5 Habits That Helped Me Become a Heart Surgeon
Disclaimer: Not Medical Advice. Opinions are my own.
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I will be speaking in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 12th. I'm joining my friends Dr. Vonda Wright, Dr. Louisa Nicola, and Dr. Darshan Shah at the Next Health Longevity Summit. Only 500 seats are allocated to ensure the event is personalized for each participant.
Seats are selling out, and I would love to see you there!
Today's Newsletter at a Glance:
- Win the morning
- Fall in love with reading
- Show up — it's 80% of the battle
- Build a strong body if you want a strong mind
- Say yes to friction, because friction is where traction lives
- The skill the other five stand on
Extraordinary results come from small, consistent inputs.
This statement holds true for any success or achievement in my life.
15+ years of education, training, and residency were undoubtedly a difficult journey.
Five habits became non-negotiable on that journey.
Habits I wish I'd learned earlier.
In today's newsletter, I'm going to share with you 5 habits (non-medical) that helped me become a heart surgeon and I'm confident they will help you reach your goals.
Win the Morning
I've spent most of my adult life rising before the sun.
Not because I was a morning person. Believe me, I dreaded waking up early when I was younger.
Early mornings are when I feel I have the most control.
Once the day starts, the world begins asking more of you, and it doesn't stop.
If you leave your most important work for later, other things inevitably seem to get in the way.
I tackle the hardest items on my list before the world wakes up.
One benefit people underestimate: freedom.
When the heavy lift is behind you early, the rest of the day feels lighter.
You're not negotiating with yourself throughout the day trying to make time.
Do the hard thing first. Then enjoy the freedom of space.
Fall in Love With Reading
"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies... The man who never reads lives only one." — George R.R. Martin
Reading changed and continues to change my life.
The goal is not to read the 'right' books. The goal is to fall in love with reading.
What you read matters far less than the habit of reading.
Here's why.
Reading offers insights, perspectives, opinions, lessons, and learnings that you might not have found yet. Timeless wisdom that you can absorb from the comfort of your bed, couch, or chair and apply immediately.
Reading is fundamental to learning.
You don't need to read solely textbooks to learn.
Read fiction.
Read history.
Read biographies.
Read non-fiction.
Read what excites you.
Once you love the act itself, you'll follow your curiosity.
Show Up
This is the least glamorous habit on this list, and I'd argue it's one of the most valuable.
Showing up is roughly 80% of the battle.
Simply being there, on time, engaged, prepared, again and again.
I know this seems obvious; it's rarer than you realize.
Which means the bar is lower than you think.
Get the easy stuff right.
Be where you said you'd be. Do what you said you'd do. Return the call. Finish the small thing. In a world where most people are unreliable, being reliable is a superpower.
Your word is one of your most valuable currencies.
Strong Body. Strong Mind.
Exercise transforms the body and reshapes the mind.
A strong body is a prerequisite for a strong mind.
Surgery is a physical job. Standing for hours. Holding a position. Maintaining fine motor control and clear judgment deep into a long case when you're tired and hungry is difficult.
The mental stamina this requires is downstream of your physical capacity.
Your job may not be surgery, but the principle holds.
The brain is the command center that requires a healthy body to function optimally.
Your cognition, mood, stress tolerance, and work capacity all depend on your body's health.
Movement isn't a thing you do after the important work.
It's what makes the important work possible.
Welcome Challenge
There's a quote that I love: "No friction, no traction."
Comfort is comfortable.
But growth doesn't happen inside comfort.
Growth is just on the other side of hard.
Every meaningful step I've taken in my career has been preceded by challenges. That challenge is not a warning sign.
Most of the time, it's the signal you're on the right path.
So don't just tolerate new challenges. Seek them.
Volunteer for the hard thing.
Be a beginner on purpose.
The discomfort is the goal, not the side effect.
The Skill the Other Five Stand On
Doing any of these five habits one time is easy.
Anyone can wake up early tomorrow. Anyone can read a chapter, show up to one meeting, do one workout, say yes to one uncomfortable thing.
One time is where a habit starts, but it's only the beginning.
The value is entirely in the repetition.
These habits don't simply add up. They compound.
The morning routine you keep for ten years isn't ten times better than the one you keep for one year — it's a different order of magnitude.
Each of those years builds on the last.
Reading compounds into judgment.
Showing up compounds into a reputation.
Training compounds into a body that still works in your seventies.
The challenges you accept compound into a range of unrecognizable capability.
And none of that compounding happens without the one skill underneath all five: persistence.
Not motivation.
Persistence is what operates when motivation runs out.
On the mornings you don't want to, in the weeks progress stalls, after the meeting that didn't go the way you planned, when nobody would notice or care if you quit.
Pushing through the hard part is not a detour on the way to the results. It is the path that produces them.
Success for me has come from a handful of unremarkable things done repeatedly.
This is available to you as well. Start today.
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Jeremy London, MD
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* Disclaimer: This blog is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional health care services, including the giving of medical advice, and no doctor/patient relationship is formed. The use of information on this blog or materials linked from this blog is at the user’s own risk. The content of this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay seeking medical advice for any medical condition they may have and should consult their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.
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