there doesn't seem to be enough hours in
a day I totally get it I have been
fascinated by the constraints of time
and how to maximize efficiency for as
long as I can remember in this video I'm
going to share with you the secrets I've
learned over the years that have allowed
me to reach insane levels of
productivity and efficiency what's going
on guys dr. J from med school
insider.com quick announcement the vlogs
are back there on a new channel called
life of a surgeon link in the
description below for those of you who
are new to the channel I am a plastic
surgery resident physician the founder
of medical insiders and I do several
other things on the side such as
advising for another company that I
founded as well as performing clinical
research I have learned how to get a lot
done in a short period of time and I'll
show exactly how you can do the same one
quick thing before we jump to the advice
a lot of you may be concerned that
becoming so efficient and productive may
drain the fun out of life that could not
be further from the truth and this
thought stems from ignorance and fear
when you achieve similar levels of
productivity you will open up so much
free time that you can decide if you
want to have more fun or get more things
done my balance between work and play
may be different than yours but by being
efficient you actually are able to
decide how you spend your time
most people don't maximize their time
efficiency and are a slave to time
becoming efficient will free yourself
you can decide if you want to spend more
time in the gym and get jacked or spend
more time at home with your family or if
you want to pick up a second or third
site business like I did that is totally
up to you my philosophy is that since
time is limited maximize it that means
either fully enjoy yourself or be fully
productive and present in the moment
none of that nonsense in the middle
where you are trying to relax and get
work done at the same time it just
doesn't work number one time is money
time is your most valuable asset but the
problem is that you do not treat it as
such when you add up all the in
efficiencies throughout the day
you are wasting hours every single day
begin to acknowledge the importance of
your time and treat it as such a common
mistake many people make is wasting time
trying to save a few dollars does going
out of your way to pick up dinner from
the restaurant makes sense or should you
spend the $3.00 for delivery in order to
save 30 minutes of your own precious
time does signing up for a grocery
delivery service like Google Express or
instacart make sense if it saves you a
few hours every week this analysis will
yield different results day to day and
depending on where you are in your life
now that I am a physician and no longer
a student I have an income and I can
place a higher price on my time
ultimately determining how much your
time is worth is a very personal
decision and I cannot do that for you I
personally would argue that waiting in
line for 10 hours to get a good deal on
a TV on Black Friday is a complete waste
of time but you may enjoy the experience
and see value in doing so there's
nothing wrong with that
it's your call to make number two
understand Parkinson's law Parkinson's
law states that work expands to fill the
time allotted for its completion this
means if you give yourself five hours
for a task rather than two it will take
you the full five hours to do it but if
you give yourself two hours you will be
much more efficient and feel that time
crunch and although you may go over your
target of two hours you will still spend
far less time than five this is a tricky
technique because you have to purposely
cut things close and not give too much
time for any one task the downside is
that it can generate unhealthy amounts
of stress if you don't have good coping
mechanisms or if you are too aggressive
with your deadlines this is something
that takes experimentation to get just
right I use this all the time even when
researching and writing medical insider
scripts as it helps to keep me efficient
number three identify tasks that you can
perform anywhere I want you all to start
paying attention how much time you waste
each and every day waiting in lines
standing around and not doing anything
fun or productive I guarantee that you
will be surprised how much time is
zapped each and every day
now the best way to navigate this
problem is to have tasks you can perform
anywhere and residency I still need to
study I use on key flashcards which I
have made multiple videos about when I'm
either waiting in line at the grocery
store or waiting for someone at a
restaurant or in other brief moments of
downtime the brilliant thing about these
flashcards is that you can do them
anywhere and just brief spurts of free
time you don't even need to set aside 20
minutes if you only have two minutes you
can get 10 flashcards done and that is
still very effective when I'm driving I
listen to audiobooks or podcasts this
allows me to consume valuable
information when I would otherwise not
be doing anything or just listening to
music last year when I was finishing
medical school and flying around the
country for residency interviews I
maintained my productivity even while
traveling went on the plane I told
myself I will either sleep read my
Kindle or do work I don't watch TV or
movies on planes and this leaves me
feeling accomplished and happy when I
step off the plane I feel like I spent
my time the best way possible
and it also means that I have more time
to do the things that are important to
me I did the same thing even when I was
on vacation flying to South Africa took
about 30 hours I was rotating between
working on medical insiders research
projects and sleeping when I got off the
plane I did not have to worry about work
since I already got it all done and I
could truly enjoy my vacation and be
present in the moment with my
significant other this is not stressful
if you do it right it is just an
efficient and optimized way to manage
your time so you have more flexibility
to do the things you love if you are
able to squeeze in an hour of work every
day during your brief moments of
downtime then that means you have one
more hour later in the day to do
whatever it is that you want number four
optimize your brakes and switch tasks to
maintain momentum our brains cannot run
at 100% intensity at all times one
highly effective method to maintain
focus and avoid burning out is to use
the Pomodoro Technique however even with
Pomodoro you will be unable to maintain
intensity later on in the day after a
few cycles
this is where I used to tricks
optimizing brakes and switching tasks
when I say optimizing brakes I mean
doing the things you have to do every
day as a break from your work if you're
getting fatigued from work and need some
time away then go shower or do dishes or
do laundry or get a quick workout in do
tasks that you need to complete anyway
and that allow you to take a mental
break switching tasks is another trick I
utilize often if I find myself getting
bored or my focus is slipping I will
switch tasks to something else let's say
I'm working on a research project for a
couple hours and my rate of progress is
sharply declining I can either take a
break or switch over to something else
like doing flashcards or working on
medical insiders this keeps things
interesting and I'm much less likely to
get bored or to slow down and number
five delegate appropriately no matter
how efficient you get there are always
only 24 hours in a day even Elon Musk
the Martian and productivity machine has
learned his own limits
he doesn't pursue everything on his own
and has tasked others with working on
some of his world-changing ideas while I
am nowhere close to being an Elon Musk
I too have learned the importance of
delegating tasks with med school
insiders I now have help animating
videos and with social media with the
other company I started I stepped down
from my president role now opting for a
senior advisor position to help keep the
company on track with research I have
medical students help me perform short
review and other tasks that are less
critical for me to be actively involved
with for you this may mean taking turns
getting groceries with your roommate or
dividing up chapters in your study group
and then taking turns teaching each
other the important concepts take a look
at the Fineman technique video for more
information on this effective study hack
so tell us down in the comments below
how are you going to apply some of these
tips and tricks to your own life or
share some of your own
as always thank you all so much for
watching
special thanks to my patreon supporters
who make videos like these possible if
you like the video make sure you press
that like button hit subscribe if you
have not already and I will see you guys
in that next one
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