Life Is Like A Door Hinge
Hi, I’m Yath! Thank you for being here. You are receiving this because you signed up to my weekly newsletter on self-growth and mindful productivity.
Hey team,
Consider a door as the obstacle in front of you. You need to overcome it in order to move forwards in whatever you might be doing. So, you need to open the door. There are two ways you could try and achieve this. You could push at the hinge-end. You probably won’t get very far and you’ll have to push very hard for very little results. But, you could also push at the handle end, which would be the more reasonable thing to do. All other things accounted for, like the door not being locked, you’ll be able to open the door very easily.
My point here, perhaps a little stretched (this was the best I could do), is that when you are looking to overcome obstacles if you take just one solution and keep pushing with it without taking a moment to consider all other options, you might get stuck.
The only way to get unstuck is to take a step backwards, look at the bigger picture and realise that actually, hang on, just like a door, your obstacle may have two or more solutions. One particular solution may make overcoming the obstacle infinitely easier than the rest.
This is the exact attitude I have towards dealing with obstacles in my life. I have a pretty big obstacle in front of me at the moment. I have my medical school finals coming up very soon in just a few months. Whilst I feel almost ready for them, I still have to study pretty hard leading up to them. This poses one problem, as I also now create content online through a weekly newsletter and a YouTube channel, it would be pretty insane of me to do it all.
In trying to overcome this obstacle, I was looking for all the possible ways in which I can “do it all”, aka keep posting consistently and also revise thoroughly for my exams. I kept pushing on the hinge end of the door, coming to absolutely zero solutions. Then I took a step back and realised a few things: (a) my biggest priority is becoming a safe doctor, (b) my YouTube channel isn’t going to run anywhere, and (c) if my viewers were really interested in my content, they’d appreciate me taking some time off to complete my exams.
So, through taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture, I think I will overcome this obstacle in front of me by taking a month-long break in April to focus on the most important thing, exams. The goal should have never been to remain consistent through it all for the sake of an ‘algorithm’, but this is how I saw it until I took a step back.
Hope this helps one other person overcome an obstacle you’re currently facing, if it does — great, let me know! If you’re struggling to see all the options and feel as though it’s an obstacle I could help shed some opinion on, smash reply to this email.
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This Week’s Quote 🎯
“Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after thirty seconds.” — Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers)
This Week’s Recommendation 🚀
Video 🎥 — 21 Tips for My 18-Year-Old SelfbyAli Abdaal
This is a great video from my friend Ali. I’m now 23 but this is still good advice. Particularly, the tip about sharing your work with others and expecting absolutely nothing in return. I love this, I think we’re all better off when we share our knowledge and insights to grow collectively together. We like trees, grow taller when we work together as opposed to working alone.
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