In my first year of medical school, I spent the first 3 weeks figuring out how to perfectly manage everything.

• Studying
• Exercising
• Organising
• Time management

I remember the first few weeks. The volume of work kept increasing, but I was still figuring out how to be efficient and manage it all. It was a complete mess and I started to fall behind.

Around week 3, I realised the problem. I didn’t have a system in place. I didn't have a calendar, a to-do list or any consistent time management technique.

I have trial and errored almost every organisational technique over the last few years until I reached my current organisational system, which I’m about to share with you today.

This system allows me to do medical school with ease, pass all of my exams, exercise consistently and sleep 7-9 hours a day. I still make time for movies, Netflix and socialising too and of course I make content on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and my weekly newsletter.

Since I’ve been doing this stuff for 4+ years now, my audience has reached 700k followers across all platforms.

You might be thinking that I’m special, but I’m really not.

I’m just organised. I have been for many years. If you have structure to your life, a system, you can make time for everything you desire.

It’s impossible to achieve that without an organisational system.

That’s why it’s crucial to start the upcoming year the right way, so you don’t have to neglect your personal life for your degree, or vice versa.

Anyway, here is my formula for student success, step by step:

1. Physical Organisation

There's a quote I love coming back to:

• Your bedroom
• Your wardrobe
• Your living space

Some products I use for physical organisation:

• ​Wardrobe organizers​
• ​Closet space-saving hangers​
• ​Drawer organizers​

I’ve added all of my favourite purchases in one place. Feel free to check them out here.

Make a rule with yourself that whenever you use something or take clothes out of the wardrobe, once you're finished using it, you put it back where it goes.

This keeps the place clean and saves you time from tidying up.

On days when I just need to go to bed, I make 1 pile in the corner of my room of ‘everything that needs to be put away’ and I leave it till the next day. When I wake up, I clean up the entire pile and I’m back to being organised.

A clean environment means a clear mind.

2. Digital Organisation

As with physical organisation, in digital organisation, everything needs a place. Think of it as the home of that file or item.

• Personal emails
• University emails
• Pictures from your last holiday
• Tax receipts

You should be able to think about a picture, a video or a file and know exactly where it goes or where to find it. If you can’t think of a place, ask yourself, if you were to look for this item, where would you look first? That’s probably the best place to keep it.

I use Notion for everything else. It’s the best app for digital note organisation in my opinion (Not sponsored). That's my database for notes, creative work, medical school and anything digital. For files (Pictures, Videos) I use Google Drive (I pay for 200GB annually) and a physical hard drive as a backup. Always back up important files.

Everything I just listed is synced across all of my devices. No matter where I am, I can access everything with an internet connection.

My Notion is divided into 5 categories:

1. Work: Medical School, Arabic, Finances.
2. Creativity: Content creation, Podcast & Book notes, Travel itineraries.
3. Personal: My journal & Private notes
4. USMLE: A page dedicated to the USMLE (Medical School test of 🇺🇸)
5. Archive: Pages I’m not actively using but might need later

I took inspiration for this filing system from Matt D’Avella.

3. Time organization

I use Google Calendar to manage my time effectively. I suggest you use your favourite calendar app.

1. Synchronize your calendar with the university schedule, so all lectures are on the calendar.
2. Allocate the remaining time for:

• Eating
• Studying
• Exercise
• Creative Work
• Socialising
• Sleeping

My calendar is more time-blocking and less scheduling. I like to give myself big chunks of time to do one task, rather than packing my day with 20 different mini-tasks.

I also keep a physical to-do list on my desk for all the mini-tasks that usually clog my mind. If I’m away from home, I use Todoist (my favourite To-do list app, not sponsored) to keep track of mini-tasks.

I dedicate one day of the week to smaller tasks in the to-do list book or Todoist. On the other 6 days of the week, I’m free to engage in uninterrupted deep work for my bigger projects. This technique was inspired by Elizabeth Philips.

4. Patience

Allow yourself to adjust in the first few weeks. Take it slowly and don’t ask too much of yourself. The key is prioritizing.

For the first few weeks of university, the main focus should be:

• Having fun
• Studying (Simply not falling behind)
• Eating & sleeping well
• Exercising

It’s likely one of those areas will suffer in the adjustment phase. That’s okay. Just try to pull it back up when it does and notice deviations like that early on. Priorities should be treated as priorities. You don’t compromise your health or your studies for something of less importance.

As you use this system things will start to fall into place.

If they don’t, reassess and adjust your routine accordingly. I recommended a digital calendar, but maybe a paper one suits you best. Maybe you prefer Apple Calendar or Daybridge. It doesn’t matter as long as it works for you.

Reflection and reassessment are key.

That’s why I reflect on my priorities every week.

It helps me:

• Notice errors
• See what works & what doesn’t
• Improve weaknesses

Download my FREE notion weekly review template here: https://daanish23198.notion.site/Weekly-Review-Template-726e2fad134b4ca88f63301daaefb22b?pvs=4

5. Comfort

Once you feel comfortable maintaining the major priorities, start adding fun and social activities in your spare time more freely.

• Hobbies
• Exercising
• Family time
• Going out with friends
• Downtime to just chill

Whatever you like.

People often make the mistake of trying to balance EVERYTHING from the beginning. Don’t make that mistake. Start with your major priorities and add the less important things later. Optimise your system for longevity, not just a few productive weeks that taper off.

Organized schedule + Discipline + Making time for fun = Key to a balanced life

I hope this email was useful for you.

Make sure you ace the upcoming year without neglecting your personal life.

P.S.

Do you feel like you waste too much time planning out the next week?

In next Sunday’s post, I’ll give an in-depth overview of how I do my weekly planning in under 60 minutes and how you can too.

Stay tuned for that.