LEARNING PRODUCTIVITY

Why Productivity ?

I’ve always been a sucker for productivity. Nothing hits harder than completing your to do list at the end of the day or at least that is what it would feel like if it was something that came naturally to me.

It all started in high school. Productivity was more of a game of grades where I’d have bursts of constructive weeks when school was in session then fall back to old habits of doom scrolling and watching Nextflix all day during the holidays then back to the same productive self once I went back to school. You get the cycle.

But a lot has changed since I joined med school. I’ve always dreamed of learning more beyond my academic journey and entertained the thought of becoming more than just a doctor, not that becoming a doctor is in any way insignificant, but I’ve never been a fun of putting all my eggs into one basket, and in this case, one skill and ultimately, one income source. But my dreams were faced with the harsh reality that I hadn’t made any effort towards exploring other fields and improving my skill set. And that is where productivity comes in.

What do i mean by Productivity ?

Productivity for me comes in different states. There’s academic, physical, and creative productivity. This means that i have a set goal and system that would enable me to make constant, tangible progress in each of the areas mentioned above.

Academic productivity

Academic productivity isn’t just getting good grades. It’s getting excellent grades without necessarily studying for 20 out of the 24 hours in a day. Back in high school when i was a productivity noob, which I still am, I remember waking up every morning between 3:45 am and 4:15 am to start my day. We had morning preps which required us to be in class by 4:30am or 5:00am for the seniors and juniors respectively. And no doubt, I did my due diligence. This was on top of the fact that i would extend my evening studies at times before going to bed. But despite my efforts, my grades didn’t seem to make any phenomenal improvements. Other times, I would ironically drop in terms of my performance.

This lead to my obsession with learning new study methods from online gurus. I’d admit, I’ve seen some slight improvements with my work but i can’t help but feel like something is missing. I haven’t quite hit the nail on the head yet. My goal is to find a way to improve my grades why cutting the number of hours i spend on studying to almost half

Physical Productivity

A wash board of abs, a round bum and juicy biceps is probably what comes to mind when I talk about physical productivity. And for the longest time, I thought so too. But I’ve actually come to fall in love with the feeling before seeing the results, although the results can be quite the motivator.

A daily exercise routine in important to boost mental health, improve sleep, and leaving you looking and feeling younger, just to mention a few benefits. I’ve been trying to maintain this through morning runs, although my consistency is a bit wanting mostly because i am yet to stick to a single plan for my workouts.

Creative Productivity

This stems from my desire to learn more things outside my academic scope. To really probe my mind and think of ways to level up my skill set while also hopefully making money in the progress.

It never made sense to me to stay in school for six year and have nothing but a degree to show for it. There’s the whole issue of how school are made to train people to become good employees in the future in the distasteful cycle know as the rat race. I’m not going to set myself up for that kind of life

However, this is something easier said than done. It requires long periods of trial and error coupled with patients and determination in order to achieve something. My goal at the end of this is to come up with a personal brand in the name of a service or product that will not only enable me to learn a thing or two but also earn a bit of extra cash along the way

In Summary

Productivity for me isn’t just about getting stuff done. It means making progress in the areas in my life that mean the most to me. It means bridging the gap between where i am and where I want to be for the next five to ten years.