How I Study With a Full-Time Job: My Strategic Scheduling
Summary
TLDRThe video script details the personal struggles of the speaker, who was overwhelmed by the demands of medical school and multiple jobs. To manage their busy schedule, they experimented with various planning methods, which often led to boredom and a dislike of work. The speaker then introduces a new approach to planning, inspired by psychology and motivation theories, aiming to make work as addictive as leisure activities. They discuss the importance of balancing work and non-work activities and the psychological impact of rewards on behavior. The script explains four types of reward reinforcement schedules and advocates for a flexible planning method that incorporates randomization of rewards to maintain motivation and energy levels throughout the day. The speaker also shares their experience with Sigma OS, a browser that helps organize work and improve productivity. The video concludes with a reminder to be kind to oneself and to others, acknowledging the limitations of the advice given and inviting viewers to share their own strategies.
Takeaways
- 📅 **Recognize Work and Non-Work Activities**: Both work and non-work activities affect each other and should be considered in your schedule.
- 🔄 **Understand Reward Reinforcement**: Actions taken after work can act as a reward, influencing motivation for future work.
- 🎯 **Types of Reward Schedules**: Fixed interval, fixed ratio, variable interval, and variable ratio schedules affect how we approach work.
- 🚫 **Avoid Strict Scheduling**: Having a hard start and stop for tasks can make work less appealing in the future.
- 🛠️ **Flexible Time Blocking**: Use buffers and avoid back-to-back tasks to reduce mental energy spent on project switching.
- 🌟 **Identify Your Rewards**: Understand what you naturally reward yourself with after completing tasks to better plan your schedule.
- 🧘 **Randomize Rewards**: Introduce randomness in rewards to keep work interesting and maintain motivation.
- 🌡️ **Work with Your Body Clock**: Schedule tasks according to your natural rhythms to maximize productivity.
- 📈 **Balance Stimulation**: Choose rewards that complement the stimulation level of your work to maintain energy levels.
- 📝 **Audit Your Tasks**: Regularly audit and understand your work and reward tasks to optimize your schedule.
- 🤝 **Social Interaction**: Including social activities as rewards can provide a pleasant break and help to re-energize.
Q & A
What was the speaker's life like in 2018?
-In 2018, the speaker's life became extremely busy as they started medical school and had to work three jobs to afford it. They also discovered Medical Art and began studying it, signed up for philosophy courses, volunteered as a mental health responder, and took on more jobs, all while studying medicine.
Why did the speaker feel their calendar was a nightmare?
-The speaker felt their calendar was a nightmare because it was overly full, leading to stress and the potential for a mental breakdown. Any small disruption, like a bus being late, could cause them to fall behind on their packed schedule.
What is the psychological principle that the speaker discusses regarding work and non-work activities?
-The speaker discusses the principle that the actions we take after a behavior act as a reward for that behavior. The type, timing, and frequency of these rewards can reinforce or weaken a behavior, making it easier or harder for us to work in the future.
What are the four types of reward reinforcement schedules mentioned in the script?
-The four types of reward reinforcement schedules are fixed interval, fixed ratio, variable interval, and variable ratio. These schedules determine how likely we are to repeat a behavior based on the predictability and variability of the rewards we receive after the behavior.
Why does the speaker suggest that fixed schedules for work may be less effective for motivation?
-The speaker suggests that fixed schedules for work may be less effective for motivation because they often lead to a consistent hard start and stop for tasks, followed by a more pleasant activity. This can make the work action less appealing in the future, as the brain begins to associate the end of work with a reward, and varying the timing of these rewards can increase the likelihood of wanting to repeat the task.
What is the solution proposed by the speaker to make work more engaging?
-The speaker proposes a solution that leverages addiction psychology to make work more engaging. This involves not knowing when the hard end of a task is and what comes after it, which makes us more likely to want to do the task again in the future.
What is Sigma OS and how does it help with work organization?
-Sigma OS is an internet browser that replaces traditional browsers like Safari and Chrome. It offers separate workspaces for different activities, allowing users to maintain a clear organization and mental separation between tasks. It keeps important tabs open and organized, reducing clutter and increasing efficiency.
How does the speaker recommend auditing one's work and reward tasks?
-The speaker recommends identifying both work tasks that are often procrastinated on and reward tasks that serve as self-reward after completing work. This includes understanding what one does first thing in the morning, before sleep, and to relax, as these can indicate what the attention is likely to want to go to when it feels it has the freedom to do so.
What is the new type of time blocking the speaker introduces?
-The new type of time blocking introduced by the speaker involves adding large buffers to the start and end of a task, avoiding a hard stop time for tasks, not scheduling back-to-back different tasks or projects, and not scheduling specific tasks or things that need to be done rigidly into the calendar.
How does the speaker suggest managing rewards after completing a task?
-The speaker suggests randomizing rewards after completing a task by using a dice with different activities written on each side. This introduces an element of unpredictability and can make the rewards less expected and more engaging.
Why is it important to consider the level of stimulation in rewards after work tasks?
-Considering the level of stimulation in rewards is important because it helps maintain higher levels of energy throughout the day. High stimulation rewards can exhaust a person quickly, making it difficult to transition back to high stimulation work. Choosing rewards that are less stimulating or stimulating in a different way can help re-energize and maintain focus.
Outlines
😀 Overwhelmed by Work and Study: Finding a Better Scheduling Method
The speaker describes their life in 2018 as chaotic, juggling medical school, three jobs, and additional interests like Medical Art and philosophy. They discuss how their packed schedule led to a mental breakdown and the need to find a more effective way of planning. They introduce the idea of using psychological principles related to dopamine, motivation, and reward systems to make work more addictive and enjoyable. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of considering both work and non-work activities in a schedule and how they affect each other.
🎲 The Psychology of Reward Reinforcement in Scheduling
The speaker delves into the psychology behind reward reinforcement schedules, explaining how the timing and frequency of rewards after a task can influence our motivation to work. They outline four types of reward schedules: fixed interval, fixed ratio, variable interval, and variable ratio. The paragraph highlights the ineffectiveness of fixed schedules in maintaining motivation and suggests that variable schedules are more conducive to a productive and enjoyable work-life balance.
📅 Creating a More Engaging Calendar with Buffers and Variable Rewards
The speaker proposes a new approach to calendar planning that includes large buffers at the start and end of tasks, eliminating hard start and stop times. They recommend avoiding back-to-back task switching to conserve mental energy and suggests leaving tasks broad and open-ended to allow for intuitive decision-making. The paragraph also discusses the importance of working with one's body clock and randomizing rewards to maintain high energy levels and prevent burnout.
🧘♂️ Balancing Work and Reward with Low-Stimulation Activities
The speaker shares their personal strategy for balancing work and rewards by using a dice to randomly select low-stimulation activities such as journaling, meditation, stretching, walking, calling a friend, or listening to music. They explain that this method helps to avoid high-stimulation rewards that can lead to exhaustion and suggests that complementary rewards can energize and motivate better. The paragraph concludes with a note on the limited applicability of the advice and an invitation for viewers with different circumstances to share their techniques.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Medical School
💡Workaholic
💡Dopamine
💡Reward Reinforcement Schedules
💡Time Blocking
💡Variable Ratio Pattern
💡Buffer Time
💡Stimulation
💡Interest-Based Nervous System
💡Randomization of Rewards
💡Sigma OS
Highlights
The speaker's life became overwhelming with medical school and multiple jobs, leading to a mental breakdown and the need for a new planning method.
Medical Art and extracurricular activities like philosophy courses and volunteering added to the speaker's busy schedule.
The importance of considering both work and non-work activities in scheduling to avoid burnout is emphasized.
Psychological principles suggest that the actions taken after work can act as rewards, influencing future work behavior.
Different reward reinforcement schedules (fixed interval, fixed ratio, variable interval, variable ratio) impact motivation and work habits.
The speaker proposes a planning method based on years of experience with mental breakdowns and insights from human psychology.
The traditional fixed schedules for work are less effective than variable schedules in maintaining motivation.
Introducing randomness and flexibility in scheduling can make work more engaging and less likely to lead to resentment.
The concept of 'reward tasks' is introduced as a way to identify and manage activities that provide a break from work.
Sigma OS is recommended as a tool for organizing work and browser tabs to improve productivity.
An audit of work tasks and reward tasks is suggested to understand personal productivity patterns.
The speaker discusses the impact of high stimulation reward activities on energy levels and the need for balance.
A new type of time blocking is introduced that incorporates buffers, avoids hard start/stop times, and prevents back-to-back task switching.
The importance of working with one's body clock and not scheduling tasks too rigidly is highlighted.
Randomization of rewards is proposed to maintain high energy and motivation, using a dice roll to select from a list of activities.
The selection of reward activities should be complementary to the nature of the work done to avoid burnout and maintain energy.
The speaker acknowledges the limitations of their approach and invites others to share techniques that work for them.
A reminder to be kind to oneself and not to believe everything one thinks, emphasizing self-compassion and critical thinking.
Transcripts
in 2018 my life started to go crazy I'd
just started medical school and had to
work three jobs to be able to afford it
I then discovered Medical Art so I
started studying that too I signed up
for extra courses in philosophy
volunteered as a mental health responder
got some more jobs all while still
studying to be a doctor I loved my life
but it was a nightmare my calendar was
so full I would want to cry if a bus was
even slightly late and I had to fall
behind on things because I couldn't
forward to absolutely no one had asked
me to do any of this but through a
combination of need curiosity and
stupidity my schedule was leading me
into a mental breakdown so I had to
change the way that I did things I've
experimented with lots of ways for
planning work some better or worse than
others but what they all have in common
is that they end up one always boring
and I quit them and two they end up
always making me hate work what what I'm
going to suggest is a method of planning
based on years of mental breakdowns of a
chronic workaholic alongside these
clients and books on human psychology
dopamine motivation and planning in
order to hopefully create a schedule
that makes work just as addictive as
games chocolates and allegedly casinos
hopefully if your brain is anything like
mine the principles here will help you
understand why your calendar or time
blocking hasn't worked in the past how
to approach your schedule and how to
sustainably make better use of your time
let's get straight into it the first
important thing for me to recognize was
what exactly Falls within a schedule and
this might sound completely obvious but
it is exactly where I kept going wrong
in the past because when I filled in my
calendar I used to focus on the work
that I needed to do I would separate it
into bits schedule it in have some
overview and plan and by only focusing
on the work I would completely ignore
any sort of nonwork activities and the
big problem with this is that psychology
states that both work and non-work
actually really affect one another and
the way that we combine and permutate
these two actually determines if we are
more likely or less likely to want to
work in the future let's go into a bit
of psychology here the actions that we
take after a behavior will act as a
reward for that behavior for example
when you are done reading writing
working or studying and you proceed to
rest sleep scroll on your phone watch
YouTube videos talk to someone eat cry
any of these actions will be seen by our
brain as a reward for the work that we
did the issue is the type timing and
frequency of these rewards will in the
long term either reinforce or weaken a
behavior making it therefore harder or
easier for us to get work done if this
sounds intense please bear with me a bit
longer because it will really start to
make sense there are four relevant types
of reward reinforcement schedules
everything that we do falls into one of
these SCH sches even if you don't have
any calendar or planning at all and
think you are just doing things randomly
that Randomness will be one of these
schedules and the reason this is
important is because some are better or
worse than others the first type is a
fixed interval reward this is where you
get a reward after a fixed interval of
time so for example if you put on a
pomodora timer to work or if you put on
a forest to work and you think I'm going
to stop working in half an hour or an
hour and then I can do whatever I want
the second type is fixed ratio this is
where we get a reward after a certain
number of tasks is done thinking for
example I'm going to write 800 words
right now or I'm going to do 50
questions next we have the variable
interval pattern this is where we get a
reward after a certain amount of time
that keeps changing and is undetermined
so for example when you stop working
when you feel that you've done enough
when you're too tired when someone else
tells you to stop this is similar to
winning in a video game when you don't
know when exactly you're actually going
to pass that level specifically lastly
there is the variable ratio pattern this
is where you get a reward after doing
doing a certain amount of work but that
amount changes all the time and you
don't know what it's going to be so this
is again thinking stopping work when you
feel that you've just learned enough or
when you have done enough for the day
this one is similar to playing a casino
where you keep doing actions but you
don't know after which action you will
get your reward now you might have
already noticed that the first two the
fixed ratio and the fixed interval type
are the ones that we tend to use the
most when it comes to scheduling because
it's easier to divide our work into
chunks and make sure that we've done
everything and to plan our day we say
that we have to do 50 questions a day
for the next 20 days to prepare for the
exam or that we have to study from 2:00
to 4:00 today and we tend to fix things
in this way they can be very attractive
or easier to plan and schedule in work
but the issue is they are a lot less
effective than the variable schedules in
making us motivated to complete the work
if you have a consistent hard start and
a hard stop for an action which is Then
followed up by a more pleasant activity
you are going to be less like likely to
want to do this work action in the
future and this is where my scheduling
always failed there is what I believe to
be a very simple solution that leverages
the same type of addiction psychology in
order to make the work itself more
interesting for us if we don't know when
the hard end of a task is and what comes
after it we're much more likely to want
to do that task again in the future but
how the hell do we plan in this way
before I continue with how to create
this calendar I'll talk about Sigma OS
the sponsor of the segment of the video
if you have these three things in common
with me one you need to wear various
different hats two you do a lot of work
on your computer three your environment
has a tragically large impact on how
successfully you work Sigma OS will
change your life it's nothing new that
you add to your routine or your work
it's an internet browser so it replaces
things like Safari and chrome and it is
very embarrassingly for them genuinely a
million times better I would never
thought that tiny changes could have
made such a huge difference in this
regard but in Sig having separate Works
spaces for everything you do so for me
that's like medical student YouTuber
writer business things procrastinator
means that every time that I go into one
of these spaces I'm in a different headp
space mindset and therefore much more
likely to successfully complete those
work there's no bookmarks but all
important Tabs are always locked and
open at your computer at all times I
have hundreds of open tabs but unlike
before there is absolutely no clutter
everything is so well organized renamed
and labeled it's
amazing the shortcuts for everything so
your computer becomes a literal
extension of your brain it even carries
all of the chem extensions like video
speed controller without which I'm not
going to lie this would have been a
complete deal breaker for me if you want
to see how I plan use and organize with
Sigma OS specifically they didn't ask
for this but I'm genuinely so passionate
about it I've made a whole video walking
you through my computer setup so you can
watch it if you want to see the unlisted
video linked below it's not a f but I do
have a link that will give you free
access to Sigma OS for you to see what I
am raving about genuinely I could not
recommend it more I cannot imagine going
back to Chrome after trying this so yeah
back to the main video to build this new
type of calendar you first need to audit
what your work task and reward tasks are
now the work tasks that we're
procrastinating on are a lot easier to
find I'm sure but the rewards are a bit
more difficult to identify there are
many different ways I reward myself I
have one a good work done reward so this
is what I do when I am done completing a
task and it can be things like being
allowed to scroll on my third
getting some food lying down playing a
game talking to my friends then I have
the second type which is the reward for
not doing work so this is what I do to
lower my anxiety basically what do I
procrastinate on when I'm not working
and this tends to be things like
watching random Youtube videos or
playing more games or just scrolling on
my phone or spending hours and hours
trying to find the perfect black T-shirt
online so there's those things to
complete this list you can add what is
the first thing that you tend to do in
the mornings and next what you do when
you are falling asleep especially if you
do things like Revenge bedtime
procrastinate so this shows you what
your attention likely wants to go to
when it feels that it has the less
guilty freedom to do it and lastly what
do you do to relax or calm yourself down
everything that falls into this category
of reward is really important because it
always tends to come after the work that
we need to do and very often tends to
compete with it this is very important
to identify especially if you have like
me an interest based nervous system
versus a importance-based nervous system
if you find it very easy to do the most
important thing next on your list maybe
just click off this video because
actually it's going to be completely
unhealthy or you might not even be here
in the first place but if you have an
interest based nervous system this means
that the things that you find rewarding
or interesting or that hold your
attention most in the moment are the
ones that you are going to be most
likely to want to do when interesting or
stimulating Things become much more
attractive than the important or
necessary ones this is a huge problem at
I'm going to talk later about the
importance of identifying managing and
producing stimulation but at the moment
it's very important and helpful to have
this audit of what your work and rewards
are and if you're embarrassed it's fine
so am I I'm working on it now hopefully
by this point an obvious realization is
while we tend to work on our strict
fixed schedules we tend to pay or reward
ourselves on variable schedules we don't
plan when we're going to scroll on our
phone we don't plan when we're going to
procrastinate and so we're making these
addictive behaviors lot more addictive
by the way that we do them while we're
making our work behaviors a lot less
interesting and more likely for us not
to want to do them by scheduling them in
strictly so how do we fix this and I'm
not going to recommend scheduling in our
scrolling and procrastination time don't
worry I'm going to recommend a new type
of time blocking which on paper looks
exactly the same but in practice makes
all the difference when it comes to
wanting to work the first one is When
approaching your calendar and scheduling
in a Time block for a task add as big
buffers as you can afford to the start
and the end of that task so do not have
a hard start time this is not a time
where you need to be working this is a
window of time where you have the
availability to work letting yourself
intuitively start when you feel like it
the second and this is why the buffer is
important do not have a hard stop or end
time to your task this of course
involves no Pomodoro and no Force if
those work for you and time blocking
it's absolutely fine but in this case I
would strongly recommend that you stop
working when you feel too tired or when
you feel that you've done or learned
enough 31 time blocking I fill in a
whole window and I don't backto back
different tasks or projects so project
switching takes a lot of mental energy
to go from one to another and I don't
like to do this because in the long term
it lowers my energy in the day overall
and I have to stop working sooner than I
would otherwise in this case if I feel
like switching a task would I to instead
is even take a tiny short break and
reconsider very often I find that I'm
wanting to forast inate rather than
actually genuinely being invested in
something else which is more important
the fourth is never to schedule in tasks
or things that you need to do
specifically into your calendar you
might do bigger projects in terms of
saying that you have studying to do
versus like YouTube or whatever but the
bagger and the broader that I leave this
the better I find that I end up working
I'm still recovering from having to
force my brain to do stuff all the all
the time I'm like really struggling with
that so at the moment I find it more
helpful to think intuitively on the spot
what do I think is the more reasonable
thing to do deciding on the spot also
means that I'm always working on a
brandom my schedule because I don't know
what to expect on that day I don't know
when I'm going to start when I'm going
to finish so it naturally builds
randomization into the task therefore
lowering the chances that I end up
resenting it in the long term the fifth
one is to learn and work with your body
clock for example if I have a day of
working from home I will usually not
schedule anything before 10: or 12
because I know that not being morning
person it's unlikely that I'm going to
do anything productive before usually
12:00 p.m. so when 12:00 comes I can
either think I've already failed at four
things I needed to do today or I can
think oh I could start working right now
so kind of being a bit more reasonable
and not too strict with how you know
that you work might be really helpful
after completing this calendar the most
important thing is actually what doesn't
get written down in the schedule and
this is the randomization of rewards
after a task in the previous step we
will have identified what we tend to do
when we finish a task for me it is
automatically always scrolling on my
phone or watching a YouTube video while
playing snake it has to be one of these
things and so now what I've done is I've
completely changed this I've created a
random selection of six activities and
I'll explain why I picked these
specifically later and instead of doing
my 100% guaranteed reward when I know
it's going to come which is phone scroll
YouTube what I do instead is get these
on a metal dice which has one on each
side and I roll the dice and I have to
do one of these actions this means that
I never know what my reward is going to
be so now I have an extra layer of
availability and Randomness in My
Rewards during the day the actions that
I have are journaling meditation
stretching walking calling a friend or
listening to music these tend to be
really really helpful activities
especially exercise if it's rigorous can
give you some extra Focus after it so
that tends to be a really energizing and
good reward activity now the reason I
picked these is because one of my
biggest pitfalls in the past used to be
having very high stimulation reward
activities and this is so so so bad
because going from an activity of high
stimulation to reward of high
stimulation to trying to force myself to
do an activity of high ation is so
exhausting and I run out of energy a lot
quicker throughout the day it's a newish
thing for me to consider but thinking of
and knowing how stimulating certain
activities are for me and taking this
into consideration will then mean that I
maintain higher levels of energy
throughout the day for example I find
public spaces very very stressful and
stimulating and even though listening to
Super energetic music or an audio book
is normally quite a stimulating activity
if I do it in public it then reduces my
overall stimulation if that makes sense
because it's it's more relaxing for me
to do that than to listen to this thing
on the other hand what I usually tend to
do is go from activities like listening
to a lecture to listening to another fun
YouTube video on two time of speed which
has basically the same levels of
stimulation and keeps me quite high and
easily very very very exhausted
throughout the day so in this case I
need to complement this with an activity
which is stimulating in a different way
or less stimulating overall ideally for
an action you want to pick out
complimentary rewards which will then
energize you more and make you more
likely to be happy and do more work the
reason I pick these activities on my
dice is because most of my work is quite
mentally stimulating but it's alone
quiet and physically very under
stimulating so I've picked things which
are on the other side of the spectrum
they tend to have noise or sound or
music or be quite like physically active
so that I can re-energize myself and
lower my mental stimulation they have B
sensory elements and one of them
involves other people which is nice
because most of my work at the moment is
completely alone having a combination of
set time blocked workable but not set
work hours into intuitive start and stop
times which we pick on the spot lot of
careful attention paid specifically to
what we do in between tasks and in what
ways and how stimulating they can be has
been the best way for me to maintain
higher energy and motivation throughout
my day not burnout and in the long term
want to work more with this video
specifically I do want to mention that
I'm very well aware of how limited the
user case is and the usefulness
potentially of this video is to people
with circumstances quite similar to me
if you work mostly outside of the house
as I used to do if you're a parent or a
carer or face different sorts of
challenges this videos might not be
helpful at all and in that case firstly
I apologize if you're here to hear this
and secondly if you would want to I
would really really appreciate if you
named some techniques that you use or
resources that you found helpful that
are more specific to you so that would
be great in the end I do want to say
don't be too harsh on yourself we all
are really just doing the best that we
can and I hope that this helps if you
made it so far thank you so much for
spending this time with me I hope you
have a wonderful rest of your day be
kind to yourself and others and don't
believe everything you think thanks bye
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