Have fun with it


Don’t do it because it’s on the test.
Don’t do it because your parents want you to be a Doctor.
Don’t do it because you’re afraid of failing.
Don’t do it because it’s expected of you.
Don’t do it because you need to.
Do it…because you get to.
You don’t have to study…you get to study.
And you get to learn amazing things about the human body that were complete mysteries just even a century ago.
I’m sorry for the “grown up” things you’ve gone through that have made you grow calluses and a thick skin…Just to survive.
But the ultimate act of rebellion…And the best way to fight back…is to have the audacity to have fun in whatever you’re doing.
They may be forcing you to learn endless minutiae…But you’re the one who can decide to have fun whilst you’re doing it.
Just cause they’re cracking the whip doesn’t stop you from being able to whistle while you work.
Find a way to have fun with it…Because you can.

Not your Father’s world

Image credit: Hugh MacLeod

This is not your father’s world. And things are not the same as they were when he was the same age as you.

Which doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

But maybe he’s trying to prepare you for a world that doesn’t exist anymore.

Listen to your Dad’s advice…but remember to consider the world you’re actually living in, and not the one he wishes was still around.

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.

Rites of passage (this is where you grow up)

Image credit: Hugh MacLeod

In some cultures, you have to kill a lion in order to graduate into adulthood.

In others you go on a Walkabout, or run with the bulls, or trek across the Amazon with nothing but the clothes on your back.

Today, the rite of passage is making the conscious decision to pursue your potential, despite how much this upsets your parents, elders and guardians.

It means doing the work of figuring out what’s important to you, making a plan to get it, and then going after it with everything you have.

It means standing up to your parents’ challenges, figuring out how to deal with debt/loan/cash flow issues, and refusing to settle for less than what you were created to do.

It means being willing to suffer for a moment or a decade or more…in order to reap the rewards of being true to your True Identity.

And when you do this, your parents et Al. will resist you, shout at you, guilt trip you …and then celebrate you for standing up to them.

Because all they want to know is that you’re really seriously about what you say you want this time.

So this is where you grow up, and decide to go after what’s important to you.

Welcome to your Rite of passage.

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.

Cutting off your right arm (to save your life)

Image credit: Hugh MacLeod

That’s the premise of the movie 127 hours: the true story of how Aron Ralston had to cut off his own arm with a dull pocket knife after being trapped under a boulder in Blue John Canyon for 5 days and seven hours.

He then had to navigate his way out of the canyon, and then rappel down a 65-foot sheer cliff face to get to safety.

He made it…but only by being willing to cut his arm off.

You’re also going to make it. And maybe it won’t come down to actually cutting off your arm with a blunt pocketknife.

But maybe you’ll have to give up something that might feel just as painful and unimaginable as losing a limb.

Approval of your parents…socialising with your friends…binge-watching Game of Thrones…3 hours a day on Facebook…taking hot showers…your old identity…

And when the moment comes, where you have to decide between cutting off an attachment that’s keeping you from getting to your destiny: what will you do?

You’ve already made tremendous sacrifices in order to do something that’s killing you. Are you willing to do at least as much in order to pursue something that makes you feel alive?

Is there even one small thing that you’re willing to give up right now in order to pursue what you really want?

And even if you don’t end up having to cut off your arm to escape to freedom…are you at least willing?

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.

Knowing when it’s time to walk away

Image credit: Hugh MacLeod

“Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” — Vince Lombardi

That’s the lie that Seth addresses and dismantles in his short book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When To Quit.

The book pretends to be about quitting. But really it’s about how you can become the best in the world.

And the way you do it is by quitting every dead-end situation that you’re pouring your life into, and focus that time/energy/joy/etc into finding and conquering a Dip.

From Seth:

Best-selling author Michael Crichton quit as he was on his way to a career at the top of his profession. When he gave up medicine, Crichton had already graduated from Harvard Medical School and done a postdoctorate fellowship study at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, guaranteeing him a lucrative career as a doctor or as a researcher. He traded it for the unpredictable life of an author.

Crichton had no stomach for cutting people open, and he decided he didn’t relish the future a medical career would bring him, regardless of how successful he might become at it. So he quit. Crichton saw that just because he had already gotten into Harvard, already earned a fellowship — already made it through the Dip — he didn’t have to spend the rest of his life doing something he didn’t enjoy in order to preserve his pride.

He stopped cold turkey and started over. If he can quit, can you?

Click here to check out a free 11-page preview of the book.

The best time to quit medical school was before you even started. The next best time is right now.

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.