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in 2018 my life started to go crazy I'd
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just started medical school and had to
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work three jobs to be able to afford it
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I then discovered Medical Art so I
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started studying that too I signed up
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for extra courses in philosophy
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volunteered as a mental health responder
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got some more jobs all while still
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studying to be a doctor I loved my life
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but it was a nightmare my calendar was
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so full I would want to cry if a bus was
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even slightly late and I had to fall
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behind on things because I couldn't
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forward to absolutely no one had asked
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me to do any of this but through a
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combination of need curiosity and
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stupidity my schedule was leading me
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into a mental breakdown so I had to
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change the way that I did things I've
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experimented with lots of ways for
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planning work some better or worse than
00:00:49
others but what they all have in common
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is that they end up one always boring
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and I quit them and two they end up
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always making me hate work what what I'm
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going to suggest is a method of planning
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based on years of mental breakdowns of a
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chronic workaholic alongside these
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clients and books on human psychology
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dopamine motivation and planning in
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order to hopefully create a schedule
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that makes work just as addictive as
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games chocolates and allegedly casinos
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hopefully if your brain is anything like
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mine the principles here will help you
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understand why your calendar or time
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blocking hasn't worked in the past how
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to approach your schedule and how to
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sustainably make better use of your time
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let's get straight into it the first
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important thing for me to recognize was
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what exactly Falls within a schedule and
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this might sound completely obvious but
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it is exactly where I kept going wrong
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in the past because when I filled in my
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calendar I used to focus on the work
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that I needed to do I would separate it
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into bits schedule it in have some
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overview and plan and by only focusing
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on the work I would completely ignore
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any sort of nonwork activities and the
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big problem with this is that psychology
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states that both work and non-work
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actually really affect one another and
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the way that we combine and permutate
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these two actually determines if we are
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more likely or less likely to want to
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work in the future let's go into a bit
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of psychology here the actions that we
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take after a behavior will act as a
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reward for that behavior for example
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when you are done reading writing
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working or studying and you proceed to
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rest sleep scroll on your phone watch
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YouTube videos talk to someone eat cry
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any of these actions will be seen by our
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brain as a reward for the work that we
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did the issue is the type timing and
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frequency of these rewards will in the
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long term either reinforce or weaken a
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behavior making it therefore harder or
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easier for us to get work done if this
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sounds intense please bear with me a bit
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longer because it will really start to
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make sense there are four relevant types
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of reward reinforcement schedules
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everything that we do falls into one of
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these SCH sches even if you don't have
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any calendar or planning at all and
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think you are just doing things randomly
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that Randomness will be one of these
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schedules and the reason this is
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important is because some are better or
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worse than others the first type is a
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fixed interval reward this is where you
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get a reward after a fixed interval of
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time so for example if you put on a
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pomodora timer to work or if you put on
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a forest to work and you think I'm going
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to stop working in half an hour or an
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hour and then I can do whatever I want
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the second type is fixed ratio this is
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where we get a reward after a certain
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number of tasks is done thinking for
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example I'm going to write 800 words
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right now or I'm going to do 50
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questions next we have the variable
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interval pattern this is where we get a
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reward after a certain amount of time
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that keeps changing and is undetermined
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so for example when you stop working
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when you feel that you've done enough
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when you're too tired when someone else
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tells you to stop this is similar to
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winning in a video game when you don't
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know when exactly you're actually going
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to pass that level specifically lastly
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there is the variable ratio pattern this
00:03:57
is where you get a reward after doing
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doing a certain amount of work but that
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amount changes all the time and you
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don't know what it's going to be so this
00:04:04
is again thinking stopping work when you
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feel that you've just learned enough or
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when you have done enough for the day
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this one is similar to playing a casino
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where you keep doing actions but you
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don't know after which action you will
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get your reward now you might have
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already noticed that the first two the
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fixed ratio and the fixed interval type
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are the ones that we tend to use the
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most when it comes to scheduling because
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it's easier to divide our work into
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chunks and make sure that we've done
00:04:27
everything and to plan our day we say
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that we have to do 50 questions a day
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for the next 20 days to prepare for the
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exam or that we have to study from 2:00
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to 4:00 today and we tend to fix things
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in this way they can be very attractive
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or easier to plan and schedule in work
00:04:43
but the issue is they are a lot less
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effective than the variable schedules in
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making us motivated to complete the work
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if you have a consistent hard start and
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a hard stop for an action which is Then
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followed up by a more pleasant activity
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you are going to be less like likely to
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want to do this work action in the
00:05:02
future and this is where my scheduling
00:05:04
always failed there is what I believe to
00:05:06
be a very simple solution that leverages
00:05:08
the same type of addiction psychology in
00:05:11
order to make the work itself more
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interesting for us if we don't know when
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the hard end of a task is and what comes
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after it we're much more likely to want
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to do that task again in the future but
00:05:22
how the hell do we plan in this way
00:05:25
before I continue with how to create
00:05:26
this calendar I'll talk about Sigma OS
00:05:28
the sponsor of the segment of the video
00:05:30
if you have these three things in common
00:05:32
with me one you need to wear various
00:05:34
different hats two you do a lot of work
00:05:36
on your computer three your environment
00:05:39
has a tragically large impact on how
00:05:41
successfully you work Sigma OS will
00:05:43
change your life it's nothing new that
00:05:45
you add to your routine or your work
00:05:46
it's an internet browser so it replaces
00:05:48
things like Safari and chrome and it is
00:05:50
very embarrassingly for them genuinely a
00:05:53
million times better I would never
00:05:55
thought that tiny changes could have
00:05:56
made such a huge difference in this
00:05:58
regard but in Sig having separate Works
00:06:00
spaces for everything you do so for me
00:06:02
that's like medical student YouTuber
00:06:04
writer business things procrastinator
00:06:07
means that every time that I go into one
00:06:09
of these spaces I'm in a different headp
00:06:11
space mindset and therefore much more
00:06:13
likely to successfully complete those
00:06:15
work there's no bookmarks but all
00:06:17
important Tabs are always locked and
00:06:19
open at your computer at all times I
00:06:21
have hundreds of open tabs but unlike
00:06:23
before there is absolutely no clutter
00:06:25
everything is so well organized renamed
00:06:28
and labeled it's
00:06:30
amazing the shortcuts for everything so
00:06:31
your computer becomes a literal
00:06:33
extension of your brain it even carries
00:06:35
all of the chem extensions like video
00:06:36
speed controller without which I'm not
00:06:38
going to lie this would have been a
00:06:40
complete deal breaker for me if you want
00:06:42
to see how I plan use and organize with
00:06:44
Sigma OS specifically they didn't ask
00:06:45
for this but I'm genuinely so passionate
00:06:47
about it I've made a whole video walking
00:06:49
you through my computer setup so you can
00:06:51
watch it if you want to see the unlisted
00:06:53
video linked below it's not a f but I do
00:06:55
have a link that will give you free
00:06:56
access to Sigma OS for you to see what I
00:06:58
am raving about genuinely I could not
00:07:00
recommend it more I cannot imagine going
00:07:03
back to Chrome after trying this so yeah
00:07:06
back to the main video to build this new
00:07:07
type of calendar you first need to audit
00:07:09
what your work task and reward tasks are
00:07:13
now the work tasks that we're
00:07:14
procrastinating on are a lot easier to
00:07:15
find I'm sure but the rewards are a bit
00:07:18
more difficult to identify there are
00:07:19
many different ways I reward myself I
00:07:21
have one a good work done reward so this
00:07:24
is what I do when I am done completing a
00:07:26
task and it can be things like being
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allowed to scroll on my third
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getting some food lying down playing a
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game talking to my friends then I have
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the second type which is the reward for
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not doing work so this is what I do to
00:07:39
lower my anxiety basically what do I
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procrastinate on when I'm not working
00:07:43
and this tends to be things like
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watching random Youtube videos or
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playing more games or just scrolling on
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my phone or spending hours and hours
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trying to find the perfect black T-shirt
00:07:54
online so there's those things to
00:07:56
complete this list you can add what is
00:07:58
the first thing that you tend to do in
00:07:59
the mornings and next what you do when
00:08:01
you are falling asleep especially if you
00:08:03
do things like Revenge bedtime
00:08:04
procrastinate so this shows you what
00:08:06
your attention likely wants to go to
00:08:08
when it feels that it has the less
00:08:10
guilty freedom to do it and lastly what
00:08:13
do you do to relax or calm yourself down
00:08:15
everything that falls into this category
00:08:16
of reward is really important because it
00:08:19
always tends to come after the work that
00:08:21
we need to do and very often tends to
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compete with it this is very important
00:08:25
to identify especially if you have like
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me an interest based nervous system
00:08:30
versus a importance-based nervous system
00:08:32
if you find it very easy to do the most
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important thing next on your list maybe
00:08:36
just click off this video because
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actually it's going to be completely
00:08:39
unhealthy or you might not even be here
00:08:41
in the first place but if you have an
00:08:42
interest based nervous system this means
00:08:44
that the things that you find rewarding
00:08:46
or interesting or that hold your
00:08:48
attention most in the moment are the
00:08:49
ones that you are going to be most
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likely to want to do when interesting or
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stimulating Things become much more
00:08:54
attractive than the important or
00:08:56
necessary ones this is a huge problem at
00:08:59
I'm going to talk later about the
00:09:00
importance of identifying managing and
00:09:02
producing stimulation but at the moment
00:09:04
it's very important and helpful to have
00:09:06
this audit of what your work and rewards
00:09:08
are and if you're embarrassed it's fine
00:09:10
so am I I'm working on it now hopefully
00:09:12
by this point an obvious realization is
00:09:14
while we tend to work on our strict
00:09:17
fixed schedules we tend to pay or reward
00:09:20
ourselves on variable schedules we don't
00:09:22
plan when we're going to scroll on our
00:09:23
phone we don't plan when we're going to
00:09:25
procrastinate and so we're making these
00:09:28
addictive behaviors lot more addictive
00:09:30
by the way that we do them while we're
00:09:31
making our work behaviors a lot less
00:09:34
interesting and more likely for us not
00:09:36
to want to do them by scheduling them in
00:09:38
strictly so how do we fix this and I'm
00:09:40
not going to recommend scheduling in our
00:09:42
scrolling and procrastination time don't
00:09:44
worry I'm going to recommend a new type
00:09:46
of time blocking which on paper looks
00:09:48
exactly the same but in practice makes
00:09:50
all the difference when it comes to
00:09:52
wanting to work the first one is When
00:09:53
approaching your calendar and scheduling
00:09:55
in a Time block for a task add as big
00:09:58
buffers as you can afford to the start
00:10:00
and the end of that task so do not have
00:10:03
a hard start time this is not a time
00:10:06
where you need to be working this is a
00:10:08
window of time where you have the
00:10:09
availability to work letting yourself
00:10:11
intuitively start when you feel like it
00:10:14
the second and this is why the buffer is
00:10:15
important do not have a hard stop or end
00:10:18
time to your task this of course
00:10:20
involves no Pomodoro and no Force if
00:10:23
those work for you and time blocking
00:10:25
it's absolutely fine but in this case I
00:10:27
would strongly recommend that you stop
00:10:28
working when you feel too tired or when
00:10:30
you feel that you've done or learned
00:10:32
enough 31 time blocking I fill in a
00:10:34
whole window and I don't backto back
00:10:36
different tasks or projects so project
00:10:38
switching takes a lot of mental energy
00:10:40
to go from one to another and I don't
00:10:42
like to do this because in the long term
00:10:44
it lowers my energy in the day overall
00:10:46
and I have to stop working sooner than I
00:10:49
would otherwise in this case if I feel
00:10:51
like switching a task would I to instead
00:10:53
is even take a tiny short break and
00:10:55
reconsider very often I find that I'm
00:10:58
wanting to forast inate rather than
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actually genuinely being invested in
00:11:01
something else which is more important
00:11:03
the fourth is never to schedule in tasks
00:11:05
or things that you need to do
00:11:06
specifically into your calendar you
00:11:09
might do bigger projects in terms of
00:11:10
saying that you have studying to do
00:11:12
versus like YouTube or whatever but the
00:11:15
bagger and the broader that I leave this
00:11:17
the better I find that I end up working
00:11:19
I'm still recovering from having to
00:11:20
force my brain to do stuff all the all
00:11:22
the time I'm like really struggling with
00:11:23
that so at the moment I find it more
00:11:25
helpful to think intuitively on the spot
00:11:28
what do I think is the more reasonable
00:11:29
thing to do deciding on the spot also
00:11:31
means that I'm always working on a
00:11:32
brandom my schedule because I don't know
00:11:34
what to expect on that day I don't know
00:11:36
when I'm going to start when I'm going
00:11:37
to finish so it naturally builds
00:11:39
randomization into the task therefore
00:11:41
lowering the chances that I end up
00:11:43
resenting it in the long term the fifth
00:11:44
one is to learn and work with your body
00:11:46
clock for example if I have a day of
00:11:49
working from home I will usually not
00:11:50
schedule anything before 10: or 12
00:11:53
because I know that not being morning
00:11:55
person it's unlikely that I'm going to
00:11:57
do anything productive before usually
00:11:59
12:00 p.m. so when 12:00 comes I can
00:12:01
either think I've already failed at four
00:12:03
things I needed to do today or I can
00:12:05
think oh I could start working right now
00:12:07
so kind of being a bit more reasonable
00:12:08
and not too strict with how you know
00:12:10
that you work might be really helpful
00:12:12
after completing this calendar the most
00:12:14
important thing is actually what doesn't
00:12:16
get written down in the schedule and
00:12:18
this is the randomization of rewards
00:12:21
after a task in the previous step we
00:12:23
will have identified what we tend to do
00:12:24
when we finish a task for me it is
00:12:26
automatically always scrolling on my
00:12:28
phone or watching a YouTube video while
00:12:29
playing snake it has to be one of these
00:12:32
things and so now what I've done is I've
00:12:34
completely changed this I've created a
00:12:36
random selection of six activities and
00:12:38
I'll explain why I picked these
00:12:40
specifically later and instead of doing
00:12:42
my 100% guaranteed reward when I know
00:12:45
it's going to come which is phone scroll
00:12:46
YouTube what I do instead is get these
00:12:48
on a metal dice which has one on each
00:12:50
side and I roll the dice and I have to
00:12:52
do one of these actions this means that
00:12:55
I never know what my reward is going to
00:12:56
be so now I have an extra layer of
00:12:58
availability and Randomness in My
00:12:59
Rewards during the day the actions that
00:13:01
I have are journaling meditation
00:13:03
stretching walking calling a friend or
00:13:04
listening to music these tend to be
00:13:06
really really helpful activities
00:13:07
especially exercise if it's rigorous can
00:13:09
give you some extra Focus after it so
00:13:11
that tends to be a really energizing and
00:13:13
good reward activity now the reason I
00:13:15
picked these is because one of my
00:13:16
biggest pitfalls in the past used to be
00:13:18
having very high stimulation reward
00:13:20
activities and this is so so so bad
00:13:23
because going from an activity of high
00:13:24
stimulation to reward of high
00:13:25
stimulation to trying to force myself to
00:13:27
do an activity of high ation is so
00:13:29
exhausting and I run out of energy a lot
00:13:32
quicker throughout the day it's a newish
00:13:33
thing for me to consider but thinking of
00:13:35
and knowing how stimulating certain
00:13:37
activities are for me and taking this
00:13:39
into consideration will then mean that I
00:13:41
maintain higher levels of energy
00:13:43
throughout the day for example I find
00:13:45
public spaces very very stressful and
00:13:47
stimulating and even though listening to
00:13:49
Super energetic music or an audio book
00:13:52
is normally quite a stimulating activity
00:13:54
if I do it in public it then reduces my
00:13:56
overall stimulation if that makes sense
00:13:58
because it's it's more relaxing for me
00:13:59
to do that than to listen to this thing
00:14:01
on the other hand what I usually tend to
00:14:03
do is go from activities like listening
00:14:05
to a lecture to listening to another fun
00:14:07
YouTube video on two time of speed which
00:14:09
has basically the same levels of
00:14:10
stimulation and keeps me quite high and
00:14:13
easily very very very exhausted
00:14:15
throughout the day so in this case I
00:14:16
need to complement this with an activity
00:14:18
which is stimulating in a different way
00:14:20
or less stimulating overall ideally for
00:14:22
an action you want to pick out
00:14:23
complimentary rewards which will then
00:14:25
energize you more and make you more
00:14:27
likely to be happy and do more work the
00:14:29
reason I pick these activities on my
00:14:30
dice is because most of my work is quite
00:14:32
mentally stimulating but it's alone
00:14:35
quiet and physically very under
00:14:36
stimulating so I've picked things which
00:14:38
are on the other side of the spectrum
00:14:40
they tend to have noise or sound or
00:14:41
music or be quite like physically active
00:14:44
so that I can re-energize myself and
00:14:46
lower my mental stimulation they have B
00:14:48
sensory elements and one of them
00:14:49
involves other people which is nice
00:14:50
because most of my work at the moment is
00:14:52
completely alone having a combination of
00:14:54
set time blocked workable but not set
00:14:57
work hours into intuitive start and stop
00:15:00
times which we pick on the spot lot of
00:15:02
careful attention paid specifically to
00:15:04
what we do in between tasks and in what
00:15:06
ways and how stimulating they can be has
00:15:09
been the best way for me to maintain
00:15:11
higher energy and motivation throughout
00:15:12
my day not burnout and in the long term
00:15:15
want to work more with this video
00:15:17
specifically I do want to mention that
00:15:18
I'm very well aware of how limited the
00:15:20
user case is and the usefulness
00:15:22
potentially of this video is to people
00:15:25
with circumstances quite similar to me
00:15:27
if you work mostly outside of the house
00:15:29
as I used to do if you're a parent or a
00:15:31
carer or face different sorts of
00:15:33
challenges this videos might not be
00:15:35
helpful at all and in that case firstly
00:15:37
I apologize if you're here to hear this
00:15:39
and secondly if you would want to I
00:15:41
would really really appreciate if you
00:15:43
named some techniques that you use or
00:15:45
resources that you found helpful that
00:15:46
are more specific to you so that would
00:15:49
be great in the end I do want to say
00:15:51
don't be too harsh on yourself we all
00:15:52
are really just doing the best that we
00:15:54
can and I hope that this helps if you
00:15:57
made it so far thank you so much for
00:15:58
spending this time with me I hope you
00:16:00
have a wonderful rest of your day be
00:16:01
kind to yourself and others and don't
00:16:03
believe everything you think thanks bye
