Succeding Through Failure

Learning From A "Failure" Who Won Olympic Gold

As a medical student failure is readily on the mind. The constant barrage of exams and evaluations serve as an ever present reminder that failure is always just around the corner. With aspirations of matriculating into a competitive specialty or prestigious institution dependent on every testing move you make, it's easy to get a little crazy and stressed from time to time, especially when a test may not go the way you hoped.

The truth is failure is a natural part of success. However when you are a medical student the difference between personal success and failure can be as little as a handful of questions on an exam or looking stupid on rounds in front of everyone. It's easy to question your skills and ability to become a great doctor when things don't go the way you feel that you have failed. Remembering that the absence of failure is not what defines the great physicians. Failure will happen to you at some point in your medical journey. What defines greatness is learning to use it, to push through it, to succeed in spite of it.

Mariel Zagunis knows a bit about dealing with adversity and keeping failure in perspective.

In 2004, Zagunis did not qualify to fence in the Athens Olympics. Actually she missed the last spot by one match point! Years of practice and sacrifice had all culminated to this point and she missed it by one point.

But...

Nigeria decided not to send their qualifying fencer to the tournament, and as the next highest seeded fencer in the world, Zagunis was selected to represent the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Of course as an alternate who made the team by, what some would call, luck expectations on her performance where less than inspiring. However by the end of the Olympic tournament that would all change.

In her first round Zangunis defeated Japanese fencer Madoka Hisagae, 15–13.

In the quarter finals, she defeated Elena Jemayeva of Azerbaijan, 15–11.

In the semi-finals, the underdog clinched at least a silver medal by defeating Romania's Catalina Gheorghitoaia, 15–10.

Zagunis then faced Chinese fencer Xue Tan in the finals, defeating her 15–9 and become the first American to win an Olympic fencing gold medal in 100 years.

Zagunis' win surprised everyone in the fencing world. Being picked last for the team was not important, she competed as if she was the best in the world and it showed.  She returned to Beijing in 2008 and despite being ranked #6 took gold again.

Her arrival at the London games was much different. She was now a favorite to win gold, an American Hero. The only trouble is, she did not even finish with a medal. She was quoted in an interview after losing, just shy of a medal round.

“She didn’t beat me — I beat myself,” Zagunis said, adding that that is generally the case when she is beaten.

That may sound a bit arrogant, until you consider Zagunis’s current status in the world of fencing. Before the London Olympics she was ranked No. 1 in the world. She now has two Olympic gold medals and three world championships, including one — the 2010 competition in Paris — that she fenced with a fractured femur.

Zagunis' last big failure led to be the first American in 100 year to win an individual gold medal in Fencing.It will be interesting to see where this failure will take her next.

Mariel Zagunis Talks about Tough Times

Do What You Love Guide: Tips On Keeping Dreams Alive During Medical Training

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."- Albert Einstein

From the outside looking in, becoming a medical student is not unlike scoring one of Willie Wanka's golden tickets. Most people see you as someone who is on the fast track to living a life of your dreams. They hear you are going to be a doctor and already picture you healthy and happy, with a condo at the beach. Sadly, the burnout rates and frustration amount physicians are on the rise, especially in primary care, and this trend does not seem to be changing any time soon.

Medicine is a culture with very rigid structure. Each type of physician is supposed to fit into a predetermined personality, way of practice, and even work schedule. There is a certain amount of brainwashing that is built into the system and it can be difficult to dream big and chart your own path in this sort of environment.

We are well into the graduation season and this means there will soon be many med students embarking on a new journey as residents, and many college grads preparing to hit the books as medical students. I thought this would be a good time for some tips on Doing What You Love.  For that we turn to someone who has helped many people follow there dreams...

Enter Leo Babauta, the founder of ZenHabits.

I wrote the first words of ZenHabits more than five years ago, I had no idea those few keystrokes would change my life.

I thought I was doing nothing more than reflecting on the changes that had been happening in my life, sharing a bit about what I learned with a handful of friends. I thought those tinkling of computer keys would fade into the void, as most of my thoughts had before that.

I never imagined that a year later, I would have 26,000 people reading my blog (and eventually a quarter million subscribers), that I’d finally be out of debt, that I’d have my first book publishing contract, that I’d happily hand in my resignation for my day job. All of that was out of the realm of possibility.

That’s the amazing realization here: that we rule out the possibility of great change, because it doesn’t seem realistic. For nearly two decades I focused on going to college, and working at a day job that I sometimes enjoyed but often dreaded, because that’s what we expect should happen. Starting my own business, pursuing my dreams, doing something I loved? Crazy talk.

Crazy talk is what I’m going to give you today, in hopes that perhaps one of you will expand your possibilities. It is possible — I did it, all while working a full-time job, doing free-lance writing on the side, and having a wife and six kids. I did it, even if I never dared to dream it for the first three decades of my life.

I am not someone who likes to give career advice, or teach people to be entrepreneurs. So I’m not going to do that here. I’ll just tell you this: it’s possible. And I’ll share what I’ve learned, in small snippets of goodness, about doing what you love.

If you don’t think it’s possible, do a small easy test.

Don’t think you can start a big/impossible idea? Start small. Take one small step in the direction of your dream. You don’t even need to tell anyone about it. It costs nothing, risks nothing, takes almost no time. But you will learn you can do that one little thing, and if you pass that test, you now know your theory of impossibility was wrong.

Expand your tests.

If you pass the first test, do another small one. Then another. Keep going and notice your confidence grow. Your skills grow along with the confidence. It’s amazingly simple. Iterate and re-iterate as long as you are having fun.

If you don’t know exactly what you love, don’t worry.

There’s no need to figure that out right away. Try something that someone else is doing, and see if you think it’s fun. The real fun part, btw, comes when you start to get good at it, so perhaps stick with it for awhile and enjoy the learning, then enjoy being good at it. If that first try doesn’t work, try something else. You don’t have to commit to one thing for your entire life. You can do a dozen a year if you want, for a decade. You’ll probably find something by then.

Find inspiration.

Think about what will inspire you 10 years from now. Who else is doing what you love doing? Who is excited about it most? Follow them. Learn about them. See what path they took. Watch closely how they execute, what they do right. Learn from the best.

Reach out to a mentor.

Of the people who inspire you the most, try to make contact with a few of them. If they never respond, try a few more. See if you can buy them lunch or coffee. Don’t pitch them on anything. Just ask for their help, and say you’d love for them to mentor you in a way that won’t take up much of their time. Don’t demand a lot of time, but go to them when you’re having trouble making big decisions.

Choose one passion at random.

Some people have many interests and don’t know where to start. Pick one or two randomly if they’re all about equal, and just get started. Don’t let choice paralyze you. Get started, because in the end it won’t matter if you started with the wrong passion — you’ll learn something valuable no matter what. Read more.

Get good at it.

You get good at something with practice. Allow your friends and family to be your first audience, readers, customers. Then take on a few others at a low cost, or increase your audience slowly. But always have an audience or customers if possible — you’ll get good much faster this way, with feedback and accountability. Read about it. Watch videos. Take a class. Join a group of others learning. Find people to partner with. Before long, you’ll be good at it.

Help others.

One of the best ways to get good at something is to help others learn. Making someone’s life better with your new skill is also an amazing way to get satisfaction out of what you do, to love what you do. Help as many people as you can in any way possible — it will pay off.

Find your voice.

Eventually, as you master your skill, you will learn that you are different than the thousands of others doing it. You will find your uniqueness. It’s not necessarily there at first, because you might not have the technical skills to express yourself. But eventually, find that voice. Find the thing that sets you apart, that helps you to stand out from the crowd. Then emphasize that. Read more.

It’s the doing and loving that matters.

Many people focus on growing, or hitting goals, or making money, but they forget what matters. What matters most is loving what you do. If you love it, and you’re doing it, you’ve already succeeded. Don’t worry so much about achieving certain levels of success — people push themselves so hard to reach those things that they forget to enjoy what they’re doing, and in the process they lose the reason they’re doing it in the first place.

Dream bigger.

Once you’ve overcome the initial fear and started to become good at something you love, dream bigger. The first stage is small steps, but don’t stop there. You can change lives. You can change the world. Doing so will change you.

Taking Advantage Of Opportunites: Lessons From Dr. King

“If you can choose between opportunity and security, always choose opportunity.”

A couple of months ago, a wise friend gave me that sage advice; but sometimes I wonder, "What type of opportunity should I pursue?" Opportunities come in all shape and sizes. Which ones are important? Which ones will make a difference?

This incredible excerpt from a sermon given by Martin Luther King Jr. shows how he thought opportunities ought to be pursued. It is inspirational, humbling, and poignant.

I’ve also included the original audio below, thanks to archive.org. I think it's better coming from the man himself, definitely worth a listen.

And I say to you this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and so precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren't fit to live. You may be 38 years old as I happen to be, and one day some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause--and you refuse to do it because you are afraid; you refuse to do it because you want to live longer; you're afraid that you will lose your job, or you're afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity or you're afraid that somebody will stab you or shoot at you or bomb your house, and so you refuse to take the stand. Well you may go on and live until you are 90, but you're just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90! And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit. You died when you refused to stand up for right, you died when you refused to stand up for truth, you died when you refused to stand up for justice.

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from the sermon “But, If Not” delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church on November 5, 1967.

Uncommon Student MD?

Uncommon Student MD was started as a community and resource for, well... uncommon student doctors.

We're medical student's and residents who are exploring options. There are a lot of possibilities out there, just ask all of the docs over at Freelance MD.

Every part of Uncommon Student MD is developed with the mindset that we want to provide clear options to physicians and empower them to make their own choices and take intelligent, direct action. We think that providing the information and resources that medschool students and residents need to design and enjoy their medical career is good for the public, good for the practice of medicine, and good for doctors. If you're a medical student or resident, we invite you to join us and see what we can uncover... Oh, and do us a solid by liking us on Facebook.

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Rethinking What's Possible As A New Doctor

Thoughts after Medical Fusion Conference

Next time you find yourself in The Maldive Islands with no plans and some spare cash, book a room at The Conrad Maldive Rangali Island Resort. In addition to the group of overwater bungalows, with a coral reef for a front porch, they will turn the underwater dinning room into a hotel suite, for the right price. The idea for a hotel room positioned 20 feet underwater amidst a vibrant coral reef teeming with fish is a concept anyone could dream up. However, taking that dream and turning it into a reality is a whole different story. When you learn about someone who made a big dream come to fruition, it forces a rethink. You begin to question all the assumptions held about “what’s possible” and this also leaves you open to new and bigger possibilities.

The 2011 Medical Fusion Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada has just finished and the weekend was packed with speakers who have spent their careers rethinking and redefining “possible” in medicine. I was fortunate to have the weekend open and was able to attend, because my current rotation is outpatient pediatrics. But this silver lining had a grey cloud. Though the first lecture was scheduled to begin at 8:00 am on friday morning, for me, the day began at four hunched over the toilet revisiting the previous night’s dinner. I guess I had one too many kids sneezing in my face that week and my normally stellar immune system was no match for those walking petri dishes. After two more episodes of reverse peristalsis I was less than enthusiastic about spending all day listening to lectures.

My apathy melted away almost instantly as the first speaker, Dr. Barry Silbaugh got up and shared his experiences working as the CEO of The American College of Physician Executives, his international medical work, and his thoughts on how to pursue a non-traditional career in medicine. As the morning went on I found my excitement building as one after another the speakers continued to shatter the assumptions I held about what is possible as a medical professional. By the time Dr. Greg Bledsoe finished his presentation on living and working abroad I was glowing with enthusiasm, though it could have just been my fever, but either way I had just been presented with a new paradigm and was ready for more.

As the conference continued, my immune system finally resumed control of my gastrointestinal system, and I was repeatedly amazed at the innovative and creative individuals sharing the trials and successes of practicing medicine on their own terms. My favorite part of the conference was the accelerator sessions at the end of each day. These sessions provided a chance to connect with the speakers on a more personal level. As a medical student this provided me with a rare opportunity to sit down with great doctors and pick their brain for advice. I was honored by the way they engaged my questions, offered sound advice, and challenged me to continue to think outside the box in my own career.

The experience I had at Medical Fusion was one I believe will become a defining point in my professional career. It is for that reason I have decided share what I learned and work to build a community where medical students can rethink what’s possible in medicine. Now that I have met so many talented physicians who are engaging medicine in a way that excites them, I know I want to do the same. The weekend helped me to rethink the kind of doctor I aspire to become. I hope this site will do the same for you and who knows may be some day we’ll be seeing patients at a hospital clinic 20 feet under the sea.