5 Things I learned that improved my life
I have been a reader since my childhood, but I started avidly reading in my first year of medical school. I used to read fiction a lot, thinking non-fictional books were not for me. Every book gives you something to learn from, so I came to know a lot of things from reading fiction, thinking that was all I could ever get from books. But certainly, I was wrong.
1) Read more nonfiction
Whenever I came across a non-fiction book, I used to think that it was not for me. But, one day, I saw a video of an author, Mark Manson, in which he was summarizing his book “The subtle art of not giving a f*ck.” I said to myself, although I’m not going to read this book, let’s give it a try. May be I get something to learn. That video urged me to pick that book, and I loved reading it. The takeaway message from this point is to read more nonfiction about the niche of your interest. If you are unable to read nonfiction, like me, then probably you still haven’t found the book of your interest.
2) Being mindful in your activities
In this era of social media and new technologies coming up every other day, it is impossible to not waste your time on activities that are fruitless. But if you want to improve the quality of your life, the second most important thing that you can do is to be mindful of what you watch, listen to, and read. If you are a YouTube fan like me, then instead of using YouTube for fun, use it to watch inspirational and educational content. Follow people who share informational videos about your niche. Listen to podcasts of people that inspire you in your spare time. After sometime, you will notice that it will add a lot of professional, personal, and spiritual value to your life.
3) Refrain from over consumption of news
These days, news is bombarded on oneself from every side and every social media app. So another thing that I learned is to be really selective in what you hear and see in the news. Keep an eye on your time that is spent scrolling through news. It drains you mentally far more than you can imagine. So be mindful of your consumption of news because important news will get to you through your friends and family, so you can avoid the unnecessary ones.
4)Maintain a balanced life
Although you will struggle with this a lot, I will urge you to keep your personal and professional life separate. Every other person wants to succeed in this life, but what most people do is to overwork themselves. This makes it harder to work with passion for a long time. Ali Abdaal (a famous YouTuber, ex-doctor, and productivity expert) explains this concept as:
Imagine your life as a wheel that is divided into sections. Each section represents a fundamental aspect of your life like health, profession, fun, relationships, self-improvement, etc. If one section of the wheel is “siphoned up,” For instance, if you’re killing it in your profession, yet another segment (like connections or wellbeing) is “flattened.” In that case, your life wheel won’t roll smoothly.
In a nutshell, maintaining balance in every aspect of your life is the key to improving your quality of life.
5)Manage your time
Ever since I started to schedule my days at the start of my week, life has never been the same. There are so many distractions around us that we forget to focus on what is important. Planning your day beforehand will help you intentionally set your priorities and focus on things that are worth your time. It will save a lot of time and help you to be more productive.
