🚀 How To-Do Lists are Destroying your Studying Motivation
and what to do about it...
Hey friends,
When I started out studying for the USMLE, I would begin each day by writing out a to-do list for the day. This was great for giving me direction and reducing decision fatigue. This usually looked something like this:
- Finish anki reviews
- Watch 5 sketchy videos
- Do a block of Uworld and review
Often though, I found I wouldn't finish everything I had planned for the day. Even after 8 hours of focused work, if I'm having a slow day I might still have 10 questions left to review. As a goal setter, this made me feel like a failure. I couldn't even finish one block of Uworld today, even after all that effort. What a loser...
Despite the fact that I had been productive and moved closer to my goal, and I would probably be able to catch up on the weekend, I still end the day feeling like a failure. If this happens enough, you start to really hate the idea of sitting down to study.
This all changed when I gave up on goal setting and to-do lists...
Instead, I would set goals for how long I wanted to study a resource that day, throw up an 8 hour StudyMD pomodoro video (I made my own that you can check out here) and just keep working until it ends. That looked something like this:
- do 3 hours of anki flashcards
- watch 2 hours of sketchy videos
- do 4 hours of Uworld
Then, at the end of the day, no matter how well my studying hours went, I could be proud that I put in the effort to succeed. Every minute represents another question solved, and another weapon in your arsenal. You have to have faith that this will translate into success on test day, because as long as you're focusing on the right things, it will! I personally think this mindset shift is a game-changer for the USMLE, where the mental game is so important to success.
I hadn't realised it, but I was also harnessing the power of time blocking - a time proven strategy to remaining focused, and do more work in less time:
"A 40 hour time-blocked work week, I estimate, produces the same amount of output as a 60+ hour work week pursued without structure." — Cal Newport, Author of Deep Work
To be clear: I do not believe goal setting is the enemy. We should set ourselves goals to a certain extent, but I have personally found more success in keeping overarching 'aims' to guide your studying, ie: Good: I should try to answer 40 questions today. Bad: I need to answer and review 40 questions today or I am a failure.
What do you guys think? Try it out in your studying and let me know how it goes, I'd love to know if it helps!
- Chris
📚 My Favourite Resources
📚 Book - Primal Branding This book completely changed my outlook on the worlds most successful companies. If you've ever wondered what makes your favourite brands like apple, starbucks, and star wars into icons of culture that people love and hate, then definitely check it out.
🎧 Podcast - The Naval Ravikant Interview I am not a podcast guy, but this one had me hooked. Naval is such a well read and wise individual, I'll definitely have to listen for a second time to digest it all. At the very least, he has inspired me to read way more books than I do now. I'm going to leave my kindle on my bedside table to try and make reading a habit before bed 😊
✍️ Quote of the Week
If you're not saying, "Hell yeah!" about something, say no. When
deciding whether to do something, if you feel anything less than "Wow!
That would be amazing! Absolutely! Hell yeah!" then say no.
From Anything You Want by Derek Sivers. Resurfaced using Readwise.