# How To DO MORE After Work/School

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyNwpv3OU2E

[00:00] so the more business savvy of you may know about different methods of prioritization for example there's the Eisenhower matrix which is a prioritization method based on identifying what things are urgent what things are important and then it just creates a you know an axis of urgent and important to figure out what needs your attention at any specific time and the idea is that you want to be working on things that urgent and important the most the things that are important but not urgent you want to be working on those in the time that you have for example free time because those are the things can that could really make a difference long term like for example it might not be urgent and important that you develop good financial habits right now but six years from now that learning that you will have done might be the thing that really separates your financial situation and it could have been that sort of the deviation from the
[01:01] arrow you know as soon as the arrows fired.
[01:03] you tap it a little bit eventually.
[01:06] when it lands it's gonna be far different to where it would have landed otherwise.
[01:09] so the and then the urgent and not important things you you kind of need to do as a necessity or if you can you delegate it to someone else.
[01:19] and then the not important not urgent things you either just don't do them or you just you just give them to someone else as well.
[01:27] so the prioritization matrix are this one that I mention is called the Eisenhower matrix is one way of prioritizing.
[01:39] when you're working as a doctor you learn a different method of prioritization which is really similar to the I is now a matrix but it's kind of different in a in a way as well.
[01:48] and it's kind of different in an important way and I think if you're someone that gets overwhelmed easily or you find that your mind is a bit chaos so you've got heaps of tasks and you're not really getting through them I think this way of
[02:03] thinking about prioritization could be something that's helpful for me.
[02:08] I like to live a busy life and I like to have lots of things on my plate.
[02:13] I can't remember the last time I worked less than 80 hours a week.
[02:17] there's always sort of stuff that I'm trying to juggle and and for me that means that I'm living a full and enriching and fulfilling life.
[02:24] knowing that my time is being spent you know doing stuff that I enjoy doing and that's where I want to put my energy to what so it's it's a willing expenditure of time and because I like a lot of you watching will want to do lots of things.
[02:42] you'll want to pick up a new hobby you want to exercise we'll go for a run after work you want to eat well you want to you know prep your lunches you want to spend time with family and friends you want to you know have ample time for friendships and relationships.
[03:01] you know you you'll want all of these things but I also know even
[03:06] just looking around with my peers that a lot of people they get home from work and then they're just like okay that's it.
[03:14] like I'm done for the day I'm done for the whole week you know it's just to survive eat dinner do a couple of chores.
[03:22] it's 9:00 p.m. no time to do anything you need to go you know wash up and go to sleep so that's what the the daily routine ends up being for a lot of people especially a lot of doctors and other people that work in these kind of high our shift kind of positions where there's not a lot of flexibility there.
[03:40] and so there are things that you can do partly involving this method of prioritization that's not gonna be the magic bullet that solves everything but I do notice that a lot of the people that I see that struggle with this don't have a very consistent and systematic method of prioritization.
[03:57] for me personally if I didn't systematically prioritize on a daily basis I would easily very well get overwhelmed so the
[04:08] method of prioritization that you learn.
[04:10] when you're on doctor is is what you learn when you're on call and there's two components to it.
[04:14] one is triaging based on severity and the level of urgency that this requires.
[04:20] the other is how much time is this gonna take.
[04:24] and then the other component is how serious is the consequence of failure.
[04:31] and that's kind of different to that the triaging in a way.
[04:37] so you might get three different jobs that you need to do on a on a on call shift.
[04:43] you might arrive on a night shift and then you'll have 30 jobs that you need to do.
[04:48] okay so the first thing is you're gonna look through these jobs and think okay what looks more serious.
[04:54] what looks like it's gonna take a lot of time.
[04:56] what are the things that potentially more complex then they may seem.
[05:02] and then you're gonna decide based on their priority what jobs that you're gonna do in what order to maximize your
[05:10] efficiency now the order that you do things is not always related to the level of urgency because you may have a job that will take two minutes that is in the same ward as another urgent job but that two minute job may be lower j'en see in that situation it's better to actually just get that job out of the way with when you're on that ward because otherwise you're wasting more time walking back and forth and just navigating around just by doing it sort of geographically saves a lot of time now that's given that that slightly more arbitrary 2 minute job was at least a minimum level of importance and urgency that it does need to get done so if the consequence of failure of that is so low that it doesn't even register their minimum threshold that's a job that you just wouldn't do it's not urgent it's
[06:10] not important at all so you can see how the balancing that consequence of not doing the job means that there are certain things even though you're triaging based on importance there's certain things that you're not just you know you're gonna do anyway because even the two minutes spent doing it is a waste of time.
[06:32] the other thing that you do is in the time that it takes for you to go from job to job when you're walking between wards is you're thinking about you're gonna be doing when you arrive at that wood so then walking and staircase time is utilized and so it means that the the time efficiency and the prioritization is done extremely well because of time pressure and the consequences of possible failure are so eminently clear.
[07:02] the flipside to this is that you get quite desensitized to other types of events so for example if you've
[07:12] got a you know a friend who's worried about something and you're just being in this kind of like battlefield frontline health care zone
[07:23] a lot of the times in your head you're just thinking like man this is so trivial it just doesn't even matter compared to what you're normally used to dealing with
[07:29] you get a bit desensitized to it now in my opinion a transferable effect of that desensitization is the sort of emotional compassion fatigue that happens at end of the shifts
[07:47] you've got a certain amount of energy that you can give to a particular day and then at the end of the day you've drained all of it
[07:59] you've spent so much energy prioritizing these very important tasks that have a higher urgency and a high sense of responsibility to it
[08:07] when you get home in comparison the things you need to do
[08:12] in your own life like exercising or whatever it just seems less important
[08:16] and so you're less incentivizing this motivator to do various things and it just feels less relevant to do that
[08:22] it's like it would be nice rather than a a must-do
[08:24] now I disagree because those things are important but not urgent
[08:32] exercising is important but not urgent
[08:37] having a lifestyle where there's a balance of work and life is important but not urgent
[08:44] but it is important
[08:48] it's just as important as anything else that you doing during work
[08:51] the only difference is that consequences not paid out straight away
[08:54] there isn't an instantaneous feedback
[08:55] the consequence is slowly burning out
[09:00] the consequences feeling less and less motivated about work
[09:03] the consequence is losing relationships and friendships and dropping hobbies and finding that your life is just becoming a lot more gray and dull
[09:08] now research
[09:14] says that people that are more involved in different activities not only have better mental health but actually tend to perform better in their particular role as well.
[09:23] so that means that if you're a doctor or whatever you are and you're wanting to do well in your job there is a real benefit to doing things outside of your job at the same level of importance and responsibility and an intensity that you would do at work.
[09:41] so how many of you can say that you handle your exercise or your diet or your hobbies and seriously that you place as much importance on it as you would would your job.
[09:54] the common line of thought would be that it's not as relevant because you know a job is a professional responsibility and there's a certain you know you have to reach a certain level of ownership on a particular role for that career path you need to be a professional.
[10:11] it's like a sense of identity that you have but well let me ask you this what about the sense of identity of who you are as a person is
[10:16] that not also just as important is that.
[10:19] not actually more important than your sense of identity as a professional.
[10:25] whatever you are and in my view the the way that that prioritization happens in the certain in the way that I prioritize it for myself there is an identity that I have but I'm also aware of the other identities that I have and what I need to do to preserve those because those identities feed into each other.
[10:47] a lot of people ask me how was it that I was spending 30 or 40 hours a week working on a side project or multiple side projects while going through medical school and spending 30 or 4 hours 40 hours a week at the hospital or doing you know like medical wear things.
[11:07] what I say is I was able to do that because I was spending 30 to 40 hours a week doing this other stuff that was what gave me the energy that's what.
[11:17] gave me the the fuel to the fire that kept things going so that I could create that balance.
[11:23] like when I was busy and when I am busy that's when I'm actually getting more fulfilment and more satisfaction and more fuel.
[11:30] and it's not for everyone but if you're watching this and you're thinking that there are certain aspects of your life that you a little bit too satisfied about or there's certain things that you want to pick up and there's certain things that you want to do or you feel like that fire and that fuel is kind of going out then ask yourself how much attention and time are you giving to the things outside of that outside of the work outside of the totally compulsory.
[11:55] how much attention and focus are you giving to it and maybe just maybe there is a benefit to putting more attention into those to see what effect that has.
[12:05] you've got really little to lose and you've got potentially a much more fulfilling and enjoyable and colorful life to gain.
[12:11] it's a message that I tell to my students very often and I think
[12:18] it's it's one that has personally served me really well and hopefully it serves you too
[12:24] so if you you know listen to this and you think that that's something that you'll be willing to try set those minimum viable goals
[12:34] just put your foot out there and just creep forward outside of your norm and just challenge yourself to do a little bit more
[12:43] challenge yourself to get home and instead of going straight to whatever you are normally doing see if you can use your time like a busy on-call doctor will be using their time
[12:54] after you get after you finish work where is your mind at on the drive home on the walk home before you get home
[13:02] is it on just winding down or are you already buzzing about what you're gonna be doing when you get home
[13:10] can you build up that excitement can you use that time that you would normally be spending on just relaxing while doing something else
[13:20] to plan your your evening can you use that time to think of ideas?
[13:27] can you use that time to do some high-level strategizing?
[13:31] can you use that time to listen to an audible while you're driving and learn more about a particular thing that you're interested to learn about?
[13:42] when you do more of these things the chances are that you're gonna be more energized to do any you know everything else?
[13:51] and one of the most common if not the most common thing that I hear from students that I work with and professionals who want more out of their lives and want to do all these things but just can't find the time is well look there's so much I want to do but I barely have enough time and energy to do these other things?
[14:10] well the thing is is the time you're spent spending is it being spent efficiently?
[14:15] when you're washing dishes do you need to be only washing dishes?
[14:18] can you be like you know
[14:22] listening to a podcast or something can you be having a zoom call can you be having an interesting discussion can you be planning something you know can you be stacking your time on top of itself
[14:33] when I was working at the hospital I'll be taking calls from students and talking to parents and students in the stairwell moving from wards for more toward and it just kept the ball rolling
[14:46] and that feeling and their flow allowed me to feel more energized and I think it's really true when someone says that they barely have enough time and barely have enough energy to do more than just the bare minimum
[15:03] I think that's a completely true statement what I'm saying is can you create more time can you find the pockets can you find the time you spend doing something and realize that you can do something else at the same time if you don't have enough energy can you
[15:22] create more energy for yourself and often the creating of more energy as I'm sure you probably know doesn't come from taking the net.
[15:33] you don't get more energized when you've got lists to do when you've got a lazy Sunday afternoon you generally feel like a lazy Sunday afternoon.
[15:44] so that's just my perspective on things this is a topic that comes up almost on a weekly basis with the work that I do so I'm sure I'll be talking about this more and from different angles but it's just a super nuanced topic and there's so many different perspectives and realities and situations that people are in and this is genuinely a conversation that I would love to have more and want to hear you know from multiple different perspectives.
[16:07] what are your barriers what are the things that you're trying to do and what are the things that you're trying to do to overcome those how has that worked for you and how have how has that failed and you know maybe if you share that then that will give me an
[16:23] opportunity to think is there another angle that you have had now
[16:28] whether you choose to actually implement that is gonna be up to you obviously but anyway
[16:33] thanks for listening and watching so far
[16:36] and if you've got any suggestions or if you've got your own story to share then I'd love to hear it
[16:44] [Music]