It all boils down to this.
Most people won’t admit it, or don’t even realize it, but
caring for people takes energy out of you.
Investing your time and attention making sure somebody knows
that you love them and that you want to ensure their well-being can drain you:
- mentally
- emotionally
- spiritually
- even physically.
Love people, but take care of yourself.
Don’t burn yourself out.
Why medicine?
Why did you choose to become a doctor? You could have been anything in life and the hours you’ll put into that career path… well, if you were to work that hard you’d earn more money in other career paths. So, why?
Before going into medicine I was a computer programmer. I worked with a language that is becoming rarer and rarer, but still runs many large businesses (Wal-mart, to name one). I worked for 2.5 years doing that. At 4 more years I would have been considered a senior programmer and would have qualified for jobs paying in the six figures.
But I hated that job, and began to hate programming. My days dragged on and I began to live for the nights and weekends, which is a miserable existence. Anyone that has been in that position will tell you how “stuck” they felt. To me, money and happiness are not equal. One does not guarantee the other.
Basically I am saying I learned that money doesn’t matter to me. I don’t plan to be broke as a doctor, but I am interested in some of the lowest paid specialties. Money isn’t a factor for me.
What I am interested in is challenge. I love academics. I love learning. I used to say growing up that I would be a professional student for life if I could. Medicine is about as close as you can get to that. It is funny that it took me so long to realize it. As a doctor you are constantly seeing new and interesting things. You are constantly problem solving. I love that.
I also love people. They annoy me sometimes and let me down, but I truly believe that people are good. As a doctor you can walk into a room and within 5 minutes of meeting someone be intimately involved in the most personal and vulnerable parts of their life. That is amazing and a privilege that most people never experience.
You are right, medicine is not a lucrative field anymore. I go to a state school and will still come out $250,000 in debt at an almost 7% interest rate (thanks government). That is why many debates on healthcare reform have centered on finding ways to bring people into medicine (e.g. loan repayment options, equalizing pay to primary care, etc.). I will never be broke and I hopefully will always have a job. But I don’t plan to be rich either. (There are still specialities that make lots of money, but they are competitive and seem to me to be less satisfying. I went to medical school to be a doctor, not to do one procedure over and over.)
When people talk to me about money I just get frustrated. I am not in medicine for money. I am in medicine because I love learning, I love problem solving and I love people. When you find something you truly love, then money becomes less of a concern. I believe if you truly love something and put your heart into it the money will come and you will survive.
So why medicine? Because I would never be happy doing anything else.
“Investment Education”
—Investment Education Netflix Earnings Preview NFLX - Netflix.com NFLX Trading Video - Investment Education Netflix Earnings Preview NFLX (VIDEO). In this live weekend stock market training video, we’ll cover the earnings preview on shares of Netflix and how to position yourself going into the earnings announcement.
Shares of Netflix remain volatile and subject to huge swings both long and short on headline news and short covering. We’ll run through the different ways the earnings announcements can play out.
U.S. Deficit Shrinking At Fastest Pace Since WWII, Before Fiscal Cliff - Investors.com
news.investors.comJed Graham of the Investor’s Business Daily reports:
Believe it or not, the federal deficit has fallen faster over the past three years than it has in any such stretch since demobilization from World War II.
In fact, outside of that post-WWII era, the only time the deficit has fallen faster was when the economy relapsed in 1937, turning the Great Depression into a decade-long affair.
If U.S. history offers any guide, we are already testing the speed limits of a fiscal consolidation that doesn’t risk backfiring. That’s why the best way to address the fiscal cliff likely is to postpone it.
While long-term deficit reduction is important and deficits remain very large by historical standards, the reality is that the government already has its foot on the brakes.
The Power of Habit Investments : zenhabits
zenhabits.netWays to Build Up Habit Investments
If you repeat something regularly, just doing a small amount each time, it adds up hugely over time. Some ways to do that:
- Actual money. Seriously, if you don’t have any savings yet, cut out one or two small daily expenses (Starbucks grande lattes are a good example) and instead, make regular automatic transfers each week (or every payday) to a savings account. Once you have a small emergency fund, pay off debt. Once you’ve paid off most of your debt, start investing. Your finances will improve immensely with time.
- Healthy eating. Eating just one small healthy thing a day, if you aren’t eating healthy now, will pay off over time. Just add one fruit instead of an unhealthy snack you might have in the afternoon. Do that for a couple weeks. Then add a veggie to lunch. Do that a few weeks. Each step of the way won’t seem hard, but you’ll eventually get used to each change. Sometimes the veggie won’t be something you love, so just eat a few bites. You’ll learn to enjoy it with time. You change, little by little.
- Waking early. Wake up just a few minutes earlier tomorrow (say 7:55 instead of 8:00), and stay at that level for a week, then another 5 minutes earlier for the next week, and so on. In less than 6 months, you’ll be waking up 2 hours earlier, and you won’t have ever really noticed it. It’ll never feel like you’re waking earlier. Most people, btw, try to do way more than this (say, an hour earlier at first) and then fail, and never figure out why.
- Writing. If you haven’t been able to create the writing habit, just write a sentence today. I’m completely serious. Then write a sentence tomorrow. Do that for a week. Next week, write two sentences. This sound ridiculously easy, so most people will ignore this advice. But if you follow it, you’ll be writing 1,000 words per day, every day, this time next year. Maybe 2,000 per day the following year.
- Stretching and/or yoga. I’m the world’s least flexible person (I think it’s in the Guinness Book). So now I stretch just a little each day. I bet in a a month or two, I’ll pass the guy in Luanda that’s just a little ahead of me on the flexibility list. I’ve started by just doing three yoga poses each morning.
- Musical instrument. My wife Eva started learning to play the guitar yesterday. Just a couple chords. If she practices those two chords each day, then another chord or two when she feels pretty confident with the first two, she’ll be playing some Bach and Granados next year.
- Meditation. I made a vow to meditate at least 3 minutes a day. That’s all I have to do, though sometimes I’ll do more. That makes it super easy to do it every day. What will I get if I keep doing that for years? I’m not sure, but I know I already have a judgment-free space, with no expectations, and it helps me to be more mindful and focused throughout the day.
- Decluttering. Just declutter a few things every day. In a few months, you’ll have a dramatically less cluttered home.
- Language learning. Study three cards a day with words/phrases/sentences on them. You’ll be speaking Spanish like loco in six months. (Yes, I just gave you your first Spanish investment in that last sentence.)
You get the picture.
