On Cheat Days and Not Studying
Hey friends!
It’s been a strange week. I’ve been fixated with the US Elections, while still keeping up with online classes.
Online classes feels endless and mundane to me these days, so I try to mix it up by playing a lot of sports and writing.
This week, I wrote about why you shouldn’t study so hard in medicine, and why you should schedule productivity cheat days.
Here’s some of the best things I learnt this week!
Quote from a book I’m reading
Whatever we face, we have a choice: Will we be blocked by obstacles, or will we advance through and over them?
Source: Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle is The Way
An idea I learnt his week
Ikigai is a Japanese term that roughly translates to your reason for living, or your motivation for your profession. Ikigai is the secret to why the Japanese lead a long, healthy and meaningful life. Ikigai is the key to longevity, so you never stop pursuing your ikigai. If your ikigai is your job, never retire.
I’ve met several doctors in the wards who are old enough to be my grandparents, but they’re more full of energy than I am. Maybe it’s because the medical profession is their ikigai. What’s your ikigai?
Why You Should Read Hard Books
To do great things, you have to read to lead.
Reading to lead means pushing yourself—reading books “above your level.”
In short, you know the books where the words blur together and you can’t understand what’s happening? Those are the books a leader needs to read. Reading to lead or learn requires that you treat your brain like the muscle that it is—lifting the subjects with the most tension and weight.
When Starting, Focus on Quantity, Not Quality
I’ve been pondering on this article from Ali Abdaal when it comes to my writing
There was once a pottery teacher called Brian. One month, he decided to split his class into two groups. Group A had to make a pot every day for 30 days (so 30 pots in total). Group B had to work on a single pot for the whole 30 days. At the end of the month, Brian judged the quality of the pots. Without exception, every one of the top 10 pots came from Group A, the guys that made one pot per day. None came from the group that focused on perfecting their single pot.
My advice is to always focus on quantity over quality, at least for the first few years. Want to get better at photography? Take 10,000 photos. Learning how to cook? Try 100 recipes. Video editing? Make 100 videos. At the end of that (and with a few YouTube tutorials sprinkled in for good measure), it’s hard to not be significantly better.
Aiming for quantity has another benefit - it stops the fear of “what if this isn’t good enough?” from paralysing us. We accept that as beginners, we’re going to suck and that’s okay.
Stay safe,
Haikal