Don’t know if you’ve seen it, but, if not, allow me recommend “Gotham” on Netflix.
The character development is a masterpiece. They take characters that you’ve known for thirty years, characters that you know every intimate detail about, and they create them as if they are totally new. They take unbelievable characters, like the Riddler (come on a guy whose crimes are based on riddles. That’s just dumb), and create wonderful and entirely believable back stories that make the characters come to life. That make the characters 100% believable.
But, the show isn’t their real trick here. Gotham currently has three seasons with 22 episodes in each. That’s 66 episodes. That is a lot of TV.
I finished the whole thing.
Here’s why:
(And it isn’t the auto-play on the next episode.)
It’s that Netflix keeps track of which episode I’m on and where in the episode I am. It’s seamless, and it’s on every device.
I’m at home watching…. falling asleep, turn it off, and go to bed.
At lunch, I watch another 15 minutes.
The next day my wife has a PTO meeting, so I open up Netflix on the TV, and there I am right at the spot I left off on my phone.
No time spent sorting through episodes and figuring out where I left off. What was I doing? Oh wait, I’ve seen this episode….. arrggh.
Let me explain why this matters to you.
One thing you should definitely have in your study journal is a section to write yourself a love note at the end of each study session.
It should read something like this
***
You are so smart, funny, and handsome. You’ve been doing great work. You left off today after finishing heart murmurs. You were on pg 62 in blah blah blah review book. You completed the questions in the Lange book on pg xyzzy. You are planning on starting your next study session with heart blocks. Man, are you hardworking and smart.
***
This way you know exactly what you did the day before and where you are heading. One roadblock with getting started is trying to remember where you were. What you were working on. The fear and annoyance of repeating and rethinking what you already thought about.
If you write yourself a note in your study journal, you remove one big roadblock to sitting down in the first place. One major use of your willpower. It will take you 2 minutes to write, save you 5 minutes the next day, but more importantly, it will help get you going. Like leaving your running shoes out on the floor. Momentum is everything.
You want to remove any opportunity for your willpower to fail. You want to make it easy.
***
Finished ENT studying today. Went through The Final Step on ENT twice with 15 minutes in between. Tomorrow, start with The Final Step ENT section. Then go through the pulmonary section of The Final Step to review it. Then start GYN. Before you finish tomorrow, go over ENT again in The Final Step.
***
See how that works? Super easy and super powerful.
Brian Wallace
