I’ve talked previously about the power of the weekly review, looking back at your week and seeing how it was. Today I did my yearly review, looking back on my goals for the year and grading myself on how I went. I would also reflect on the goals and justify to myself the grade I got. This was a really enjoyable experience. I blocked out 2 hours in my afternoon and just reflected on my year.
I realised that I actually have had a great year, I have grown so much as a person, which is one of my biggest indicators of success. I also realised what the gaps in my focus have been.
The reason I think that everyone should be doing this or something similar is that it allows you to realise what you have achieved or haven’t achieved. This can be lost in the moment when you’re only reflecting day to day or even week to week. I believe that examining your life is crucial to being successful and growing as a person.
Have you ever committed to an event, meeting or agreed to do anything in advance, and regretted it? I know I have.
I heard a story of Warren Buffett showing Bill Gates his diary in an effort to impart some knowledge on how he organises his time. You would expect the diary of one of the richest men on earth to be packed to the brim. It was empty; with only a few engagements in the following months.
When I heard this it didn’t initially resonate with me. I thought, “but I’ve got to do all these meetings and have all these things on so that’s impossible for me,” dismissing it. That was until today when I was thinking about my honours year, planning on committing myself to all these different projects well in advance. I realised this was the exact trap Buffett was talking about when he passed Gates his calendar. By committing to anything in advance you’re assuming that what is important right now will continue to be important then. I know that what’s important in the morning will be different to that afternoon, so why do I expect that things will have the same importance in the coming weeks and months?
It is impossible to know what you will want to do in the future or what opportunities may be presented to you. This is why it’s important to keep your options open, so you can embrace new opportunities as they present themselves, rather than regretting committing to yet another meeting.
It’s currently the night before my pharmacology final exam, I only studied 3 hours today as I felt I had sufficiently studied up until now and felt no need to increase my stress levels by trying to cram in extra information. If you read my first post you’ll know that I work four jobs, have a girlfriend and study full time at uni and I often get asked by my friends, “how do you fit all that in” or “how do you have time to do that”. Hopefully, I’ll be able to shed some light on the techniques I use to make the most out of my days and study as little and as effectively as possible.
This is how a typical to do list looks for me
The first thing I do either the night before or in the morning is, write down the 3-5 things I need to get done that day. This can be on paper, but I like to use sticky notes on my desktop and have 3 sections, Today, Tomorrow and Later, making each point discrete and as specific as possible, ie. ‘study renal pharmacology lectures’ rather than ‘study’. Not only does it save the time you spend figuring out what you need to study, but it also makes you more likely to actually do the task, whether it be studying or cleaning your room.
Furthermore, when doing this I find if I start with a smaller more specific task which is easy to achieve, I complete that quickly and after getting this achievement I feel empowered to complete more, maybe study another topic or clean another part of your room. The small dopamine release you get from completing a task is extremely beneficial and makes you enjoy whatever it is you’re doing. What most people do though is set vague, large tasks for themselves each day, for example, study. This is unhelpful because not only is it vague, causing you to waste time organising yourself on the day, you also do not get any satisfaction out of it because there is no discrete ‘finish’ to studying, leaving yourself unsatisfied and unfulfilled at the end of the day.
The final thing I do when designing this list is make it achievable each day. I have found that if you set yourself 3-4 tasks each day and are able to complete them all, it’s more likely that you will do the same the next day. This consistency is a key part to being successful, there is no point being sporadic in your studying, you’ll gain the most benefit out of studying consistently each day, rather than cramming it all into one where you fry your brain and feel unmotivated to work the next day. Overall, the most important steps towards reclaiming your days are to make a list, make it specific, discrete and achievable.
Harrison Hansford 