It’s the end of the semester and I’m analyzing. Analyzing myself. My priorities. My family. My goals.
Recently I heard a statement by Timothy Ferriss that cemented my thoughts about what is important to me. He said,
“If you don’t have time, you don’t have priorities”
He must know what he’s talking about: he is an entrepreneur, has written three books in five years, advises Facebook and Twitter, as well as many other social media companies, not to mention starting or helping start several businesses all in the same 24 hours a day that you and I have.
Plainly, he is a very busy man. But… he is a busy man with priorities. To accomplish all that, he analyzes his lifestyle choices every two weeks to make sure he is living with his priorities.
It’s good advice.
Thriving as a premed student with a family is about prioritizing your life.
Life doesn’t run on auto-pilot. School does.
And sometimes, it’s a balancing act.
I choose to remember my priorities and the most important things in my life. My pursuit of medicine adjusts itself to those I love.
Diagnosing, treating, and preventing diseases is one of the most important things people in the medical profession do. Finding a cure for cancer or prescribing a medicine that will help someone feel better is wonderful.
But as a premed pursuing the dream of donning the “MD” at the end of my name, I need to remember what everyone else needs to remember – the most important things in life.
Pursuing medicine is important to me, but it is not more important than my family. I cannot sacrifice them for medicine.
We all know this. But sometimes we forget to remember.
I had a few days off over Thanksgiving – no work and no class. I was tempted to study all day every day since I have three big tests coming up this week and finals next week. But my children needed me. My wife needed me. So I limited my study time so that I could spend quality (and quantity) time with them.
Relationships can’t be put on hold while you get your career or life work in order. It doesn’t work that way.
Life is a balancing act of priorities.
As I constantly reassess and correct, I’ll emerge a better man, husband, father, and eventually, doctor (hopefully).
This is a great post! It’s a constant balancing act, but it sounds like you’ve got a really good idea how to do it and what is most important.
Thanks, Amber! This is all a learning process for us
I read all these stories based on a real-life experiences and I got shocked. Not only impressed me the way all of you faced and overcame them but the way you expressed your ideas giving me a new vision in my short and long term life.
Thank you Roberto. No matter what things experiences we may have had, we have a hope and a future. Thanks again for commenting!