November Calendar 2015 Printable Calendar: Fill & Download for Free

When I read your question, I felt like I was reading about myself. Then you mentioned your parents being disappointed in you, and I immediately thought of my brother.I and my brother are almost the same. We have been blessed with an intelligent mind, and an able body to perform the tasks necessary to keep living. We are also the most laziest pair of siblings on the face of Earth. Yet, where everyone in my family and their relatives are disappointed in my brother, they are really proud of me.Don't be surprised. I'm numb to the core. I don't feel like making anyone proud or happy. I don't feel like doing something for someone else. I used to... until 7th grade, I suppose. Then, I just stopped caring.Mostly, it was because I felt like I was in a rut... a never-ending loop. I would do something that people expected of me. Since I was naturally gifted, I'd excel at that thing, and people around me would be impressed. They'd praise me for months, and I would get to spend most of my life in peace without much intrusion from them.In contrast, my brother usually came last in whatever he did. Like me, he was not interested in most of the things people expected from him, but then, since he wasn't interested, he wouldn't even put in a bit of effort. He fell while I rose. It pains me to see how similar we are and yet, how different people consider us.Looking back, I think the major trigger that parted our ways was this:HOBBYI had a hobby. He didn't. Not even one.Mine was reading. His was non-existent.Every day, I would borrow stories from my school library, and I would hide them between my course books and read. Sometimes, I would succeed. Most of the times, my mum would find out and put it above the cupboard, well out of my reach (this is why I learnt to climb furniture). She had a condition: Complete your work or forget about the book.Like you, my copies would be devoid of written work. I excelled at exams with even just a little study, but I didn't feel like studying or doing my homework. I would have weeks worth of work incomplete, and then, my mum would threaten me and I'd complete all of it. I remember my teachers asking me to submit my copies for checking, and I'd always tell them that I forgot. Even they couldn't make me complete my work, but my hobby did. Reading a story was the only thing that made me feel like my day went productive. I didn't care about the boring stuff (homework, house-chores, exercise) if I had read a few chapters that day.Reading was a good hobby, and it helped me develop my language skills in English. No one believes that English is actually my third language, Sindhi and Urdu being the first-two.When I graduated from school, I lost a library. Mainly a library full of storybooks. I haven't gained one yet. So I turned to apps like Wattpad to sate my thirst for stories. Problem was that Wattpad got repetitive really fast, with most stories based on romance instead of adventure, and most of those riddled with grammatical and vocabulary mistakes. I still use Wattpad but only for stories that I really like that are still being written. But it's not enough to keep 'reading' as a hobby.So, for the past 4 years of medical school, I've been like you. Numb. Not feeling like doing anything. It's not even about needing or wanting to do something. Most of the times, I know what I need or want, and yet, I don't do it. I mentally tell myself to do it, but still... nothing. I stress over my past, my present and my possible future, and still, I feel nothing. No excitement or fear. It's like standing in space. Just space without stars in sight. Without anything in reach. Without hope of any future. Without feeling of the present. Without a thought of the past.Add to that my forgetfulness, and I feel like the most useless person on Earth. I don't remember what I did yesterday, so even if I did something useful, I won't know. Sometimes, my brother demands to know if I ever do anything, and I know in my heart that I do stuff, I still can't figure them out.Your question pretty much summed up the troubles I face, and I realized the gravity of the situation I was in. So... since I saw it, I've been pondering over a solution. There has to be one, I thought, and it was only now, after reading the answers by others, that I happened upon a solution. I'll try it for the next few days, and I'll urge you to do the same, just to compare notes a few weeks later.I guess you already know the direction I'm heading in. I asked a similar question some time ago, and I got a reply by Say Keng Lee. He recommended Jerry Seinfeld's Productivity Secret, which basically tells you to start something, whatever you want to do, and mark the day on a huge calendar. Then, do it every day and ensure that you don't break the chain. When I read that answer, I felt like it wouldn't apply to me, since it's not one thing that I'm trying to do consistently, but a lot of things, and I don't need to do everything everyday. I don't have a routine and I don't think my life could ever follow a routine, being a medical student now, and a doctor later.Only today, I realized how I could do it. So bear with me while I explain this to you.1. Get a calendarThis is same as the productivity secret mentioned above. You have to buy or make a large calendar. Since I couldn't find one online in Pakistan, and I don't have enough wall space left in my room, I made a pocket calendar for myself. (If you want it, send me a message and I'll share the printable with you.)2. Make a list of hobbiesApart from reading stories, I developed a lot of vast and vague interests over the past years that have nothing to do with medical school. I put myself down for "wasting time" on these interests, but only now, I understand their importance. Medical school cannot be my hobby, like homework can't be yours. The idea is to use the productivity secret, not for developing consistency in work, but consistency in hobbies.None of the interests I have pursued have been so powerful as reading stories, but still, they're something that can be developed extensively.Here's my list of hobbies. You can use ideas from it to make your own.1. Reading stories2. Reading a book that teaches a skill3. Writing a novel4. Playing guitar5. Making videos6. Writing on my blog7. Skating8. Coding/Programming9. Writing answers on Quora10. Writing poetry11. Drawing and sketchingNote that I haven't specified any limits. Nothing like... write a blog post or reading one chapter. This is because I hate constraints. I've worked with constraints before and they don't work for me. Neither do deadlines or rules. Or laws. Or must-dos. If they work for you, feel free to add them to your list.The list above is not complete. I'll probably be adding more stuff as time passes. Note that none of the above are related to my house-chores or medical school work. I play a certain game related to Neurosurgery and I haven't added even that up there. Because this list is purely hobbies that are not related to my work any way.Also note that most of the items in the list don't require physical activity. This is because I'm a lazy person blessed with a good mind. Not a lot of physical activities could interest me enough to make it to the list above.The above list encompasses all the things I used to start doing, followed by shamming myself over wasting precious time over useless stuff, followed by hours of numbness.Now, the above list encompasses hobbies of which I must do at least one every day. Instead of putting myself down, these will help me feel better about the day.3. Prioritize your hobbiesGive priority to your hobby. If you feel numb, open that list and ask yourself what you want to do. If you've got homework piling up, don't worry about that. Don't stress over it or berate yourself for not working. Just open the list. See what you feel like doing and do it. Be it 5 minutes or 5 hours. Until the numbness passes.When you feel ready, and active again, work. Work on your homework or house-chores. Work on all the mind-numbing work. Work until your mind is numb. Then..., repeat. Pick a hobby. Do it. As long as you feel like doing it.I have exams starting after a week. I don't feel like studying anymore. The past three days, I was numb. I browsed FaceBook. I read answers on Quora. I watched Black Adder. I slept and woke and ate and slept. Today, I started studying the moment I woke up. I was spent after only 20 minutes of reading. I was about to fall asleep.Then, the bell rang and I had to open the door to let my sister in. Instead of returning to my desk, I went to my brother's room and picked up his new guitar (he still hasn't used it). I strummed its strings and even not knowing how to actually play it, I just strummed and tried creating a tune. I wasn't much successful, but after playing with it for 20 minutes, I studied over 50 pages of a textbook and memorized over 150 flashcards. I haven't done that since high school.4. Mark your ProgressAt the end of the day, pick up a pen or sharpie of your favorite color and write the number on the calendar. In the box of the day you just spent. The number would be the number of hobbies you followed that day.For example, today, I wrote a blog post and played the guitar. I'll write 2 in the box for 2nd November 2015.The number will be followed by a letter. P or N. You may consider them to mean positive or negative respectively. Or productive or nonproductive. Or you may come up with fancy names yourself. In essence, they represent your work. The homework. The house-chores.If you feel like the day was good, that you did more than you normally do, and that you can sleep in peace, satisfied with the day you spent, write P. Otherwise, you go for the other obvious choice, N. For example, for me, today was P, and yesterday was N.Finally, I want you to draw either a Smiley face or a Sad face in the box. The smiley face means that most of the day, you didn't feel numb. The sad face, of course, means the opposite. Please note that I'm referring to the amount of time you spent that day feeling numb. If that was more than the time you felt active and not numb, you'll be putting a sad face in the calendar.My entry looks something like this:And guess what! Once I post this answer, I'd already have one hobby accomplished for 3rd November. :D5. Stay ConsistentThis one is again similar to the productivity secret I shared above. You have to try and be consistent in performing at least 1 hobby in the day for as little as five minutes. You should try doing it as early as possible because doing it 5 minutes before midnight defeats the whole purpose of keeping a hobby in the first place.If hobbies are really working, you would see a stream of Ps and smiley faces through the next few days. All you have to do is... maintain that stream. Keep it consistent. Don't break the chain.So that is all to the trick. I hope it helps you, and I really hope it helps me. If you give it a try, please share your progress with me. If this really really works for you, I'd like to know.