This article comes to you from ward 2A of Lok Nayak Hospital, as I sit idly at the nursing station, having ticked off all the tasks I needed to complete in the ward- the umpteen samples drawn and reports entered and foley’s catheters inserted.
Earlier today, I was listening to one very interesting podcast episode of ‘Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal’ where he was talking to Matthew Dicks, an author (to say the least) with a fascinating life story and worldview.
He said something that I decided to put to test today itself.
During the interview, Dicks explained how he helped budding writers with his storytelling advice, and it wasn’t rare for him to encounter people who had great ideas, and had a ‘passion’ for writing, and perhaps even an elaborate plan for their next book, but when they were asked to show what they had written till now, they’d say they hadn’t started yet. When they were asked why, a lot of them would say they couldn’t find the time between their job and chores and daily lives.
He goes on to share this interesting anecdote where one of these clients of his arrives at a meeting 7 mins late, and after she tells him about her book plans, but not having started writing due to lack of time, Dicks reminds her of how she was 7 minutes late to the meeting, and then shows her how in those 7 minutes, Dicks had written a couple of sentences for his book.
The idea hit home immediately. It wasn’t like I hadn’t heard of it before, but somehow today I resonated with it even more, because I had been struggling with finding time to write blogs regularly lately, and my current surgery postings made it seem impossible for me to ‘find time’.
So naturally, I want this to work badly. And thus me, typing away at my phone laying in the doctor’s room in the surgery ward. To put the cherry on top, I got asked to do an extended night shift today, out of the blue. I was fully prepared to pack my bag and leave the ward at 8pm sharp, but now it’s 10.30pm, and I’m still here. The setting could not have been more ideal for me to write the night away.
Usually when I sit down to write, it’s in a comfortable spot, with my laptop on my lap, and at least a couple of hours on my hand to really get into the flow of writing. In fact, sitting in a coffee shop with a coffee mug next to me is my dream setting for typing away at my keyboard for hours.
But today, it’s none of that. I could have probably gotten my laptop to the ward, but I chose against it, and I’ll explain why in a minute.
It’s very very easy for us to tell ourselves we’ll start working on our goals when things are in place perfectly- perfect time, location, people etc. In reality though, most of those times, we’re only procrastinating from actually getting our asses out of the comfort zone and taking the first step.
I could have very easily whiled this time off scrolling on Instagram and watching Youtube, and then tomorrow I could’ve said I couldn’t work on my blog because I was busy in the ward. And honestly, nobody would’ve called out my excuses. But do I really want that complacency in my life?
For me, the answer is a no. I’m not shy to admit that my current reality is not really aligned with the aspirations I have for my life, and the only way to shift that is to give energy and effort into things that really matter to me (like writing and researching).
I feel it comes down to how badly do you want something. And then, you prioritise that thing over others.
This sounds pathetically, ridiculously simple, but I can bet that most of us aren’t even aware of our desires enough to realise what we really want, much less make time for them. We’re all so programmed to let others decide what we do with our time, that we forget we even had a choice in the first place.
And these things don’t have to be side hustles plans or something grand. It could be preparing for an exam, reading a book, talking to that person you haven’t had time to catch up with. 5-7 minute windows, that we let pass without even a second’s thought, can turn into massive progress in no time.
For me, it’s less about ‘being productive’ (because I couldn’t care less about how productive I was in a given span of time), but much more importantly about being able to do things in life that I really want to (something that is a core driver for me). For me, these are things that actually make me feel alive, that allow me to feel fulfilled.
And if today, it can’t be in my ideal setup of an empty coffee shop, playing lofi music, with a view of the setting sun from outside of my window, with my laptop on the table, then so be it.
I realised one way for this to work is to make getting started as easy as possible. When it’s only 5 minutes at hand, as you wait for the patient’s reports to be generated, having to take out your laptop, waiting for it to turn on and opening your document is all unnecessary friction, unnecessary time wasted.
Instead, taking out your phone, and typing a couple of quick sentences in the Notes app is a hundred times easier (even though admittedly it’s not as convenient as using a physical keyboard for me). Moreover, it’s impractical to carry a laptop around in the hospital.
So the idea is to reduce as much friction from the task you want to do as possible. That way, you’re way more likely to actually do it.
And lastly, the last piece of gem that I took from today, was this quote that it’s easier to change directions when you’re already moving, than having to start from rest.
Waiting for the ideal everything doesn’t serve you, because inaction only breeds more inaction (as says Newton’s law of Inertia- a body in motion stays in motion, and a body at rest stays at rest).
With that, I come to the closing words for this post, and I’m happy to say that today’s experiment was an absolute success- you can find time if you really want to. The gift of a night duty allowed me to pen this entire thing in barely an hour, but this gives me reason to try this exercise over my regular duties as well. After all, it all depends on how much energy you’re willing to put into something, because, just like plants, only habits that are nurtured well grow.
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