Drive to Succeed

Are you comfortable with the way things are? Do you aspire for more, for something better? Or are you content with your current level of knowledge/practice/success? Some people are perfectly happy with the status quo. Others, for various reasons, are not content with leaving things the way they are. For those of you in the former group, stop now. For those in the latter, read on. Let's talk about your desire for more.

Drive to Succeed Napoleon Hill, an American author and personal success writer said, "The starting point of all achievement is desire." Imagine what the world would be like if everyone were satisfied with whatever their lot in life gave them. I imagine we'd still be living in caves and trying to rub sticks together to create fire. And yet, despite all of our societal and personal advances, many of us are happy with a certain level of success (ie,. the status quo).

I want to achieve more I'm not personally much of a fan of the status quo. At this point in my life, I could sit back on my laurels and consider the successes in my life and my current position the pinnacle of where I wanted to be. I mean, I have a beautiful family, a home, a good income, friends, love, and job satisfaction. Every day I affect someone's life in some way (hopefully positive), whether a student needing help or a patient in pain.

Tonight's Premier Lecture is
Common Cutaneous Malignancies
Stephen G. Ruby, FCAP, MBA, MD

But for whatever reason, I'm unsatisfied with the status quo. It's not enough to have these blessings. I want to achieve more. There are little holes in life that we often feel it necessary to fill. For example, I'd had a long-standing desire to become a residency director at some point (likely due to the example of my own residency director, who exhibited the positive leadership skills to which we should all ascribe). Now that I am one, I'm still not satisfied. If my residents lack experience with a certain procedure or need something to assist with their training, the lack of that thing gnaws at me until I've figured a way to make it happen.

This also bleeds over into my teaching philosophy. The first thing I teach both my residents and students is to question. Question everything. Why do we preoperatively scrub our hands for a certain period of time? (It doesn't matter, by the way, whether you scrub for 2 or 6 minutes – it doesn't decrease postop infections). Why did we choose that particular bunion procedure? Why did that orthosis reduce my patient's pain? Is there evidence for what we do? Those who question are not content with the status quo.

Mario Andretti, the famous racecar driver once said, "Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek." The questions are endless, but it's not the questions themselves that matter to our conversation, but rather the desire to understand – to know more, to do better – that moves progress. And without the questioning mind, there can be no progress.

Bill Cosby said, "In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure." He also said, "Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle." This can be a scary thing. Deliberately moving from the familiar and comfortable to the new and potentially uncomfortable can be difficult. It requires a risk (you might fail). It requires courage (the unknown is always scary). Most importantly, it requires the desire for more.

Here are a few thoughts based on the comments above that may help to maintain desire and motivation:

Be aware of your own natural curiosity and drive. Sometimes life gets in the way, and we forget about the initial interest that brought us to the point we are now.
Be comfortable being uncomfortable. I tell my clinical students this all the time. Doing something new often lies outside of our comfort zone, and a certain level of discomfort goes with it. Understand you'll be nervous while dealing with the "new" and go with it. Let it wash over you and accept whatever comes.
Question, question, question. Don't believe everything you see/read/hear. Look for the "proof" or at least best evidence. "It works well in my hands" is not a legitimate reason to perform a new treatment. If you hear this at a national conference, then consider disregarding what they said.
Welcome new experiences. Progress by definition requires new experiences. Enjoy each new experience for what it is: a chance for personal growth.
Embrace failure. In my son's school, "FAIL" equals First Attempt In Learning. We grow more when we fail than when we succeed. Don't beat up on yourself when you fail. Rather, analyze what occurred and figure out how to change to succeed in the future.

Open mind or closed mind. It's up to you. Progress is messy, so be willing to get your hands dirty. Success requires the courage to move out of the comfort zone and look for more. I'll leave the last word for Winston Churchill: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."