I can’t believe 20 days have already gone by. Yesterday marked the end of my first 20-Day MD Challenge! In case you’re new, 21 days ago I set a goal to wake up at 4:30AM for 20 straight days in medical school.

First of all, it surprised me to find how many of my medical school classmates read these posts (shout out to you all!), but even more surprising were the questions about my 20-Day challenge. My classmates were curious to know how it was going, whether I’d continue, and what my next challenges would be. So below I briefly discuss how the challenge went and what I learned in these past three weeks.

How Successful Was I?

Out of the 20 days that I took on this challenge, I was able to wake up at 4:30 or earlier for 15 of them. If you’re a number person then that equates to a 75% success rate. Even though my success rate may be higher since there were 2-3 nights that required me to go to bed quite late, I’ll take the passing grade! (P=MD) 😀

What was My Schedule Like?

4:00- Alarm #1

4:15- Alarm #25!!! (Not really, but it felt like it)

4:30 – Get out of Bed

4:30-5: Get ready, make my lunch, etc.

5-6: Task #1 on To-Do List

6-7:30 Go to School, Gym, and Shower

7:30- 9:30: Task#2-4 on To-Do List

10-1: Study and Stream Lectures

1-2:30: Lunch and a Nap!!

3-5: Task#5 on To-Do List

5-11: TV, Video Games, Projects, Blog Posts. Basically whatever I wanted!

Beating the Sun to Work:

I’m not sure what it is, but there’s something awesome about being up before the sun is. To most of us, including me, the sun and the morning light are indicators to start our days. On this challenge, however, I felt so accomplished when I could knock of 2-3 things of my To-Do list before 6AM!

To those out there that hate waking up before 8AM (you know who you are), I recommend, just once, that you try to wake up at 6 or 7 and complete 1-2 task before you normally would wake up! You can go back to sleep after this if you wish. 🙂

I feel like I have to share one day in particular. Oddly it was a Saturday, where I didn’t have that many tasks to get done. Now since I had to get up at 4:30, I worked continuously until 9:30. I was going to take a break at 9:30 only to find that every single thing I needed to do that day was done! While most people were still sleeping, and rightfully so, I literally had the whole day to myself. It was a good day!

Will I Continue Waking up at 4:30?

Originally the point of the challenge was to show that everyone can wake up a little earlier in their day. It definitely doesn’t have to be as early as 4:30, but 6-7 AM should be doable. Because this was the goal of the challenge, I went into it with a belief that I wouldn’t like it but would just have to struggle through it

On the contrary, I found that I enjoyed waking up that early for the last 2 weeks of the challenge! I already mentioned how much free time I was finding myself with, and how my stress levels had diminished even further.

So will I continue to wake up at 4:30? On some days, yes! There were other days that I simply didn’t have enough to do to need to wake up that early. On other days, however, waking up that early made the difference on whether I had an extra 3-4 hours to myself in the evening.

What Will be My Next Challenge? 

Before starting this blog I came up with a list of habits I wanted to redevelop or introduce in medical school. So starting tonight I will begin my next 20-Day Challenge.

What will it be? You’ll have to wait for the next post to find out! (Oh the suspense!)

Remember that I’ll be making my challenges a little extreme. This is to encourage you all that you are capable of taking on something more manageable!

If you have any suggestions on challenges I should take on, comment below or message me!

As always, thank you so much for reading. I’m blown away by the viewership and graceful comments sent by many of you!

Want more posts like this one? Check out the following:

• • Medical School Success: Studying No More Than 5 Hours a Day
  • The Innovation Hour in Medical School 
  • Waking up at 4:30 for 20 Straight Days in Medical School 
  • 5 Tips on Succeeding in Medical School

Finally – do you want to learn how to study faster? If so you’re in luck!

Check out my FREE 9-part video course on how I cut my study time in half! I show you my exact method! 

Download it for free here!

Until next time…