📈 Treating your life as a business

Hey guys! 👋 Hope you're all having a fantastic start to your week. In about 3 week’s time, I’ll be heading to Seattle for a quick holiday which means that I’ll be packing again soon (yay! 🎒). This got me thinking about my travel packing checklist (which I will link down below), and I’ll explain to you how I got around to making one. This might seem a bit over the top, but when it comes to inefficiencies in my life, I often treat my life as a business. Now I know you might be thinking - “you’re crazy, Kenji” 😜 - but let me explain! What I mean by this, is that whenever I find a situation in my day-to-day life that frustrates me, I often take the time to fix that problem so that I don’t have to face the frustration again. An example of a recent issue was coming home and forgetting where I left my keys when it’s time to leave home again. Similar to a business optimizing its workflow, I recently added a small box next to my door on top of my shoe cupboard, so that as soon as I come home I drop all my everyday carry items into it, which instantly solved that problem. Now how does this relate to traveling? Have you ever been on holiday and after getting to your dream destination 1000km away, you realize you forgot a travel essential? Yup, me too! So to solve this issue, I spent 5 minutes last year writing down everything that I could possibly ever need on any trip. This massively changed my travel game, because now not only do I never forget anything important that I need, but packing has also become a quick 10-minute job without the worry on the plane that I may have left something important at home.

So for this week, I wanted to ask you - are there any areas of inefficiency or frustration in your life that you could quickly improve? If you’d like to privately share your thoughts, hit reply to this email. I’d love to hear your thoughts! 💌

P.s. If you’d like to copy and paste my travel packing checklist into your own notes tool and adapt it for your own use, you can download it for free here. Alternatively, you can check out my everyday carry items here.

See you on next week’s issue and have a fantastic week! ✨

Kenji.

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👍🏾 Things I’ve enjoyed this week

  • Protein overnight oats (food) - one issue that I’ve recently had is not really enjoying breakfast before work since I’m not much of a breakfast/morning person. Instead, I’ve been drinking Huel on the way to work, which I know isn’t the best habit. Instead, I’ve begun meal-prepping my entire week of overnight oats on a Sunday and it’s been game-changing to my morning routine. I’ve been having it before I leave, but if I happen to be late to work then I usually bring it to work with me in my travel flask. Here is the recipe that I’ve been using.

  • Toothpicks and mouth spray (travel accessories) - it would be great if I could work from home and brush my teeth after every meal, but during my busy day in the hospital that’s pretty much impossible. I recently bought these toothpicks and mouth spray that I now carry in my lunch bag and backpack and my smiles have dramatically improved 😂.

  • Rupal Patel - Can’t We Just Print More Money? (book) - I started this on the car journey home after my locum evening shift last night and it’s great so far. How the economy works is an important topic that I think everyone should understand, but is rarely taught in an easy way to understand. The first few chapters are quite simplistic, but a great start if it’s your first time reading about the economy.

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📚 Highlight of the week

The Meaning of Life Is Absurd - More to That moretothat.com

The questions of “What does it all mean?” and “What is my purpose?” are things we ask when we’re not plugged into this very moment. When we’re paying close attention to the project we’re working on, the book we’re enjoying, or the time we’re spending with our loved ones, then we’re not searching for meaning; we already have it.

Don’t live somewhere pleasant surrounded by normal people. Live among your fellow freaks, where obsession is normal and ambition is rewarded.

The most dangerous phrase in the English language is “I’ll do that someday” because it allows us to transfer our sense of urgency to a future version of us who will likely never exist. The truth is that the hypothetical “someday” will always sound alluring because drastic changes, by their very nature, will literally never be convenient. You can’t ‘get ready’ to turn your life upside down, whether that means moving to a new city, ending or beginning a relationship, or making a career pivot. You just have to dive in. Or, you know, you can always take solace in the realm of infinite “what could have been’s.”

Resurfaced to me by Readwise

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Want to learn more from me? Check these out👇

🩺 (Free) How to Get into Medical School - From Application to Doctor: https://skl.sh/2TwpH0N

👨🏼‍💻 An Essay Writing Masterclass - The Best Essay Writing Technique: https://courses.kenjitomita.co.uk

🏥 Online Medicine Interview Course: https://courses.kenjitomita.co.uk

📑 Study notes, my university personal statements, dissertation and more:https://www.kenjitomita.co.uk/shop 

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🛠 My favourite tools 🔨

📚 Listen to my favourite book of all time (or any other) free on Audible

📝 My favourite iPad screen protector: Paperlike

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📹 The latest video in case you missed it: