How To Drop Out Of Medicine Archives | Page 8 of 17

Own where you are

Right now you’re caught in a vice between two extremes.

Doing what your parents want…and being true to who you are.

The problem is that who you is currently dependent on your parents for financial support, approval, acceptance and affirmation.

Worse, you love them and don’t want to hurt them.

But at the same time, loving them is killing you, and causing so much pain that even the thought of suicide provides an immediate breath of fresh air…an end to an impossible struggle.

If that’s you, then this section and the Escape Velocity course on Parents is for you.

The good news: there’s a way out that doesn’t involve committing suicide or subscribing to a life of addiction to manage the pain.

The bad news: the way out is messy…like crawling through a sewerage pipe to get to freedom.

And it starts with a particularly stinky word…Honesty.

The fact is, you don’t have the power or resources or mental/emotional fortitude to make the change that you desperately need to make.

You know that and your parents know that.

So rather than fighting this or feeling guilty about this, the first step is to simply acknowledge this.

Accept it and take ownership of this.

“This is where I am right now.”

Once you’re honest about how things actually are, then you can go to work on making them better.

But you need to own where you are, regardless of whose fault it is. This isn’t about condemnation or assigning blame…because none of that empowers you to change your situation.

Instead, you’re going to take back control of the situation by owning where you are, and owning the responsibility to make things better.

It is no longer your parents’ job or anyone else”s responsibility to make you happy or help you fulfill your life’s potential.

It’s your job. Period.

Once you’ve owned this, then we can get to work on making things better.

Ready? Good. Let’s get to work.

This is a taster from Escape Velocity: a personalised email course that guides medics step-by-step in how to successfully make the transition from being stuck in medical school…to living a life of happiness, freedom and fulfilment. Admission is by invitation-only. Click here to apply for your FREE invite.

10 years in 6 months?

How To Drop Out Of Medicine

A challenge from Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal (and the guy who offers $100,000 to kids who choose to drop out of college to start a business):

What would you have to do to accomplish your 10-year goals in the next 6 months?

Again, worth thinking about.

Wanna come out and play?

How To Drop Out Of Medicine

When you were a kid, you (usually) needed a grownup’s permission for your friend to come out and play.

Now…you don’t.

You are connected to over 3 billion people, and you have the ability to ask any of them if they wanna come out and play.

Wanna come out and play?

Wanna make a movie about a raindrop trapped on a window ledge?

Wanna do an interview with me on my podcast?

Wanna help me build 25 schools in Eastern Liberia?

Wanna start a T-shirt business on Etsy?

The Internet is one big street where you get to knock on any door/tap on any window and ask whoever’s inside if they want to come out and play.

Many people will say no, because they don’t know you/trust you (yet) or don’t want to play whatever game you’re inviting them to.

But many more people will say “Let me grab my coat” and come join you outside to play…especially if you show up as a real person who cares about connecting with them.

It all starts with asking:

Wanna come out and play?

Flying too close to the sun

How To Drop Out Of Medicine

Here’s the story of Icharus in less than 10 seconds.

Icharus and his Dad are escaping an island using wings made from wax. Icharus is warned not to fly too close to the sun (so the wings don’t melt). Icharus disobeys. His wings melt. He falls into the ocean and drowns. The end.

Lesson: curiosity killed the cat, obey your parents, colour within the lines, don’t try to reach beyond your boundaries…

But as Seth points out in The Icharus Deception, that’s only half of the story.

Icharus was also told by his Dad not to fly too low, so that his wings wouldn’t be damaged by the salt spray from the ocean.

Lesson: making a prison break on waxen wings isn’t an exact science, playing it safe can be the most risky thing you can do, aiming too low is dangerous…

Most of us have been conditioned by Med School et al. to keep our heads down and avoid flying too close to the sun…so you’re easier to control.

Clearly, the one thing you must do, then, is fly as close to the sun as you possibly can.

What’s the worst that can happen if you do?

Or more importantly: what’s the worst that can happen if you don’t?

6 months to live

How To Drop Out Of Medicine

If you were suddenly given 6 months to live…what would you do?

Write the answer down right now.

Next question: why aren’t you doing that now?

Again: write the answer down now in the comments/email/Facebook/somewhere public.

The 2 minutes it takes you to do this will save your life.

Don’t die before you fly

How To Drop Out Of Medicine

If you’re thinking about ending it all anyway, why not go out with a bang?

Not the “bang” of a well-written note and a dramatically executed suicide.

That’s been done.

But the BANG of doing something outrageous, scandalous and outlandish in your skin…making everyone you know gasp in amazement.

Start a band and go homeless.

Launch a business and go bankrupt.

Write that novel and flunk all your exams.

Build a controversial following on Snapchat and be disowned and kicked out by your parents.

What will that feel like, how will you survive, what will you do next?

Those are questions you get to answer by deciding to stick around and go out with a bang.

Refuse to die before you fly.

Refuse to take yourself out of the game, just because of how awkward you think you’re making other people feel.

Insist on the right to live your life to the full, even if you screw-up along the way.

Demand that the world sees who you are — warts, smells and all — and make them try to take you out because of how blindingly brilliant your light is to their eyes.

(The way they took out JFK, MLK, Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, and many others).

There are tactics and strategies you can use to do this (as you’ll see in a moment).

But if you’re thinking of ending it all anyway…forget about the strategies and tactics…and skip straight to where you live such a bold, outrageously generous and daring life, that you get folk plotting on how to take you out.

Don’t die before you fly.

Refuse to die with your wings stuck inside you.

Unfold them and see where they take you.