What's Inside:

• 🔗 The Power Of Association
• ✏️ Insights - This week's podcasts, movies, books and other cool things

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The Power Of Association

There’s a famous scientist called Ivan Pavlov, he conducted an experiment with a dog where he would ring a bell and feed the dog at random intervals. He did this for a while, always the same routine; Ring the bell, feed the dog.

After a while, the dog’s brain started to associate the sound of the bell with food. So one day Pavlov rang the bell but didn’t put out any food. The dog stood there, salivating, awaiting its treat which I’m sure Pavlov eventually gave him.

The discovery here was that the brain recognises associations. That’s why you hate the sound of your morning alarm because it’s associated with disrupted sleep, anxiety and the dread of leaving your warm bed.

I learnt about this association concept a few years ago and I’ve really experimented with it since then. What I’m about to share with you is up there with one of my greatest personal discoveries, I really think this can change your life, seriously.

I’ve played with the concept of association for years, here’s 1) Where I use it, 2) What I found and 3) How you can use it.

Where I Use It

Studying

I have a desk at home and a desk at university. I only use my desks for studying or writing blog posts. No Netflix, no YouTube, just work. If I want to do non-work activities I go to my bed or the living room.

What this does is causes my brain to associate my desk (location) with work (action). It sounds like bullsh*t but once you try this for a long period of time, you start to see the benefits. At this point when I go to my desk, it’s like I’m at work and I just get on with it. There’s very little need to convince me to work and little effort required to get started.

Asides from studying at my desk, I noticed that I could stack up more things to associate with working. So I started bringing a drink (coffee, tea, water) with me when I work. I place it in the same corner of my desk with the same coaster.

I like to work in a clean space and also have minor OCD, so I wipe my desk down beforehand too.

Now there are 3 separate things that are associated with work. By the time I’ve gotten a hot drink, cleaned my desk and sat down I automatically just open up Notion and Anki (my study apps - not sponsored) and get to work.

What I Learned

The longer I did this, the more routine this became. Literally like a robot, I do these few steps before a study session and voila, I’m working. It’s not just for studying though. I have associations with the gym too. I wear a specific coat and a specific pair of trainers, a designated gym bottle which I fill beforehand all of which lead up to my workout.

Even for sleep, I use an eye mask, pillow mist, ambient sounds on my Alexa and a particular pillow placement in my bed to fall asleep at night.

In the most important areas of my life (study, exercise, sleep) I’ve made associations and routines with the actions (working, exercising, sleeping) so when I act out the routines, my brain goes into the right mode for that activity.

Have you ever felt pumped up to go to the gym? Or excited to study your favourite topic? Or extremely tired and ready for a good night’s rest? In those moments, to do those things it’s effortless because your brain is in the right mode to do those things. By making associations you can prime your brain to be in the right mode for whatever you want.

How You Can Use It

I’m sure it’s pretty self-explanatory at this point but I’ll leave you with a few tips to get started.

1. Start with 1 action - don’t try to make associations for sleep, exercise, studying, and reading all at once because the change will be overwhelming.
2. Start with 1 association. Don’t try to do 7 things right away, that’ll be too much for your brain to process. Keep it simple and build on your associations over time.
3. Be patient. There isn’t a timeline on how long this will take to have an effect. I’ve been doing this for literal years and I’m starting to notice how routine it’s become. I can’t really remember when it became significant but all I can say is it definitely worked for me, it could work for you too.
4. If you haven’t had any success after 4-6 weeks then I guess it’s either not for you or you need to change the association you’re using. I imagine things like this are variable from person to person.

Something To Think About

I believe that we all have routines and associations embedded within us. You probably already have some that you just haven’t noticed. Are there any triggers that make you do certain things? Rituals that you have when you wake up or before you sleep?

I’m a tennis fan and some tennis players have certain rituals they do before a serve - the video linked there is pretty interesting. There’s something about rituals, routines, associations, whatever you want to call them, that seem like they mean something.

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✏️Insights

🎙️ Podcast - The Huberman Lab: DR. ANDY GALPIN: HOW TO BUILD STRENGTH, MUSCLE SIZE & ENDURANCE​

This episode is very good for anyone who’s into weight lifting or exercise of any kind (endurance, strength training, hypertrophy, powerlifting, building speed). It’s quite a long episode (3 hours) and it’s quite in-depth so I’m breaking it up week by week but it’s very very good. I’ll be reevaluating my workout plan once I’ve finished it.

📚 Book - The Disappeared by Sibel Hodge​

This is my current read and it’s fiction. I don’t read fiction often but this is a gripping book. Very well written. It’s a mystery story about a missing man and after literally 1 chapter I was pretty hooked. Sibel Hodge is one of my go-to fiction authors when I want something to keep me on edge.

🎥 Movie/TV Show - Nothing

I’m taking a break from Netflix and TV shows at the moment. Partly for Ramadan, partly for exams but also because I’m trying to steer more into reading rather than watching. I’m experimenting with this sort of lifestyle for a bit.

🤔 Thoughts - Reset

I haven’t added this to a blog post in a while so if you’re new to this format, I used to add a thought that I’d been having at the end of each blog post. It could be literally anything and it’s sort of like sharing my mind with you guys.

Lately, I’ve been really thinking about summer and having a full reset. I just really feel like reinventing my lifestyle. Getting on top of everything and having a fresh start once exams are over. I usually feel like this towards the end of an academic year.