Go from burnt out to FIREd up.
He was about my age, coming in to the ER with a fever. He had lymphoma, and was a week out from chemotherapy with the expected drop in white cells that rendered him immunocompromised as a result. I was a second year resident in emergency medicine at the university hospital where he received care. Despite difficult IV access and discussing …
I recently finished reading Bernstein’s slim book, The Ages Of The Investor, where he thoughtfully explores the accumulation stage, decumulation stage, and (trickiest of all) the stage during which one transitions from the former to the latter. It is in the transitional stage during which sequence of returns risk can appear and undermine what would otherwise appear to be a …
Small wins add up. This is a lesson from several years of playing strategy board games. While flashy, decisive rounds tend to leave a lasting impression and elicit high fives, they usually represent a short-term gain at the expense of a long-term victory. The deliberate incrementalist who responds to round-by-round incentives for small bonus point awards is easy to overlook, …
I relish the intersection of public health policy informed by behavioral economics. It’s a joy akin to matchmaking your two best friends and then witnessing as their relationship proceeds to marriage. It leaves me giddy and breathless and proud of the clever public health strategist who is able to leverage human psychology to improve population-level health. My wife relayed a …
In a couple of weeks, 3 of the 4 occupants of our home will be fully vaccinated. This is cause for (not so much joy as) a modicum of relief. And while it’s great that California announced that it will hold a lottery where 10 vaccinated people will have a shot at winning $1.5 million each, we didn’t do it …
By serendipity, I had a batch of shifts early in the month that resulted in a solid week off. I awoke on the first morning of that free week with an almost giddy sense of anticipation. It felt like the first day of summer in elementary school. That joy, alas, was not sustained. I found that I did not immediately …
One of the early lessons in trauma care during my emergency medicine residency was the concept of the Golden Hour: early, appropriate intervention during the critical first hour following traumatic injury can avoid death. I ended up practicing in a community hospital where our critical care cases are more medical than traumatic (stroke, sepsis, heart attack). Yet the concept of …
You are in your late 20s, at a cocktail party, and strike up a conversation with a friendly and socially lubricated stranger while standing in line for a drink. Five minutes into the conversation, the stranger asks you what you do. How do you reply? It’s a probing question, and it can mean a ton of different things. Is this …
I come from a family, and a tradition, that is historically steeped in guilt. Visits home used to end on a sour note, despite the best of intentions. We would contort our schedules and sublimate our priorities to visit family. Then, without fail, this script would play out: Me: It’s been a really nice visit. Dad: You need to come …
In a couple of years, I’m going to hit a life milestone that has nothing to do with financial goals or control of my time. My First Colonoscopy. The words read like an utterly forgettable children’s book (turns out someone else thought so, too). My wife and I have never met a gastroenterologist who wasn’t profoundly humane, hilarious, or both. …