Gonnabeadoctor

Last Monday, I began experimenting with a new discipline. I decided that, at work, between the hours of 9:00 and 5:00, I would not spend a single moment on the internet for personal use. For the entire week.

I always feel guilty when I over-indulge in the incidental privilege of immediate and perpetual access to the internet at work. And I privately scold my co-workers for doing the same, although, obviously, I have no right to.

But most importantly, I know that constantly punctuating my work with 5-minute intervals of checking e-Mail, chatting on G-Chat, or doing whatever the hell else, does not exactly amount to a good work ethic. And I’ve begun to worry that it will be the death of me when I go back to school in the fall.

So I gave it a shot. No bullshitting online between the hours of 9:00 and 5:00. I pulled it off, too. Monday through Friday, I kept up the discipline. And WOW. The difference was amazing. I got so much work done, it was ridiculous. And I was far less irritable, which was an unexpected surprise. Needless to say, I’m going to keep this going, especially throughout the post-bacc program.

I would elaborate for a few more paragraphs, believe me I would… but I just ate my fourth grilled Italian sausage for the weekend, and I’m feeling ready for a nap.

Earlier today, my roommate Todd and I talked about using mnemonics to remember things. He told me a hilariously inappropriate mnemonic that helped him remember the twelve cranial nerves in college, and an equally hilarious, but infinitely more clever phrase that helped him remember the difference between sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves (“Point and Shoot!”)

Mind you, this is not a common conversation in our house. As much as I am striving to be a nerd these days, I’m not quite there yet.

Way back in sophomore year, my Human Anatomy professor told us that these little tricks are invaluable when trying to remember copious amounts of information. So now I have to remember to use mnemonics in order to remember information in the post-bacc program.

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It’s after midnight, and I have no intention of falling asleep in the next hour. No need, either. For some reason, all of the things that I wanted to do earlier today (but didn’t) are much easier to do now, when I should be asleep, as opposed to earlier, when I had all the time in the world.

This after-hours productivity has nothing to do with being closer to the “deadline” of the end of the day. Because there’s really no deadline for reading an article from the 1957 issue of Hush-Hush Magazine that I bought in Nashville (“TONY CURTIS AND THAT BLONDE PARIS STRIPPER”). I simply have fewer distractions right now.

This is why I’m looking forward to taking night classes. I’m hoping to become somewhat nocturnal. Maybe falling asleep around 2:00 and waking up around 10:00. It wouldn’t be too big an adjustment, but it would be an important one. I get a lot of things done in these few hours, when there’s pretty much nothing to do and no one to chill with.

My iTunes is on shuffle. When I began writing this post, “Sweet Illusions” by Ryan Adams was playing. I learned how to play that song on acoustic guitar two summers ago. The summer I started my job at the hospital. The job that I’m quitting in less than two months. How bizarre.

(How bizarre! How bizarre.)

(Every tiiiiiime IIIIIIII look around…)

Yep. OMC. Circa 1997. You were there.

For one of my part-time jobs, I transcribe audio recordings of patients for a local neuropsychologist. Since there are no designated “punch in” and “punch out” times, I can do the work whenever I want. Which, of course, is both a blessing and a curse.

I have a tendency to transcribe very little (if at all) for a few weeks, and then do a marathon session of transcribing shortly before I feel a deadline coming on. This is NOT an ideal practice, and I cannot allow myself to continue doing it during my post-bacc program. If there’s one thing I’ve heard about medical school, it’s that when you fall behind, you will never catch up.

A few posts ago, I mentioned discipline. For me, discipline means planning out your activities at least a week in advance. How could I apply that concept to my current transcribing job, for example? Well, by telling myself that I will transcribe for one hour, every day, for the next week. Seven hours spread over seven days is far more manageable than seven hours lumped into one afternoon. In fact, the latter is impossible, because technically, an afternoon is only six hours long.

This kind of discipline is not difficult. The most difficult part is sitting yourself down, chilling yourself out, and using your mind to come up with the most efficient way of achieving your goal.

In one of my first posts, I said it’s helpful to relate to the material when learning something new. Well, in addition to that, I think it’s necessary to make the material fun. To find the overlapping section in the Venn diagram between “work” and “play.” It’s the most effective form of motivation ever.

Here’s an example. Everyone says that the propagation of species can be attributed to the fact that it’s a direct result of sexual intercourse, which feels excellent. So if I can find a way to make Chem, Orgo, Physics, and Bio feel that excellent, I think I’ll do just fine.

I’m in Nashville International Airport, about to fly to Chicago and ultimately Boston. I should touch down around 7:30 this evening. Yesterday afternoon I landed here, and on my way out, I stopped in a cigar store. The guy behind the counter explained to me that the company is based out of Nassau, and that the master roller is a very, very old man who used to work for the people who invented Cohibas. He also rolled Castro’s cigars for twenty years. Say what you want about Castro, but I’m going to assume that he had good taste in cigars. And that leads me to deduce that the old man who made this cigar company in Nassau knows how to roll a cigar.

I bought a cigar for just under $20. I chose a good, expensive one because it’s going to serve as motivation for getting a 4.0 in both of my classes this fall. If I do, I will smoke it. If I don’t, I won’t. I toyed with the idea of flushing it down the toilet, but I’ll probably give it to someone and have them explain to me just how good it tastes. The road to medical school is paved with masochism.

For extra motivation, I should give it to someone I don’t like. At all.

I explained all of this to the guy behind the counter before I left. He laughed and said, “Well now that you’ve told me this, I’m sure you will be smoking your cigar.”

I’m in Nashville, visiting a friend on my way back from Miami. She and her boyfriend took me around Vanderbilt yesterday afternoon, and it made me think. Vanderbilt has a large campus, full of nature, and with very few distractions. It seems like a good place to get in the zone and study. Productively, and for long periods of time.

It would be good for me to go to medical school in an environment like this, rather than a bustling city where I’m constantly faced with options like: “Sit here and study for three hours, or get a beer next door?” and “Re-draw this diagram so I will understand it better, or catch that comedy show with some friends?”

Discipline is good, but forced discipline is better. Because it’s easier.

Getting back to Vanderbilt being full of nature, it reminded me of a study called How The City Hurts Your Brain. While I love cities, and I ultimately see myself living in one, a small town full of nature is probably ideal for my studies.

Stuff to think about.