Yesterday there was a reunion for Toronto MacShad 2005 alumni, with about six of us in total.  I don't think I had seen many of them in a super long time, despite many of us not being too far away from each other, and quite a few of us relatively close, in fact.  They are all fantastic people, and I had an awesome time, and wish I had reconnected a lot sooner.   Shad has introduced me to so many great people and opened a lot of doors for me, I really can't be grateful enough, and am disappointed I haven't kept up as much as I should.  Hopefully we can keep this type of stuff going - there were talks of a big 5 year anniversary reunion happening this summer, and I hope that goes down.

I had such an awesome time that it made me wonder how much more I'm missing out by not reconnecting with a ton of great people I've met.  I've actually been disappointed for a while that I've lost touch with so many good people I've met over the years.

So anyways, I'll throw this out there: If we've met before, had some good memories / ton of fun but have since lost touch, and you are in the downtown Toronto area, email/Facebook/whatever me and let's meet up for a drink/coffee/whatever.

Unproductive

Before my spring break this past week (funny side note, I'm somehow not sad that I'm going back to school tomorrow) I started thinking a lot about my productivity.  I actually felt like a failure in almost all aspects of my life.  Obviously I don't feel like a complete failure, but I definitely feel like I have been neglecting many things in my life, which has led to feelings of disappointment.

Take something as simple as school.  Sure I am in medical school, but reality is that I'm constantly scoring below average on exams and not taking this stuff seriously (for my Metabolism and Nutrition final exam before the break, I basically learned half of the new material starting the day before the exam).  Yes, it's pass/fail, but I'm sick of being stressed out all the time leading up to exams.  To tackle this, I pledge to start staying on track of stuff.  That's right, I start school tomorrow, and I pledge to go over tomorrow's material by tomorrow night (wish I had a way to make sure this happens though).

But more so than just school, I feel like I am not achieving my potential, and it really didn't hit me until yesterday.  Before my Shad reunion, I was talking to a few people online.  One was Alex, who I've blogged about before (oh yeah, I promised him to put in a plug for Microcredit), who I will be meeting up with for lunch again this Friday.  He's President of Impact, and overall super motivated, smart guy.

The other was Jasmeet, another super smart and really accomplished young person (I think I owe you a coffee break?).  She told me she had read my blog and was encouraging me to write a book, and that she might have a contact with a publisher.  I have always wanted to write a book, though I never knew exactly what.  It's funny she brought that up because I had been talking to a friend just a week ago and we were talking about writing a book.

Long story short, talking to Alex, Jasmeet, and my Shad friends really got me motivated to be more productive in my life.  I realized I had so many untapped resources in the form of friends and contacts, let alone my own mind and effort.  I also realized that who you surround yourself with significantly affects your attitude towards life and your productivity in it.  Surround yourself with smart, super motivated, and highly accomplished people and you will feel inspired and motivated to keep up.

I have some projects in mind that I keep thinking about doing but constantly put off because I'm so damn lazy.  I find excuses (e.g. oh no, I have to study and then end up not studying obviously) instead of finding time to do stuff.  Time to make those things happen.  No more regrets.

Mind

I feel like I'm not challenging myself intellectually.  I remember reading a quote from a smart, successful person who, when asked by a young person how to decide what to do with his life, he responded by saying to just read anything and a lot until you found something you liked.  For a long time I've wanted to read more.  I start books and then forget to finish.

About a week ago I was out for a drink with a friend, and this topic came up.  He proposed the idea of starting sort of a "book" club, but I guess not really a book club.  More like a way to motivate ourselves to read.  We read anything we like, whether it be business, politics, social issues, philosophy, whatever.  Whatever it is, we just learn, and then we meet up and share the ideas we've learned and discuss/debate them. 

I think that should be pretty cool, and I hope it happens.  I have books on real estate, philosophy, and an introduction to quantum theory (don't worry, it's more like a fun novel than a textbook) that I'm hoping to ram into my brain soon.  I feel like starting to explore various fields now is going to open up a ton of doors for me in the near future, and will also be fun and get me out of my mental slump.

Body

When you're in medical school, you're constantly confronted with images and information on diseases, illnesses, etc.  I need to start taking better care of myself.  Gotta start eating way better and working out a ton more.  Any suggestions to keep myself motivated?

Writing

I guess I'll end this by saying I wish I wrote more.  Even it means just writing down a few thoughts here and there.  It's therapeutic for me and it's a good way to document my own growth.  I'm going to propose that I blog at least once a day, even if it's a single sentence with a single thought.

Alright gotta get my stuff ready for class tomorrow, ciao.