Back in 2018, I used to live an unhealthy student life.

I skipped all of my lectures and spent most of my time watching movies and playing video games late at night. I wasn’t eating healthy and didn’t exercise much besides playing football.

At the end of the semester, I waited 2 weeks before my exams to sit down and start studying. I remember a time when I had 64 lectures to cover and memorise in 2 weeks. I still managed and I passed, but that’s not the point.

During those 2 weeks:

• I stopped exercising
• I crammed for my exams
• I wasn’t eating well (The £2 Birmingham burger meals kept me alive)
• I was pulling all-nighters

I had huge bags under my eyes.

I realized I had to fix this, so after graduating in 2019 I took a gap year between Biomedical Science and Medicine. I spent the gap year reinventing myself.

I was reading non-fiction books, discovering self-development, and started working out and learning how to be efficient in life. This is where I learnt the importance of balancing health, studies and fun:

• Learning efficient study techniques: I spent a few months learning how to type without looking, I mastered Anki and set up Notion for med school.
• Getting in shape: I spent all of lockdown working out in my garden. I luckily bought a pull-up bar and embarked on a callisthenics journey before covid. Best decision ever.
• Starting a healthy diet: I used my time at home to really learn how to cook. Shout-out to my mom for teaching me everything I know.
• Fixing my sleep: I used lockdown as ‘practice’ for real life. I was strict with my sleep schedule in those months. I felt so good I just kept it up after.

This transformation worked wonders.

When I started Med school, I was ready to live a healthy, productive life.

After my first year, I was in the top 15% of students in my med school, but I didn’t sell my soul for my grades.

I realised this was clearly the optimal way to live. That’s why I live such a productive lifestyle now. I’ve tasted how good this life is, and how bitter the previous lifestyle was and I’m happier, healthier and more successful with this new approach.

Today’s email is all about how you can achieve the same.

Let’s dive in:

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How To Balance Health, Work and Fun

Part 1: Health

Essentially to balance them all, you have to prioritize health first. You can’t perform to your best ability if you’re not in good health. Health is divided into 4 sections:

1. Sleep
2. Diet
3. Exercise
4. Mental health

1. Sleep

This is the most important part. If you're not sleeping well, you can't focus on anything. It dictates everything in life. That's the energy levels for the day. Just like you put your phone on charge, you need let your body and mind charge at night. If you don't put your phone on charge, it will die halfway through the day. The same goes for sleep.

If you don't sleep enough, then halfway through the day it will catch up on you. You can drink as many coffees as you like. You will feel tired and it will catch up on you eventually, you cannot outrun sleep.

Bad sleep = Bad life.

How I optimise my sleep:

I wake up and sleep at the same time every day to have an ideal life and be as maximally productive as possible. I also have an evening routine of 1 hour before I go to bed.

• No screens
• No lights (candles only)
• No food (Last meal 3 hours before bed)

I brush my teeth and read a book until I go to sleep.

Some things that help me:

• Eye mask
• Blackout curtains
• Blue light-blocking glasses
• Cool bedroom temperature

Scientifically, these help you sleep better.

2. Diet

My approach to diet is simple. I don’t like to overcomplicate it.

Here are my rules for diet:

• Every meal must be homemade
• A variety of vegetables (I switch them up every time I go shopping)
• Protein in every meal (Eggs for breakfast, fish in lunch, chicken or meat in dinner)
• No drinks other than water (except special occasions)

If you follow my Instagram, you know I eat GOOD. I can cook very well. If you want my recipes, subscribe to my newsletter because I’ll be releasing them in the coming weeks to subscribers.

3. Exercise

I love to exercise. I play football with my friends and I go to the gym.

The benefit of doing it with friends is that I'm exercising and socializing at the same time. It's ideal.

I have a standard 4-day split (Chest and Triceps, Back and Biceps, Shoulders and arms, Legs) that I do on rotation. I also train in callisthenics so I do a lot of bodyweight exercising (Push-ups, Pull-ups, Pistol squats, Handstands). I got most of my fitness advice from my good friend Dr Arun, who is a medically trained doctor and wellness coach based in Singapore.

I walk a lot too. Most days I clock in 10-15K steps because of med school. I make sure I go outside every day regardless of the weather. That's a super key thing for health.

4. Mental health

As a Muslim, I pray 5 times a day. It solidifies my mental health and it's the time of the day when I get to take a break and relax. It helps me with mental clarity. I also meditate regularly. Sitting and thinking deeply helps me with my creative work and with focus.

When you can sit still for 10 minutes you build the skill of doing nothing. All of a sudden when you’re sitting in traffic of waiting in line, you have no issue just being. Having that skill let’s me take mini breaks at any moment of the day. My mind is able to just let go.

Above all, you must look after your relationships for good mental health. Have you seen people go through breakups? Broken families? Ever argued with a sibling? Those moments hurt the most. Take care of your relationships and you’ll be mentally in a better space, plus you’ll have a support system should things take a wrong turn.

Part 2: Work

I won’t speak about this here as I have many posts about this. You can go and read the following posts to learn about how to work efficiently.

​Overwhelmed → Success: How To Pass Exams With Flying Colours: How to work smarter, not harder (actually explained)​

​Student Survival Guide: Organise & Succeed: A Simple Guide to Maximize Productivity and Balance​

​Unlock Your Productivity: Mastering Time Management with the Eisenhower Matrix​

​Overcome Procrastination: 7 Practical and Effective Strategies for Increased Productivity​

Part 3: Fun

Once your health and work are in a consistent routine, you make time for fun. This is where you treat yourself for the hard work you’ve completed. It’s much more satisfying to chill with your friends when you’ve completed a bout of work.

Simply put:

• Arrange something with your friends or family
• Take some time out for yourself

I think with fun it's important to be the person who organises events.

Some people would wait until their friends come up with something. I just invite my friends out or message them and ask if they want to go for a walk. You’d be surprised how many friends are just waiting for an invitation to do something, yet they will never be the ones to organise.

Let’s take a moment to respect those friends who book the table, arrange the gathering and host. You are the real ones.

Anyway…

Sometimes, I like combining studies and fun. Playing football is exercise + fun. Studying at the library with a friend is work + fun. Doing business ventures together is work + fun.

There are so many ways to combine things if you’re tight for time.

Btw, if you’re reading this far and haven’t subscribed, you probably should so you don’t miss other valuable posts like this.

Summary

If you want to transform your life like I did, follow this:

1. Fix your health
   • Get a healthy regular sleeping pattern
   • Start making healthier diet choices
   • Start a consistent exercise routine
   • Protect your mental health
2. Build a system around your work and studies that is sustainable.
3. Find a method of having fun that doesn’t compromise your health or your work

This will take time, but once you have a system which encompasses all 3 parts you will be living a good life.

I hope you found this email beneficial.

Make sure you start prioritizing your health, studies and time for fun to live a sustainable life.

P.S.

Do you live by yourself away from home and sometimes feel a dip in your mood?

Me too.

I’ve been living away from home for 7 years now and I face the same struggle every time I move away from home and come to university.

In next Sunday’s newsletter, I’ll take you with me on how I manage to stay positive, regardless of the difficulty so you can do the same.

Stay tuned for that.