It’s interesting how easy it is to get off track. I’ve been considering restarting writing, but I didn’t know where I wanted to begin. RR started as a means to do quick blurbs on my reading from the week and reflect on it. I think that template served me well, when I was doing it. Talking with a friend earlier this morning we discussed the importance of reflection. Reading is important, but writing is the ability to synthesize and reflect. It’s probably more important in the educational process.
I keep wanting to imitate the great medical writers that are out there right now. I keep wishing time away and wanting to be further ahead in my career. I just need to sit down and jot down some thoughts from the past week.
I’m lucky that I have a summer birthday. I like to break the year down into two times of reflection. Once at the new year, and the other time around my birthday in July.
Goals that I accomplished this year. I walked with my wife when the weather was good. We went on dates close to monthly. We took two vacations this past year. I told my wife that I loved her daily. I have been reading to my son every night except Monday’s when I get home after his bed time. I did make the decision to change jobs. I loved my patients. I did listen to the Attia podcast and read the show notes weekly. I did take the obesity medicine boards (results pending). I continued to lift and train BJJ 3x a week each. I did do a dry November and eliminated caffeine for that month. I listened to white coat investor weekly and read the blog daily. I checked mint daily. I got promoted through the military. I completed military education and submitted for the next educational program. I did duolingo daily. I listened to the knowledge project when it came out. I increased my church tithing. I started the Regenerative Medicine Service line. I completed the bible.
Things I did not accomplish. I did not stay in touch with family and friends as much as I wanted. I did not read for 15 minutes daily. I did not read my journals as much as I wanted. I didn’t get the running as locked in as I would have liked. I kept drinking energy drinks after I gave them up. I did not keep to only having alcohol Friday-Sunday. I spent money on workdays. I did not write an article a week outside of the training log.
While I was able to keep many of the goals from the past year, there were several things that fell short. If I were to ask myself why I didn’t do the things that I set out to do, I think it comes down to I had to make trade offs and choices and these things were not the priority.
What helped me in thinking about my goals for next year was expanding the timeline and looking into the future. I think expanding things out and trying to shoot for where I want to be at in 10 years helped ease my mind. I think things became a lot more achievable. It’s been a fun couple weeks, just trying to sit down and think about what I want to get done over the next year. It’s a nice position to be in to be able to think about the path for the future. I’m hopeful that I can lead a life that makes my family and God proud.
Seeking Progress 