A productivity tip

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Hey friends,

At the start of this week, I found myself feeling a little overwhelmed. Iā€™d been on holiday over the Christmas period, and on returning to the UK I had two back-to-back weeks of 13-hour shifts at the hospital. In that time, various things had piled up in my email inbox and my to-do list. To sort through this mess, I used a productivity trick that sounds simple but is incredibly effective – I asked myself the following question:

Whatā€™s theĀ one thingĀ I can do today thatā€™ll take the largest load off my shoulders?

I triaged my to-do list based on thisĀ one-thing-per-dayĀ principle.Ā And each day for the last week, I did just that – one thing. Now itā€™s the end of the week, and my mind genuinely feels lighter than it has in ages because Iā€™ve bashed through the tasks that were weighing me down.

So thatā€™s the message of todayā€™s email – if youā€™re struggling with a long list of tasks, donā€™t try to be a multitasking productivity master. Just do one thing per day, starting with the one thatā€™s causing the most angst, and your spirit will be free.

Have a great week!

Ali

PS: If you care what my to-do list looked like this week, I talk about it right at the bottom of this email. If not, then by all means hit Archive or Delete and enjoy the rest of your day šŸ™‚


Stuff Iā€™ve enjoyed this week

(1) Non-fictionĀ –Ā The 4-Hour Work Week (Tim Ferriss)Ā – This is the single book that most changed my life when I read it 7+ years ago. Iā€™m rereading it for the first time and discovering so much stuff that I didnā€™t appreciate before. If you have even a passing interest in entrepreneurship, or if the idea of making systems that generate ā€˜passive incomeā€™ while you do other stuff seems remotely intriguing, this is a must-read.

(2) Kitchen applianceĀ – I bought thisĀ Egg PoacherĀ after a friend recommended it, and itā€™s made the process of poaching eggs a lot easier. I no longer have to worry about cleaning up a saucepan filled with random white bits, or scalding my hands when breaking eggs into a pan of boiling water.

(3) Meditation AppĀ – Meditation is one of those things that almost every famously successful person swears by, and after hearing rave reviews of Sam Harrisā€™Ā Waking UpĀ app, I decided to give it a shot. So far Iā€™m on day 3 of the meditation thing and I’ve committed to trying it out for at least a month to see what the fuss is about. Iā€™ll report back when Iā€™ve got more to share.

My to-do list

Overall, I didnā€™t get as much done on Wednesday to Friday as I wouldā€™ve liked, but I accomplished myĀ one thing per dayĀ most days so thatā€™s a win.

MondayĀ – Updated theĀ 6medĀ website with our BMAT and UCAT course dates for the year. This just takes a few hours of work each year, but because itā€™s quite boring, I always put it off until we start getting frantic emails and phone calls from parents desperate to book their kids onto one of our (amazing) courses.

TuesdayĀ – Wrote up the plan for a Quality Improvement Project aimed at improving the way FY1s (ie: the most junior doctors like me) are trained to respond to cardiac arrest calls. Sent this to two colleagues and the consultant supervising us.

WednesdayĀ – Filmed and edited 2 videos, and replied to all my outstanding emails to schedule sponsored videos for the next 1-2 months. I had the day off (because Iā€™m working on the weekend) so I probably couldā€™ve done more, but oh well.

ThursdayĀ – Intended to film another video, ended up being a wasteman and just playing some piano and guitar in the evening after work.

FridayĀ – Filmed a video, edited another one. Probably couldā€™ve done a lot more if Iā€™d been more efficient, but enjoyment is just as important as efficiency in my book.

SaturdayĀ – 8:30am-9:00pm shift at work. By about 7pm there was nothing left to do on the ward, so I bashed through a tonne of patient data for an audit about the management of high-grade Ovarian Cancer. Sent it off to the supervisor with a feeling of relief as this had been looming over me for 2 weeks.

SundayĀ – 8:30am-9pm shift at work. Itā€™s currently 3pm and Iā€™m writing this email in my lunch break. Thatā€™s the one task for today šŸ˜œ

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