Hello fellow medics,
I hope you are all well.
Thank you to everyone for reading my blog page and being part of the family of medical graduates sitting exams.
It is an odd time right now in the World BUT you being here reading this blog shows you are willing and motivated to further your skills.
Over the last few months, I have done a lot of reading around “productivity” and “habits”. Maybe it is because I have more time or maybe always been fascinated by it. Whatever the reason, I would love to share with you some interesting ideas I would picked up along the way. These ideas will hopefully help the next 1-2 years of various exams you will need to sit to work within the Foundation Programme.
It is not about the “goals” but about the “processes”.
This idea has resonated with me the most. I have always been someone who actually avoided “goals” because life is so unpredictable.
I kind of had a vague idea of some things I might want to do…we all do right? I want to get more fit, I want to be successful in my career, I want to be happy..the list can go on and on. Over the last few months with further reading and reflecting, I have realised that I can ditch the goals and actually concentrate on “processes” that will hopefully get me closer to the “goal”. Some to these are:
1) I will read 10 pages of a book a day
2) I will work out for 1 hour in the morning
3) I will do a blog post every Sunday and Tuesday
4) I will walk every day for 45 minutes
5) I will wake up at 5:30am
This has meant rather than feeling guilty about not achieving that “goal“ or even agonising over “how do i get this goal?”, it is more about having healthy processes/habits to help you get there.
This can be applied to revision: ie
1) I will revise for 1 hour every morning without any distractions
2) I will participate in OSCE revision 2 times a week
3) I will run every morning to stay mentally fit
4) I will avoid unhealthy foods that make me sleepy
These are just a few ideas and processes.
It is about becoming the person you want to be
Over the last few months, I have tried to describe myself as the person I want to be. Essentially what I mean is, I am working towards an identity that reflects my healthy habits. Ie, now when people ask me about my daily routine, I describe myself as :
“I am into fitness, I get up every morning to run”,
“I am an early riser”
“I always sleep early to maximise my sleep”
“ I don’t like watching tv for hours, and instead am into reading”.
Now without sounding like a complete geek with no life, all these things have made me feel happier and more content. Not because I am a fitness guru, but because I am slowly but surely changing things in the right direction, and I have instilled it as part of my “personality”.
Early starts
With this habit, I initially got some mixed reactions from friends and family “You wake up at 5:30am?" “…what everyday?”.
Now, most people actually want to join me. Luckily, I have always been a morning person, with my revision, essays and To-do lists. So waking up at 5:30am didn’t seem like a big deal. Saying that, it WAS tiring in the first few days…BUT now, I couldn’t imagine not waking up at that time. It is so odd how the body just adapts.
Waking up early for me:
a) Gives me a head-start- nothing is better than having a head-start on others (some friendly competition never did any harm). I like to send out important emails before the office opens!
b) Makes me grateful- Opening the windows to let the sun into your room/house, feels so good.
c) Gives me extra hours - There are more hours in the day to do my thing.
d) Lastly, it means I get into bed at a great time, and so the cycle continues.
This can be applied to revision (I know some people are “night owls” this is also fine, but really think about how staying up at night is having an impact on your life - ie eating habits, fitness, happiness - if all is good, please continue!).
Getting up early, setting your targets for the day, getting on with your jobs and feeling essentially “in control” of your morning may have some surprising and positive effects. It will be tough initially, but soon becomes the norm.
Avoid meaningless distractions
Right, now I am going to get some people saying “OK, so now you are a minimalist?”. No, not at all, I am trying, but I own many random, unnecessary objects.
What I mean by this is reducing your time on things that actually don’t have any benefit to your life. I love Netflix, it is great. My friends love it and are always telling me to watch series, and sometimes I join them in doing so.
However, I avoid sitting there for hours, endlessly watching things that leads to me feeling sluggish. Social media is a great example. It is so easy to sit there and scroll, and before you know it, you have been doing it for hours.
Having a blog and social media myself and having to use it on a regular basis, the way I get around this conundrum is to set a time limit i.e. maximum 1 hour in the morning and the evening to check my social media.
This can be applied to revision. Rather than thinking, “I am so fed up of revising, I am going to scroll on instagram” get up, stretch, get some water and get back on it.
I hope you found this information useful and non judgemental. My aim was not to alienate or make people feel useless, it is about giving you inspiration for change (but only if you want to) and hopefully help to gain focus on your revision.
Stay happy, focused and safe
x
Great Books to read:
1) Atomic Habits - James Clear
2) 5am Club - Robin Sharma
3) Tools of Titans - Timothy Ferriss