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    7 Life Lessons I’ve Learned as a Physician

    by Brett Mollard Jan 09, 2023 7 minutes
    7 Life Lessons I've Learned as a Physician, by Brett Mollard. Photograph of man with outstretched arm by Gabriele Stravinskaite
    Photograph by Gabriele Stravinskaite

    Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

    Lessons learned for living a fulfilling life, from how to cultivate a positive mindset to strategies to improve future decision-making

    —

    As a board-certified diagnostic radiologist, I spend most of my time sitting in the dark, distinguishing between different shades of gray. I am an expert at reading complicated images and diagnosing diseases, but getting to this point wasn’t easy by any means.

    The journey to becoming a physician is an arduous one. It constantly tests your resolve, putting you in stressful situation after stressful situation while sleep-deprived and frequently feeling burnt out.

    How did I get through this? I analyzed myself when dealing with difficult situations and the decisions I made during those situations to see if they aligned with my values and the person I wanted to be.

    In essence, was I living a good life — the life I aspired to live? When the answer was no, I reassessed my approach to each situation and made the changes necessary to ensure I was living a life I could be proud of.

    I continue this approach to this day, and have since discovered seven key lessons in life that have served me well:

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