 Alright guys, welcome to 2020. Welcome to our very first episode of the TMJ show. I'm super excited to have you guys here as the new podcast for the MD journey. Now, if you're unfamiliar with what the MD journey is, quick introduction. My name is Luxe. I am currently an internal medicine resident, and my goal has been to do one thing and one thing only over the last three years. And that's to help people through my own experiences succeed on their medical journey with less stress. So if that message resonates with you, then make sure regardless of where you're listening, you go ahead and subscribe and download these podcasts for a weekly basis. If you're watching this on a YouTube version in a video format, then make sure you subscribe to the channel. I'm super excited to finally launch the TMJ show. It's just been an idea of mine to do a podcast for the MD journey for the longest time. And we're finally committing to it to bring you guys weekly content and advice for your medical journey. So make sure you subscribe and download. And speaking of value, I thought it would be a good idea to start the TMJ show with really the piece of content that got the whole MD journey show rolling. That's the very first blog post I wrote on five ways to succeed in medical school. Now these are tips that I wrote when I was a second year medical student. And honestly, most of those tips still apply today, but I'll be making sure to throw in my two cents since I've now graduated. And before we begin, I want to mention that today's episode of the TMJ show is brought to you by my nine step how to study course. This is a free step by step over my shoulder course. You can see how I studied in medical school to become super efficient. This is a technique that I've kind of mastered and developed over the years. So if you're struggling on how to study, you want a new innovative way, then you guys can check that out. They'll be either in the show notes or the descriptions depending on where you're watching, but let's get into it. Now advice number one to become a successful medical student is that you need to always remind yourself of your priorities. When you start medical school, there is an individual who did certain things. There are hobbies you had, people you hung out with, things you love to do. And for some reason, it's natural for us to feel like we have to sacrifice those things because we're a medical student. That's absolutely not true. In fact, holding on to those things as best as you can really makes your medical school experience whole. I'll give you guys a quick example. When I went to grade school, when I went to university, I stayed at home because they were closed by. But then when I started medical school, I had to move to a completely different city away from a significant other and away from my family. And so for me, it was a complete shock to what I knew on a day-to-day basis. My family was still a priority to me. So to make sure that the medical school experience didn't take that away, I made sure I did daily things. So just, you know, Skype with my parents or call my significant other, my now wife. So those kinds of things definitely made my day feel like it were natural, not different because suddenly I become a medical student. The same thing goes for working out, watching certain TV shows. I made sure that certain elements of my previous life were still part of my new life as a medical student. And that brings us to tip number two, which is to fit in those priorities. You need to make sure that you schedule them first before you schedule in your medical school obligations. Now, I know most med students have a tough time with this. They think that they need to fill all their hours to study because they think they need it. But in all honesty, you actually need those priorities more than you need an extra hour of studying. You're going to benefit more if every single day you have certain hours, 30 minutes, whatever may be blocked off for the things that make you you, such as working out, watching certain TV shows, hanging out the people you enjoy, and sporadically spreading them out throughout the week and month to make sure that medical school has consumed you. And then you can use the remaining time to study that's going to force you to be more efficient. And that's also going to make sure that the parts of you that matter the most are still there. Now, before we get to tip number three, I want to quickly remind you that if you're watching this on YouTube, to go ahead and find that like button and destroy it, and then go ahead and subscribe to the channel to help this video as well as this channel get in the front of more people. Now, tip number three comes from the idea of people who ask a question from the previous tip, which is, if I fit in more of my priorities, how then can I be more efficient as a medical student? And this comes by applying Parkinson's law effectively. Now, Parkinson's law basically says that work will fill the time that you allocate to it. So if you give yourself five hours to do something, it's going to take you five hours. But instead, if you give yourself three and a half, you're going to instead find those things that typically would have added to your five hours, but really are necessary. And this goes for your studying. So once you start medical school, get in a groove initially and then ask yourself how much am I typically studying in what are my results and then ask yourself, what can I do to limit how much time I'm spending and still get the same results and ideally work on improving the results you're getting. I did this in medical school, and that's basically what led to what's now the technique that I teach and the free nine step how to study course for medical school. So make sure you guys check that out. But regardless, figure out what works for you. Take out the little bits of pieces that are more excessive and you're doing just because you think you do. And it truly will help you one, have more free time and two, have more free time to do those initial priorities that we've talked about. So advice number four, guys, and I really want you to listen up because this is coming from the perspective of somebody who recently graduated medical school and that is medical school can be both successful and enjoyable if you think at it through one perspective. That is to imagine every experience you have, good and bad in the form as if you have to give advice to somebody who's one day going to be in your shoes. I know it's a long winded way of basically saying every time you have an experience, a bad test, bad rotation, tough lecture, tough class, it's natural for us to complain. But you always will be able to find the silver lining if you imagine that one day somebody is going to be that same experience and ask advice from you. I noticed this when I created the MD journey that I always looked at things differently because I knew I would one day be giving it in the form of advice through a blog post or YouTube video and now a podcast. And so I realized that one, my mindset changed because everything wasn't as bad anymore. And I was always able to find those two or three nuggets I could take away to obviously help you guys, somebody else and gets one day going to be in your shoes, but also help me when I was again found myself in that situation. So you can be some successful if you look at everything as if you had to give it an advice. Things aren't as bad anymore. The good things are amazing. And really you can use that to propel yourself forward and remain motivated. And finally guys, tip number five. And this is something that's completely transformed my life honestly. And that's waking up an hour or two earlier than you're supposed to. I know I'm already hearing the groans across the side of the camera or if you're listening in your car. But waking up early, hear me out. Initially my wake up time was around seven, you know, lecture started at around eight or nine. So I wasn't by any means a late riser. But one thing that I hated is realizing that as soon as it got up, got ready, it was already time to go to school. And then I was at that point on somebody else's clock. It was basically a medical student from the time I woke up. And basically felt like I was going to bed as a medical student through late hours of studying. Now waking up early allowed me to do a few things. That includes working on projects like the MD journey or my personal well-being such as working out or reading books, which I otherwise wouldn't have the time to do. But some days, you know, my personal well-being may just be I have a long test coming up this week and versus me trying to stay up to late hours, which is not well suited for my style of learning. I rather do the things that are going to give me motivated to start my studying such as flashcards, doing practice questions. Those are things that I can easily do. They may be different for you. But doing those initially in the day, because then by the time that it's like six or seven, where I'm typically would be studying, I can then use that time to take a break, work on my well-being or just sleep early. Sometimes that's the option I took. So waking up an hour or two early, you don't have to do it every day. But making that a habit can definitely make you more productive, more efficient and give yourself more time later on where everyone else is working to focus on the things that matter to you most. But those guys were my five tips on how to succeed in medical school. Hopefully you've enjoyed it. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this very first episode of the TMJ show. I'm super excited to get this going on a weekly basis. And before you click off listening to this podcast and go to another episode, quick reminder that this podcast will only reach more people by your help. I need your feedback. I need your input. I need your review. So if you can help me out and I'll show you how I can help you out in a second, go ahead and find your favorite podcast platform that may be iTunes and maybe Spotify and maybe Google and leave an honest review. It doesn't have to be a five-star review, although your boy's not going to complain if that's what you did. And at the end of every week to help encourage more feedback, we're going to find people who left those reviews and go ahead and select one lucky winner each week to win either a free book or a video course from our website. So again, go ahead and leave your feedback and each and every week you will be in there running as long as you do it just once. If you're watching this on YouTube and you still want to be entered for a weekly giveaway, then make sure you subscribe to the channel. You like this video and go ahead and leave a comment saying either the empty journey or leave a question that you would like to have for future TMJ episodes that may be an interview request or a topic you want me to cover. But I'm going to stop babbling. Thank you guys so much for listening to this very first episode. And just make sure that if you guys are interested in learning more tricks and tips on how to study well, then check out that nine-part study course that I've created absolutely free for you guys, which will be in the show notes of the podcast in the description in YouTube. But thank you guys so much for letting me be a part of your journey. Hopefully, hopefully, I've been a little help to you on yours and I'll see you guys in the next one. Peace, friends.