weeks of preparing.

and going through your notes and going through these different topics and whatnot to again, try to handle, try to try to get to everything, try to study everything and whatnot. When in fact, this is really the time that you need to be zoning in, zooming in on what is absolutely the most important. And I know it’s really easy for me to sit here and be like, not everything is important when you are in this position of, my God, there’s so much and everything is super important. But hear me out, friend.

Even if you don’t believe me when I tell you not everything is the most important thing, if you go to the candidate guide and you scroll down to that oncology ⁓ addendum within that, there is a very clear breakdown, not just the topics, but also what kind of ⁓ content or knowledge focus or areas are on the exam. So,

Where this is most heavily weighted is definitely on the examination and the evaluation, the diagnosis, the treatment and the outcomes of this, not the, you know, I don’t know, the research ⁓ number values. If you think back to your research methods, class from PT school or wherever you took it, you know, all the spin in, snout out, like likelihood ratio is coming to mind right now.

That makes up such a small portion of the exam. I’m not saying it’s not on there, right? It’s totally possible it could be on there, but that makes up such a small portion of what this exam is really looking at. Right now, again, like I said, you really need to be prioritizing. Those, again, likelihood ratio, spin in, snout out, that’s not where you need to spend your time. Working with actual patients and applying your knowledge to patient cases.

That is where a priority is for you right now. So when you’re working super hard without this kind of prioritization in mind, this creates more noise in your brain and that creeps into your studying efforts. And what can happen, what I see a lot of times when we’re in this, again, like last month of studying is that studying gets kind of random. you know what?

I need to look over at this topic here. Shoot, I forgot to look at this thing. there’s an article that just came out about this topic. Slow your roll, friend. Slow down. We don’t need random. We don’t need the latest and greatest right now. We need a clear prioritization of what is most important and sticking with that prioritization. Because when everything feels super

important. When everything feels equally important in your brain, your confidence drops because you don’t feel secure. You don’t feel certain that what you are studying is actually important, is actually going to show up on the exam, is actually going to pay off. That’s what it really comes down to. Lack of prioritization means that your brain doesn’t, can’t really focus on what is most important and it makes

an uncertainty at the end of the path of, don’t know what I’m doing is actually going to make a difference, is actually going to pay off. And this second guessing only fuels more noise and just more chaos and frankly more panic when we are getting down to these last few weeks of the exam. And so a lot of times I’ll hear from, you know, ⁓ future specialists as they’re talking to me and they’re like, my God, I don’t know what to do right now.

I don’t know if I’m doing the right things is something that comes up all the time. And if that’s something you found yourself either thinking or saying to someone else in these last few weeks, like this is exactly what we’re talking about. So just to kind of redraw our map of what we’ve been talking about this whole episode, this theme is this overwhelm comes from a lack of prioritization. Your brain is viewing all topics.

all content areas as equally important. And when everything is equally important, nothing is truly important. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen like that square chart of urgent versus important, and you have important, not important, urgent, not urgent. Everything becomes urgent and not important. When in fact, we need to be more in the important,

and not urgent phase because that’s what’s going to really promote this retention of information. We know that as humans, our brains don’t learn well when we are in this mental chaos and noise and panic. We learn best when we’re in a state of clarity and that clarity comes from a true prioritization. What is truly most important for me to focus on over these next few weeks as I am preparing for my exam?

And with that prioritization comes confidence, comes a knowing, a deep knowing that I am looking at the right material that is going to make the biggest difference in my success as I am preparing for this exam. So if you are saying to yourself, I don’t know if I’m looking at the right things. I don’t even know where to go at this point. I would really, really encourage you to revisit that. Like I said, that breakdown.

of those different, like the percentages of what the exam is going to cover. And that is a really, really powerful way to zoom in on what is truly the most important and where you need to prioritize your efforts over the next few weeks. When you feel that overwhelm, because it’s more likely a when, not an if at this point. When you feel that overwhelm, this is not a personal failure. This is not an indication that you are

not prepared for the exam or that you’re not worthy of this endeavor that you have undertaken. This is a signal from your brain, from your nervous system saying, hey, I don’t quite know what to focus on right now. Clarity on what is truly important and that prioritization restores a steadiness and a confidence in

yourself and in the work that you have been doing over the past few months. So I would really encourage you over these next couple of weeks, the answer to overwhelm is not more studying. Again, if you’re like, I don’t know if I’m doing the right things. The answer is not to go out and double your studying hours. In fact, I would even encourage you to maybe cut down a little bit on your study hours, but get super

hyper focused on what is really, really important during these last few weeks. You don’t need more effort. You need clearer direction in all of this. And if you want more structure, if you want some guidance on how to implement that structure, I shared a visual breakdown in my YouTube video that I posted last week. So if you find that this is something that you would benefit from, I have linked to it.

in the show notes and in your podcast player so you can easily navigate over to that video. Overwhelm is not failure. Overwhelm is a signal. It’s information that there is a unrest, there is second guessing, and there is not prioritization in your brain. With clear prioritization, your brain has a path and has a focus.

so that you can move forward with confidence and feel good as we continue to count down the days towards your exam. And that’s really exciting. Like I know this is a potentially very nerve wracking time. I know, cause I’ve been there, but this is also a really exciting time because I view this as a, wow, you have put so much work into this and you have put so much work into becoming the best version of Onco PT you can be and your patients.

and your community are ultimately benefiting from this. If you haven’t seen it yet, friend, I am challenging you. Go back and look, like sit with yourself in your recent progress and the transformation that you have gone through as an oncology physical therapist over the last few months with your patients. Like you are a different onco PT now than when you started this. And that is so exciting to me. And I hope that’s exciting to you.

because you are literally transforming cancer rehab in your community for your patients. And in your patient’s transformation, you are transforming families, you are transforming neighborhoods, communities. Like the ripple effect is so big in all of this. And I don’t want you to miss that because you are stuck in that overwhelmed state right now.

If you want to talk more about this, if you want some more information on this, like I said, I would really encourage you go to that YouTube link that I’ve shared in the podcast description and in the show notes as well. It’s going to be really, really helpful in all of this. And I cannot wait to see you over there on YouTube. So until next time, this is Elise with the Onco PT. And remember, you are exactly the physical therapist that your patients with cancer need. So let’s get to work.