Ep. 43: Cheat Codes

Happy September everyone! 🍁 

Over the past few months, I've been fully immersed in learning, practicing, and refining the skills I acquired in medical school. I approach this task with great seriousness. As we prepare for the new academic year, I'd like to share a learning paradigm that might benefit your young learners.

This approach is inspired by the author, Mark Manson’s video, "Life is a Video Game, These Are the Cheat Codes."

The Success Formula:

Success = Traits x Focus x Ability to Stomach Failure

The true goal of learning is to build resilience through failures, not just successes. The more challenging experiences you embrace, the better. Learn to see failures as opportunities. For me, this means accepting feedback and adjustments to my medical care from seniors and supervising physicians. For students, it might be about how they bounce back from a poor quiz score or not making the football team.

In video games, we’re given a quest and get to design the character. In life, we’re given the character and must design the quest. This quest should allow us to play the game of life for as long as possible. For me, this involved realizing my curiosity in the sciences and deciding I’d rather work with passionate physicians than in engineering. For students, this might mean reframing school as more than just pleasing their parents—it's about learning time management, professionalism, and social skills necessary to thrive in the modern world.

Discover Who You Are

Figuring out who you are and what you enjoy requires a lot of experimenting. The best way to uncover your traits is by challenging yourself. For me, this meant taking a variety of math and science courses in college and working jobs like Starbucks or CVS Pharmacy to discover my strengths and weaknesses. For students, it might involve developing passion projects, working summer jobs, or taking on internships.

Find Your Main Quest

Once you identify your main quest, become focused and obsessed with it. This is one of the hardest things to do. Choose quests that reveal your character and build your skills—like studying abroad or learning photography. Avoid quests that obscure your character or hinder skill development, such as experimenting with drugs or alcohol. The biggest mistake is following someone else’s quest line instead of creating your own. For example, parents pushing their kids into a specific school or career, or businesses convincing you to buy things you don't need. Recognizing and eliminating these distractions is key to finding your focus.

Set Boundaries

You can't work on other people’s quests, and they can’t work on yours. Learn to say no to tasks that don’t align with your main quest. I've missed countless birthday parties and nights out with friends because I needed to study for exams or work early the next morning. Learning to make these sacrifices early on is a skill that will lead to exponential benefits for YOUR future.

Success = Traits x Focus x Failure

As Mike Tyson said, "Not everyone who hurts you is an enemy, and not everyone who helps you is a friend."

That’s all for this month! The next time a challenging situation arises, try reframing it as a learning opportunity that will only make your character better suited to conquering YOUR quest. 🙂

I’ll see you on October 1st 🎃 
Deepak

Currently:

📖 : Reading | 👀: watching/listening | 🎵: song of the week | 📚️: Team Message

📖 : Multipliers:  by Liz Wiseman

👀 : The Twilight Zone - Prime Video

🎵 : Virus- Old Mobb Remix

📚️ : Ehm Academy: Feel free to reach out for lessons with our awesome team!