I'm bored by my own work

Jack Close -

This week, I've been making a video aiming to summarise The Master and His Emissary. It's a book summarising 25 years of research, that outlines the differences between the brain hemispheres. The problem: I'm bored. Not bored of the process but of the content.

My aim with the YouTube channel is to make medical content entertaining. At the moment, I've lost the latter—entertainment. When reflecting on this, I've gone back to the drawing board. Matt D'Avella and Nathaniel Drew strike a brilliant balance between personal reflection, creative filmmaking and supporting research. I feel my videos have lacked the filmmaking and reflection aspects, replacing that with dense informational chunks.

I'm scrapping this week's video. I need to rethink my process and make sure that future videos don't neglect the entertainment aspect.

🗓 This Week

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (Book Notes)
Our values are synonymous with our f*cks, and the art is our ability to decide what f*cks to give. Here are 4 lessons that I took from this book. Responsibility regardless of fault is one that I consistently return to. If you found a baby on your doorstep, it isn't your fault that it's there, but it's your responsibility to make sure it's okay.

Reading Changes your Brain, let me explain. (Blog)
My reading video crossed 1 million views on YouTube this week. I'm so excited to hit this milestone! To celebrate it, I've written an accompanying blog post. My aim with this was to provide links through to the research, and dive into more details on my initial points.

🔊 Resonators

Here are 3 things that resonated with me this week.

3 Steps To "Core" Happiness – Dr Rangan Chatterjee (Podcast)
Dr Rang is a brilliantly sincere speaker and in this podcast, he opened up about his upbringing and his theory of happiness. Core happiness isn't something you can pursue directly, it's something that ensues as you fulfil the following 3 pillars:

  1. Alignment: Aligning your actions with your values. If kindness is a value that you prioritise, being kind to your barista, bus driver, hairdresser or boss needs to be a priority. This allows you to bring meaning to your life and work.
  2. Contentment: This is a sense of calm. Your ability to feel at peace with your life and decisions. This reminds me of a quote that I heard from Mo Gawdat: "The gravity of the battle means nothing to those at peace".
  3. Control: Feeling a sense of control over your actions and environment. This allows you to feel safe in your immediate environment and therefore to navigate it with more confidence.

I Tried Da Vinci's (Insane) Daily Routine (Video)
I've not been following Nathaniel Drew for long, but he's quickly becoming one of my favourite creators. There's one main reason for this: the emotional vulnerability of his videos. He's got this incredible ability to portray compassion and genuine reflection through his videos, something I aspire to do in the future.

Lost Connections – Johann Hari (Book)
Depression has such a huge impact on modern life; this book explores the many factors that contribute towards depression, rather than simplifying it down to a 'chemical imbalance' fixed by antidepressants. Hari's reasons include disconnection from meaningful work, meaningful values and other people. I highly recommend this book.

Quote

“What if depression is, in fact, a form of grief—for our own lives not being as they should? What if it is a form of grief for the connections we have lost, yet still need?” – Johann Hari