philosophy

A collection of 21 posts

weekly dose

#053 How to use geography for life-long learning

My greatest mentor frustrated me to no end. Every month he would take over part of an operation he had taught me. I knew he knew I was capable of doing this step.

weekly dose

#052 How to achieve failure

“Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.”

weekly dose

#046 How to structure your workflow for maximum efficiency and quality

Effective solutions cannot be found in the same field where the problem resides.

Members only

weekly dose

#038 Why being a surgeon is a Loser's Game

This mistake taught me more lessons than any other in my career, but I want to talk about one that I wish I had known a lot earlier.

Members only

philosophy Featured

#037 Seven lessons I learned from when my 2-year-old got sick

Because if what you say makes everyone feel nothing, it probably didn't need to be said in the first place.

Members only

weekly dose

#031 A Life Lesson from a Dying Patient

Eight years later I remember Craig's question to me with vivid clarity. In those darkest moments, his character shone a light on the inherent reflex within us all to care for others.

philosophy

#027 How I Smile When Bad Sh*t Happens

The day wasn't supposed to go like this. I had been operating all night and was looking at Hussain as he gave me the bad news.

Members only

weekly dose Featured

#026 From Numbers to Meaning: Why What You Value is Wrong

If you are in you mid-30's and your parents are in their 60's, we could be optimistic and say you at most have 30 more years together. That means when you left home you had already spent 93% of your face to face time together. You are now in your last 5% of your time with your parents.

Members only

weekly dose

Strategic Persistence - How to Keep Going and Succeed Wisely

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." - Scott F.Fitzgerald

Members only

philosophy

How to Use the Voice in Your Head to Stop Quitting

This is tough. I want to stop. I can't do this. All phrases I've heard in my head when my expectations clash with reality. Sometimes you've listened to this voice and given up when things got tough. In one second, you can change this.

Members only

philosophy

Why Your Mind Isn't Your Brain

philosophy

Suffer Your Adventure

I've seen a 6 year old die from a massive stroke.There is no fairness in this. Only suffering. So in an unfair world, what should our expectations be?

philosophy

How You Are Going to Die

Most people will die a death before their heart stops beating. If you no longer think clearly, or think like you could in mid-adulthood, have you died a cognitive death?

Members only

philosophy

Why You Don't Want to Live a Comfortable Life

For a decade now I have worked on being comfortable with being uncomfortable. I seek out discomfort on a daily basis. I like to live in a place I call The Discomfort Zone. Why? Why not be comfortable where I am? There are two reasons.

Members only

philosophy

Weekly Dose #010 How to Become More Resilient

We once believed that resilience is a fixed trait. You are either born with it or not. This belief is still held in the surgical community. We believe by definition, surgeons are resilient, otherwise they couldn’t be surgeons.

planning Featured

Don't Get Better. Be Less Bad.

If you always rely on what you learnt and “know” worked 5 years ago, soon you will be a dinosaur in your thinking. Slow and massive, your lumbering decisions can wreak havoc on those underfoot.

philosophy

Don't Achieve Your Goals

"If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable" - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

philosophy

Make Some Noise

“Have you noticed that the world is made up of people who never get noticed? However, without them, those who do get noticed would never be noticed. They would become people who would never be noticed. I hope you take notice of this.” ― Daniel Kemp

Members only

weekly dose

Weekly Dose #003 - Why You Should Stop Chasing Happiness

philosophy

The 4 Types of People

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood...”-Theodore Roosevelt

time management

Lessons From The Future

“Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations