The Optimistic Colleague and the Pessimistic One (or: The Two I Pay For) I gave my residents seven words and told them exactly where to type them. Then I read the answer over their shoulder. Friday's Digest #166 Table of contents Life Update Tools and Tips Stuff Life Update This week I was teaching. Nothing unusual about that. I teach all the time. A big part of teaching is sending your students to read. Open the book. Find the chapter. Pull the manuscript. Come back and tell me what it said....
14 days ago • 4 min read
Working 4 Days a Week (or: Can You Turn Off Your Phone?) When I go to bed, I switch my phone from vibrate to ring. Is it worth it? Friday's Digest #165 Table of contents Life Update Tools and Tips Readers’ Favorite Life Update Every night when I go to bed, I place my phone next to me. I turn the internet off (so I won't wake up to emails and messages that come in all the time). And I switch my phone from vibrate to ring. So if a call comes in, I'll wake up and answer it. The last time I...
21 days ago • 4 min read
The Title I Didn’t Use A computer made me a Principal Investigator in about ten minutes. It took me years to actually say the words out loud… Friday's Digest #164 Table of contents Life Update The Title I Didn’t Use Life Update This week I've been buried in a grant application. Somewhere in the form, in one of the fields, it asked me to type my role. I typed: Principal Investigator. And I did it without thinking. The way you type your own phone number. But this time, for some reason, my hand...
28 days ago • 3 min read
The Scalpel Stayed in My Hand I wanted to hand over the scalpel. I went looking for the knowledge underneath it - and it wasn't there. ... Friday's Digest #163 Table of contents Life Update Observing the Great Stuff Life Update A patient arrives. Sometimes to the clinic, to be diagnosed and treated. Sometimes to the emergency department, with something dangerous. Sometimes the patient is already on the table, asleep, and the first cut is mine to make. Every one of those moments requires...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
What the Vegetables Knew I watched a man pack vegetables for his flight. I haven't run in ten months. I'm still working out which one says more about me... Friday's Digest #162 Life Update I was in an airport lounge. You know, that place you hang out in before your flight. Everything's included, kind of a buffet. So I took some bread, cottage cheese, a glass of red wine. Reasonably healthy. Then I took a pastry. Then something fried. Then another pastry. Not that healthy anymore. I really...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
She Was Waiting… (or: Everyone Should Have a Hero) When things get hard, what would your hero do? Are you not sure you have one? You should. Here’s why. Friday's Digest #161 Table of contents Life Update Everyone Should Have a Hero Stuff Life Update I visited Lisbon, Portugal, this week. Not a vacation. A conference. Specifically, it was about proteomics. In short, it’s the study of all the proteins you have in your body. Proteins that can tell you what actually happens in the body. And I...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Ikigai: How Some People Live to the Age of 110. (and Enjoy It…) Ikigai is a Japanese word for "reason for being". Is it also the secret potion for a long, happy, and healthy life? Friday's Digest #160 Table of contents Life Update Ikigai Stuff Life Update It's June. The sun is shining, the days are long, and our kids have their end-of-school-year events. This time of year, I feel like a kindergarten teacher. But I'm not talking about my kids. I'm talking about my students. The students I have...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Oh, This Is Hard... (or: The 2-Year Mark) It's 22:00, and my legs are really tired. I know this feeling. And I know exactly what it means. Friday's Digest #159. Table of contents Life Update The 2-Year Mark Life Update This week was hard. On regular days, I work around 11 hours. Some days it's around 16. So when I come home, I have no energy left in my legs. Exhausted. And yet. The next day. 06:00. I'm already in scrubs. I've been thinking a lot lately about where I am. It's been almost two...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Antifragile I stood in the OR at 14:05. No lunch. Another surgery is just starting. And I thought - maybe this is exactly right. Friday's Digest #158. Table of contents Life Update Antifragile Stuff Life Update #157 went out last week, almost on time. Apparently, I scheduled it for 14:00 Boston time instead of 14:00 Israel time 🤦♂️. At 15:15, I was working on something else when I realized: I hadn't received my own newsletter! I dropped everything, ran to my laptop, and found the issue calmly...
2 months ago • 3 min read