During surgical residency, I saw that we can unintentionally and unknowingly perpetuate certain norms, which can be unhealthy

This includes doing or not doing something, saying or not saying something.

Here are 5 things that I have since become aware of 🧵// 1. Sending non-urgent work messages overnight and during weekends can perpetuate a lack of work-life boundaries

Even if your intention is to get stuff done whenever you can, this sends a message that no hours are off limits to others!

Try to schedule them for the morning.

Surgery rotations are one-of-a-kind experiences.

In some ways it resembles an endurance race, and in others ways, an audition.

How can you do the best you can on your surgery rotation? A thread. 🧵 ... / 1.Pace yourself

It’s tempting to start with an all-out sprint but this is a marathon. It is potentially the rest of your life

Find a pace that allows you to feel challenged, but also leaves you some reserve to learn, feel content, and push harder when the opportunity comes

When applying to residency, most people dread writing personal statements.

Having written and given feedback on many personal essays over the years, here are 5 tips that I think can make it a little easier. // 🧵 1.Writing a personal statement requires reflection, not invention.

Remember that 99% of your essay is already written because you’ve spent the last however many years searching for and refining your reasons.

Ask yourself... /

5 years of cardiac surgery residency down -- here are 5 lessons I wish I could have told my younger self prior to starting

After witnessing and experiencing many of life’s extremes in this process, both good and the bad:

== Thread 🧵== (1/5) No one is invincible or impervious to change

We start out believing we may be the exception.
“He burned out, but I’m different”
“She changed, but I won’t”

Do not give into exceptionalism, and instead be more mindful of your environment. Not all things bounce back.