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as a creator who's probably viewed by
many to be toxically productive i think
it's really important that i speak up
about this topic so in this video i'm
going to cover my thoughts on my own
relationship with toxic productivity my
experience with burnout because of it
and ways to notice if you are going down
the toxic productivity rabbit hole what
is up guys karma medic here and welcome
back to another dose this video is gonna
be a little bit different than what we
usually do here on the channel it's
gonna be a bit more chatty and rambly
instead of step one step two step three
let's get right into it so what exactly
is toxic productivity it's actually a
fairly new term for me one that i came
across in a random discussion with my
girlfriend that i was having a while ago
and then since then i've seen quite a
few people in the study space and here
on youtube talking about it i think the
general idea is that some students feel
that there has been an increased number
of study or productivity focused content
here on youtube and online and that some
of this content is having more of a
negative than a positive impact on them
and on the student community in general
now there's a subsection of study tube
that's dedicated to some fairly extreme
content when it comes to studying and
productivity you know we've all heard of
people being called out for doing 10
hour study with me videos or even doing
100 hours of studying in a week and if
you've followed my channel for any
period of time then you'll know that
i've made some videos along those lines
toxic productivity is the idea that
creators are providing an unrealistic
standard about what it means to be
productive and what you need to be doing
in high school or university or medical
school or wherever else now of course i
couldn't make this video without
addressing my own relationship with
toxic productivity most of the videos
that i make on this channel are about
how i study at medical school and how to
be more productive now i'm fully aware
of the fact that i'm probably one of
those people who is seen as constantly
non-stop working and as being toxically
productive and the truth is that i am
quite literally working on something
with every spare second that i have
throughout the day i'm either typing
away on my ipad when i'm on the bus or
in the tube i pretty much never sleep
more than seven hours and if i'm not
working i'm constantly doing some
activities like hanging out with friends
going to dinners playing sports i'm just
constantly on the go now i realize that
this is not the most healthy lifestyle
and i'm working on ways to cut this down
and sort of take a step back be more in
the moment but this is my reality right
now now since i make videos about all of
this here on youtube i think it's only
right that i take responsibility for the
messaging that's around my content now
this is something that i've done ever
since the beginning of my youtube
channel i've always put such strong
emphasis on having a balance in life
between medical school this youtube
channel and everything else that's going
on i think the important thing when it
comes to creators that talk about
productivity is making sure that the
content that they put out is balanced
and realistic for their own actual lives
so for me i always like to remind my
audience that the content that i make is
100 true to my real life if i say in a
video that i'm going to be studying for
an hour then i'm going to be studying
for exactly one hour not 55 minutes and
not an hour and five minutes now very
importantly my life is really balanced
in a lot of ways and i do my best to
show that here on camera and also talk
about it in my videos i'm so proud of
how i do manage my time and the fact
that i can have a great social life i
can make these youtube videos and i can
still be an active and succeeding
medical student i'm really happy about
all of that my content is based off of
my own personal experience and it's just
what happens to work well for me i
didn't make this video over here about
studying in four hour blocks in order to
track everyone on the internet into
thinking that i study for longer periods
of time than i actually do i made that
video because i do study in four hour
blocks and it's something that i find
particularly helpful and i was hoping
that other people watching it might also
find it helpful and if they wanted to
incorporate it into their own study
techniques and lives then they could i
completely acknowledge that studying in
four hour blocks is of course not going
to work for everyone and i was sure to
say that in that video i'm not expecting
anyone to emulate or copy what it is
that i do on this youtube channel i just
want to talk about my own experience and
my knowledge in the hopes that other
people can learn from it who are
watching when i was growing up i learned
so much useful information from other
youtubers things that i incorporated
into my daily life and which have helped
me immensely and i'm just trying to do
the same i would absolutely hate to
think that anyone watches my videos and
feels pressured in some way to model
their routine based on mine or feel
inferior or like they aren't doing
enough or anything like that that's not
at all what i'm trying to achieve here i
think it's great if you watch my videos
you like my studying techniques and you
want to incorporate some of that into
your own life and that helps you in some
way shape or form then that's excellent
that really is the goal of this channel
and me making these videos but i do
understand that my content isn't for
everyone and if you do watch one of my
videos and think to yourself oh my god
this guy is crazy how could he put so
much emphasis on studying how could he
spend so much time studying why is he so
obsessed with time management then you
know that's honestly a completely fine
and fair opinion and if that's the case
then my videos probably aren't for you
and that's completely okay everyone has
their own way of learning and i want my
content to be there sort of as a guide
for what has worked for me and to be
explaining and talking about the things
that i do personally that have been
helpful in my life in the hopes that
they can be helpful or valuable to
someone else who is watching now i
understand that mixing up my content
with videos that show me relaxing or
hanging out with friends could be a more
obvious representation of how i have
balance in my life whilst being in
medical school and studying instead of
me just saying or talking about it now
here on this youtube channel i know that
you don't often see me hanging out with
my friends or playing sports or going
out and having fun in london or even the
behind the scenes time that i commit to
working on this youtube channel because
unless i'm actively recording it and
then editing it and then posting it
online you guys are just never gonna see
it if you're watching this video and
you're not a content creator and i
imagine most of you watching are not
then it might be difficult to understand
that even though i make videos and i
post them online it doesn't mean that i
like filming every aspect of my life or
that i like filming constantly
throughout the day you guys get to see
the stuff that i want to post the stuff
that i'm passionate about making videos
for which is often productivity based
content because that's what i really
enjoy filming and that is what i'm
passionate about and it's what i enjoy
doing being productive and completing
all my tasks and constantly engaging in
new activities and starting up new ideas
is what gets me up in the morning and
it's what i love talking to my audience
about i think the best content that i
can make is about the stuff that i'm
genuinely passionate about that i really
care about and so this is what dominates
my content because it is who i am and i
truly enjoy it whereas when i'm hanging
out with my friends at a bar or i'm
playing golf i'm chilling with my boys
here in my room playing video games i
don't always want to pull out a camera
and film that and i'm not passionate
about filming that my friends don't
really want to be in videos they've all
got their jobs in high profile places
and they don't want to have a presence
online in that way at the end of the day
it's just content that i don't really
want to make and so i never end up
filming it and you guys never get to see
it now here on the channel i'm trying to
shift towards making more content that
lets you get to know me a little bit
better and goes beyond just me being
really productive and studying i'll
always make productivity and medical
based videos as much as i can because
that's what i really enjoy doing that's
what i really enjoy making but i think
making content where i'm just relaxing
chilling at home with my friends going
on nights out etc just isn't really what
i want to film it's not what i want to
make content about making that type of
content pushes a bit too close into
delving into my personal life which is
something that i'm not very comfortable
sharing online given the fact that i
have this large online following one of
the main reasons i wanted to talk about
toxic productivity is because i know
that some of the content i've posted
online obviously isn't sustainable for
long periods of time and to give the
impression that i do those things every
single day a is simply not true and b is
not something that i want to put out
there into the world i've tried to be
crystal clear in every video that i post
where i'm doing some of those activities
to make it obvious that this isn't
something that i do every day i'm just
doing it now because i have a big
upcoming exam or whatever you know for
example when i was studying for the us
emily step one i was studying about 10
hours a day for five months in a row
barely taking any days off and i talked
about just how difficult that period was
in the videos about the us emily step
one that i made and i talked about how
burned out i was feeling in the vlogs
after that finally done with that
horrible exam and i can just move on
with my life after that whole thing i
even took a one and a half month long
break from uploading on youtube because
everything just became a little bit too
much and i needed a break now back then
just as it is right now it was important
for me to be open and honest about these
things you know normalize taking breaks
when things are becoming overwhelming
and talking about just how difficult you
know that period of time was studying
for that exam pretending that it was
completely fine and that i was happy the
whole time studying so long for so many
hours with minimal social contact and
whatever serves no purpose at all i've
taken several breaks in my youtube
career or whatever you want to call it
and i've made several videos about that
those four hour study blogs that i
talked about earlier are regular study
sessions for me especially leading up to
those big exams that we have but moving
from four hour study blocks to 10 hours
a day studying for the us only step one
was just way too much and i found it
very very difficult i think being burned
out is something that we can all relate
to at some point or another in our lives
and i think it's important that it's
spoken about online in a way that is
unjudgmental realistic and open i've got
several videos on my channel about how
i've avoided burnout in the past and how
i've dealt with periods when i've been
completely burned out and to talk about
these situations and normalize them is
the right thing to do because everybody
goes through it and to sort of give this
impression that someone like me who
makes videos online never burns out or
is constantly super happy and super
productive even though that might be the
case the majority of the time to say
that i never burn out or never go
through those difficult periods is
simply not true so ideally we would all
be watching and consuming realistic
productivity content online so what do i
mean by realistic honestly i think it's
up to you the viewer the person who's
consuming the content to decide it's
very possible that it might only take
you two hours to learn the same thing
that it would take me four hours to
learn and that is the same for a lot of
students on my course who study less
than me and end up performing the same
or better than me and that doesn't make
any one of us smarter or better than
anyone else it's just whatever works for
you and how you prefer to study and
spend your time in the content that you
watch online you might be looking for
guides tips inspiration or you know even
just someone to sit down and virtually
study with you it's up to you to decide
what you want to get from the content
that you watch be aware of videos with
really clickbaity titles and those very
long study with me videos if that's not
something that you want to be influenced
by something that i personally find very
helpful when i watch videos online is to
remember three key things the first is
that everyone works differently the
second is that i don't know the
privileges that the person i'm watching
has had to get to the point where
they're at right now and the third is
that i'm only seeing a tiny part of this
person's life and i don't really know
them personally or well enough to get a
well-rounded view of who they actually
are and this goes for me too you know
you guys only know what you know about
me based off what you've seen on this
youtube channel which is based off what
i've chosen to show and what i've chosen
to film and edit and record and upload
and even though i do my very best to
make sure that everything matches my
real life one-to-one it can really be
difficult sometimes just like everything
else in life i think it's important that
we watch these youtube videos and we
consume this content with a grain of
salt the end point is that i can't
really compare myself to the people that
i watch online because i just don't know
enough about them to say how similar our
situations and environments are to be
able to make a comparison like that i
really wanted to add a segment to this
video about the ways that you can pick
up on whether toxic productivity is
negatively impacting you i think this
would be really valuable for anyone
who's worried about this becoming a
potential issue i personally would have
loved to watch a video like this a
couple of months ago when i was just so
overworking myself and pushing myself so
hard to the point of burnout so here it
is first things first if you're
comparing yourself to other people
online and this is leading to you
overworking yourself and even burning
out this is a big red flag if you feel
anxious all the time even when you're at
work or when you're supposed to be
relaxing even though you desperately
need some down time and your successes
just don't feel like enough then this
might be a good time to take a step back
and reassess how it is that you're
feeling and some of the productivity
content that you might be watching
online this is something that i've
battled with over the last couple of
years because pretty much the only
channels and people that i follow online
are productivity channels or really
successful medical students or
entrepreneurs and so my entire
information diet of what i consume is
people just really succeeding at life
you know smashing it out of the park
working very hard being successful
completing all their goals etc now
because this is all the content i
consume i definitely go through times
where i feel that i'm not doing enough
or that i should be doing more and i
should be working harder and when i kind
of realize that that's happening that's
when i decided to take a step back i
literally just stopped consuming that
content across all of my social media
channels you know youtube instagram
twitter whatever i reevaluate myself my
working methods my techniques my efforts
etc and i readjust now me watching all
of those productivity and successful
videos and feeling like i'm not working
hard enough or i'm not doing enough
doesn't necessarily mean that those
people are doing something wrong and i
think this is a really important point
those people are making content about
things they enjoy and things that they
are passionate about if i'm personally
not in the correct state of mind or the
correct place in my life to be consuming
and enjoying that type of content i
don't have to watch it and after i go
through that period of readjustment and
re-evaluation you know not consuming
that content for a period of time i
always go back to it because that's what
i enjoy watching i love watching other
people working on their goals and being
successful i find it very motivating and
at points where it gets too much i can
take a step back and realize that you
know this just isn't the content that i
need to be consuming right now i think
the key is to realize that this is
happening to you so that you can spot it
and actively change it so what's next
for this channel i i want to keep making
content that i'm actually passionate
about studying productivity medical
school etc but i want to keep
emphasizing that balance is very crucial
i'm going to keep listening to you guys
about what videos you're finding helpful
and what's actually adding value to your
lives and hopefully make more content
surrounding that in the future i'd love
to continue this conversation in the
comments down below i'm actually really
interested in hearing your thoughts and
opinions on these topics and what you
guys have to say so please do leave me a
comment there and i'll do my best to
respond to as many as i can as always i
wish you all a wonderful day all the
best and i'll catch you in the next one
peace
going out and having fun events having
fun events i swear i'm such a grandpa
sometimes