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  • Schedules get a bad wrap.

  • When people think schedules, they usually think of something restrictive, tedious and

  • boring.

  • We want fun, freedom and the ability to do whatever we want.

  • Don't schedules work directly against that?

  • Not exactly.

  • In fact, I argue that creating and sticking to your schedule will add more freedom to

  • your life not less.

  • Yeah, you heard that right.

  • Stay tuned and I'll show you how.

  • What's going on guys,

  • Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com.

  • First, thank you to everyone who voted on the med school insider's channel community

  • tab.

  • I made this video because you voted for it.

  • If you would like to vote in upcoming videos as well, make sure you are subscribed.

  • And without further ado, let's get to it.

  • The foundation of this video is that every system is perfectly designed to produce the

  • results it gets.

  • Therefore, we must follow a process to create a system that incentivizes us to behave in

  • a way that we want and makes it difficult for us to deviate from that path.

  • As Jocko Willink says, discipline equals freedom.

  • And I agree with him.

  • In this context, we're referring to self-discipline, which meansthe ability to control one's

  • feelings and overcome one's weaknesses; the ability to pursue what one thinks is right

  • despite temptations to abandon it.”

  • You see, our default state is to be wildly distractible and impulsive, doing things that

  • make us feel good in the moment, while avoiding those things that make us feel bad.

  • Seems to make sense, right?

  • But this is not an effective way to live one's life.

  • By practicing self-discipline and creating a schedule that you stick to, you can create

  • the day, and ultimately the life, that you want.

  • This empowers you to actually choose whether spending three hours of watching TV or browsing

  • Facebook is actually aligned with your life goals, or whether it's a distraction that

  • numbs you in the moment, but pulls you further away from becoming an effective doctor.

  • I've gone over this in countless other videos.

  • It's most effective to focus on one of two things at any moment: intentionally maximizing

  • work, or intentionally maximizing relaxation, fun or rejuvenation.

  • This is why I advise against having the TV on in the background while you try to work.

  • Rather, focus on deep work and getting into a flow state for two hours.

  • Crank through your homework or studying or whatever it is.

  • Then spend the next hour, or whatever you designate in your schedule, to relax with

  • friends, play a sport, or meditate.

  • This intentional dichotomy of time allocation allows us to maximize the rewards from being

  • productive and the enjoyment and pleasure from relaxation and free time.

  • Mixing the two simply doesn't work.

  • So, why is it so hard to stick to our schedules?

  • People generally avoid specifying their goals and creating a schedule for three main reasons.

  • First, it takes upfront effort and planning.

  • It's much easier to simply not put in the effort to list out your long term goals and

  • then put in the work to create a schedule to help us achieve those goals.

  • It just feels like work.

  • Second, people do not like to specify goals because then they are drawing the boundaries

  • and the definitions as to when they have failed.

  • And no one likes to admit they failed.

  • So, instead, we keep ourselves blind.

  • Jordan Peterson calls this "willful blindness."

  • But by setting goals and knowing when we fail, we will ultimately come out ahead.

  • By not setting goals and therefore not knowing when we have failed, we end up just failing

  • all the time.

  • Third, many of us succumb to the phenomenon of learned helplessness and assigning identity

  • to our failed actions.

  • I will spare you the psychology derivatives in the theory of depression, what you need

  • to know is that learned helplessness is essentially when we believe that we have no control over

  • what happens to us.

  • We learn to believe that we are helpless.

  • We practice a form of this when we assign our identities to our failures.

  • For example, you get a C in math, and then you tell yourself that you're just not the

  • kind of person that is good at math.

  • And this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where you will continue to do poorly in math.

  • If instead you remove your identity from the equation and instead say, “I did poorly

  • this semester in math, which means my study habits were not effective and require tweaking,”

  • you now have now empowered yourself to make the changes in the future that will secure

  • the grade you want.

  • I get it.

  • This may seem subtle, nuanced, and even a little woo-woo, but believe me when I say

  • this is tremendously powerful and you're almost certainly not using it to your advantage.

  • Okay, so how do I stick to my schedule?

  • First, remove the idea or thought that you're a failure from your vocabulary.

  • This is key.

  • If you start this process and resort to calling yourself a failure, you will quickly get discouraged

  • and return to your old ways.

  • Here's the thingyou will not 100% stick to your schedule.

  • I guarantee it.

  • I consider myself a very disciplined and structured person, but even I don't get anywhere near

  • 100% in sticking to my schedule.

  • Rather, we want to work towards achieving as much as possible in the schedule, and strive

  • to increase the accuracy week after week.

  • And sometimes that doesn't happen.

  • But it's better to his 50% accuracy for an entire year than it is to hit 90% for one

  • week but then give up because you focus on falling short by 10%.

  • Consistency is the key.

  • Next, it's important to be cognizant of how you spend your time.

  • For me, I only tracked my time for a couple weeks, after which I was much more aware and

  • didn't feel the need to track my time as closely.

  • My tool of choice was RescueTimer on my computer, and now Android and iOS offer features to

  • show you how you're allocating screen time on your phone.

  • By understanding how you're currently spending your time and energy, you'll be better equipped

  • to figure out what could be sapping more time than you expected.

  • You can then determine how to reallocate that time and energy more effectively.

  • Number three, choose and use your calendar and planner of choice.

  • For some people, like me, it's Google Calendar and Things 3.

  • I like digital.

  • For others, it's an old fashioned physical calendar or planner.

  • It doesn't really matter what you choose.

  • Choose whichever option you prefer but just stick to it.

  • Get in the habit of using your calendar and planner every day.

  • And not just for boring work things, but even planning out fun and activities with your

  • friends.

  • Number four, schedule inflexible items first.

  • If you're in school, make sure you mark off all the class time in your calendar.

  • This is something that is not negotiable.

  • If you have a work schedule, mark that off as well, because that too is non-negotiable.

  • If you're in medical school and classes are optional however, intentionally decide

  • whether or not classes are a good use of time, and reflect that in your schedule accordingly.

  • I personally, attended lecture during my first year of med school, but stopped attending

  • lecture in my second year.

  • If you're not sure, run an experiment for yourself and then decide.

  • Which brings us to point number five, run self-experiments.

  • Figure out what you want to test.

  • For example, does attending lectures in medical school help you, or are you better off studying

  • alone?

  • We can sit here and describe the pros and cons of each.

  • The group setting enforces focus and reduces the temptation to fall behind, therefore attending

  • class is great for students who are prone to procrastination.

  • Skipping lecture and opting for the solo-studying method allows flexibility with your time,

  • the ability to speed up your lectures, and the opportunity to pause and look up concepts

  • if you are lost in the middle of lecture.

  • It's hard to know exactly what works for you unless you put it to the test.

  • For a week, change only that single variable, being whether or not you attend lecture.

  • Every day, keep a journal as to your thoughts of how you're doing.

  • Do you feel that it is working for you?

  • Are you staying on top of each lecture or are you falling behind?

  • How's your retention?

  • Do you feel more or less tired?

  • Do you feel lonely from not seeing your friends in class?

  • After you have run this experiment on yourself, you'll be better equipped to make a decision.

  • Number six, schedule flexible items, but be realistic.

  • Once the non-negotiables are set, it's time to fill in the rest of your schedule with

  • whatever you want.

  • As a student, I recommend two hour blocks of studying utilizing the Pomodoro Technique.

  • At longer breaks, schedule gym time, dinner, running errands, or other breaks that are

  • rejuvenatingnot just thirty minutes of Facebook.

  • Now, there are two traps people often fall into when creating their schedules, and I

  • am intimately familiar with both.

  • The first is not allocating enough buffer time for things like time in transit, packing

  • and unpacking, and things of the sort.

  • For example, I used to give myself only one and a half hours for the gym without factoring

  • in transportation and other buffers.

  • That meant I needed to spend 15 minutes going to the gym, 5-10 minutes unpacking, putting

  • my things in the locker etcetera, another 10 minutes for warm up, then at the end of

  • my work out another 5-10 minutes to pack things up and another 15 minutes to get back from

  • the gym.

  • In the end, that one and a half hours allocated for gym time only gave me 30 minutes to actually

  • work out!

  • I now block out 2 hours of gym time in my schedule.

  • The second trap is being too ambitious with how much significant work you can get done

  • each day without burning out.

  • This is an insidious trap that is difficult to escape, especially if you're in medical

  • school or residency, where you feel like you're perpetually behind and playing catch up.

  • After a certain point, the more you work, the more your efficiency will drop.

  • That decreased efficiency slows down your rate of progress, which makes you feel like

  • you need to work more to make up for it.

  • It's a dangerous cycle.

  • So instead, focus on quality of studying time, not the quantity, and allow sufficient time

  • to unwind, relax, and recover.

  • It's tough to do, but you'll find that scheduling shorter blocks of intense studying

  • and longer blocks of relaxation is actually more fruitful than depriving yourself of adequate

  • relaxation and simply pounding on the books for hours on end.

  • And number seven, review and adjust daily.

  • Remember that all plans, even the best, require regular adjustments.

  • Day of, remember you can change your schedule as needed.

  • It's not set in stone, but at the same time do your best to stick with it, otherwise you

  • defeat the purpose of scheduling in the first place.

  • The key isn't to create one schedule and stick with it indefinitely.

  • Rather, consistency is key.

  • Review your schedule for the daywhat worked and what didn't work?

  • It's a series of experiments where you develop a hypothesis, test and collect data, analyze,

  • readjust and repeat.

  • Using that knowledge, make tweaks to your schedule moving forward.

  • Soon, you'll have a schedule dialed in that maximizes your productivity and your fun.

  • Now, I invite you to enjoying the process.

  • There are no shortcuts to magically sticking to your schedule.

  • It's simply a matter of implementing a series of steps and creating a structure in place

  • that incentivizes you to live the life that you want to live.

  • Run your own self-experiments, watch yourself improve, and appreciate the process and the

  • results you achieve.

  • Let us know down in the comments some of your own scheduling tips that we did not cover

  • in this video.

  • I've consistently been impressed by the comments you all leave and I would love to learn more

  • from you.

  • Thank you all so much for watching.

  • If you like this video make sure you subscribe so you too can vote for upcoming videos.

  • And I'll see you guys in that next one you.

Schedules get a bad wrap.

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