Anybody who knows me knows the high value which I place on hard work.  I am a firm believer that if you want something in life, you should never expect anybody to give it to you, and you should grind to get it.  Grind!  It’s such an excellent word isn’t it.  As a matter of fact, it’s one of my favorites.  When I’m invited to speak at various events, you’ll often hear me use it somewhere in my presentation.  There’s just something about that word that carries an immense amount of power.  But my question to you is, do you grind?  If so how?  Let me tell you how I G.R.I.N.D.

G stands Goals.  I set a lot of these and write them down so I can’t run away from them.  On this very laptop that I am writing this blog, I have a document of goals.  The first step in accomplishing something  is to have something to accomplish.  Set your goals, write them down, and tell a friend.  As a premed, a simple goal might be, get a GPA higher than the average medical school matriculant.  Or, get 20 shadowing hours this summer.

R stands for Resolve.  This is where the power of positive thinking comes in to play.  There is absolutely no point in setting goals if you don’t resolve to achieve them.  You must believe in yourself and commit to resilience.  You’ll get knocked down multiple times along the way, but once you resolved to make it happen, only you can choose to stop.

 I stands for Information.  We live in an age of information.  Never before have we had such ease of access to knowledge.  The old excuse, “I didn’t know” doesn’t work anymore.  Once you set your goal and resolve to accomplish it, you need to gather the necessary information to make it happen.  So you want to publish a research paper huh?  Well, do you know how to conduct the research?  Do you know what journal to submit your manuscript to?  Get the knowledge.

N stands for Network.  Nothing great happens without a team effort.  Michael Jordan didn’t win a championship, the Chicago Bulls organization did.  Show me your five best friends and I’ll tell you how successful you’ll be.  To accomplish your goals, you must have people in your network you can help you along the journey.  You want to be a doctor?  Are you surrounded by doctors, or future doctors?  You’ll only go as far as your network takes you.

D stands for Discipline.   Goals, Resolve, Information, and Network…none of these mean a thing if you aren’t disciplined enough to do what you are supposed to do.  Premedical students often ask me how they can know if they are smart enough to become a doctor.  My response is typically, “That’s the wrong question to ask.”  Most of us are smart enough, the real question is, are you disciplined enough.  The greatest in life are the most disciplined.

This is how I G.R.I.N.D.  everyday.  It is my basic approach to success which I am now sharing with you and pray you implement in your life.  I’ve chatted with enough of the PreMed StAR students to understand your doubts and frustrations about the premedical journey.  It’s a tough road and can get really ugly along the way.  But just know that you’ve got a strong network of future doctors alongside you.  Support one another.  Share resources, ask questions, and do it together.  Through this Premed G.R.I.N.D., you’ll become a better person and in the end, there’ll be a white coat with your name on it.

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