Three Small Ideas That Changed How I Work

Residency teaches you in unexpected ways.

Not every useful idea comes from textbooks, conferences, or senior advice. Sometimes you notice small systems people around you use, and a few of them stick.

Over the past few months, three such observations changed how I approach conferences, research, and revision.

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1. Kom L – Integrating Slides with Notes

At conferences many of us take photos of slides thinking we will revisit them later. In reality, most of those photos just remain buried somewhere in the phone gallery. (I had a poll running when i last attended a conference)

I noticed Kom L using a much more practical system.

She would photograph slides during the talk, and because of the iPhone–iPad sync, the image would instantly appear on her tablet. She would then place that slide directly between her handwritten notes.

The result was a much more usable set of notes where:

• Slides

• Personal annotations

• Key ideas

were all in one place.

The insight was simple:
Slides are useful only when they live inside your notes, not inside your gallery.

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2. Dhar – Turning Inspiration into Action

One evening I was doing what many people do after a long hospital day — scrolling social media.

Then I saw a congratulatory post. Dhar had presented a poster at ESMO GU.

It was a small moment, but it made me pause.

Seeing work from someone within our own circles reaching an international conference is a good reminder that research progress often depends on starting and continuing the work, not just thinking about it.

That moment pushed me to restart some data work I had been postponing. (Although I had similar but temporary pushes in the past from my other colleagues as well, hopes this one lasts longer)

It made me think of a simple line:

Why scroll endlessly in Mumbai when you could be strolling in Europe presenting your work?

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3. Raja – Turning Textbooks into Audio Revision

Most of us revise by rereading textbooks, which can be difficult during busy residency schedules.

Raja showed me an interesting workaround.

His method was simple:

1. Save relevant textbook pages as a PDF

2. Upload them into an LLM

3. Ask it to convert the material into a podcast-style explanation

4. Listen to it during travel, walking, or downtime

It effectively converts dense reading material into audio revision, which can fit better into a busy schedule.

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Closing Thought

In training, we often focus on learning from lectures, guidelines, and textbooks.

But some of the most practical improvements come from observing how people around us approach their work.

Small ideas like these — better note-taking, acting on research inspiration, and using technology creatively — can quietly make our daily workflow a little more efficient.