Key Lessons from 2019 to Bring into 2020:

1. Meaningful relationships with family and friends can add so much joy to your life. As a busy physician I can sometimes forget how important a personal life is to our overall well-being. Having close friends outside of work to socialize with or plan fun weekend activities makes my life so much more enjoyable. Having family around to relieve stress and keep me grounded helps me remain focused on what’s most important. With close personal relationships, I find myself happier at work, even in the most trying of times. I’m more positive, more optimistic, and even have increase job satisfaction. In 2020 I will continue to prioritize personal relationships.

2. Happiness is a choice—positivity, in the most trying situations, can improve your mental health. Many of us chose to work in health care to help heal various illnesses and provide people with second chances through medicine.  Despite our altruistic motives, there are some parts of our job that can steal our joy. From ever increasing administrative work, patients expressing frustration over costs/wait times that are often times beyond our control, to rising pressure to compromise quality patient care in lieu of “efficiency,” work can seem less enjoyable. Despite these challenges, I’ve learned that happiness is a choice. Positivity, even in the most trying situation can improve our mental health. Finding the silver lining, even when it seems to be hiding, can alter our mood and outlook for the rest of the day. There are many reasons to feel frustrated or upset but choosing happiness and positivity makes things so much better.

3. Finding ways to relieve stress is necessary to prevent burnout. Although happiness is a choice, finding ways to relieve stress is integral. As a resident doctor who works crazy hours with high expectations, work can be stressful. In order to have longevity in my career and actually wake up each day excited for what it may bring, I have to relieve stress. For me, that means going to a hip-hop spin class, having brunch with my girlfriends, enjoying a football game with my brothers, or sometimes just relaxing at home with a piece of chocolate and a savory glass of red wine. Whichever the method, it’s important to have reliable ways to relieve stress.

4. Financial stress can be avoided by using a budget and sticking to a spending/saving plan. Learning about personal finance is integral to our future. It’s so easy to live the lavish doctor lifestyle with a large house, expensive car, and limitless luxury purchases largely paid for with debt and credit cards, but those decisions can put us into a perilous situation down the line. As a grad student, I made some horrible financial decisions (buying things I didn’t need on credit cards, moving to a city I couldn’t afford, and living above my means when I finally did start making decent money). Trust me, it is taking a lot of effort to right these wrongs now. Instead of investing as much as I want for retirement or putting more money into a high-yield savings account, I spent a good chunk of each check paying off credit card debt I racked up in my early 20s. Now that I’ve nearly paid it all off, I’ve vowed to be better in 2020. Having to correct previous mistakes is always more costly than we think. Learning to stick to a budget, live below my means, and follow a set financial plan is a never-ending exercise in self-discipline that has set me on a clear path to financial independence in the coming years

5. Writing down goals and creating accountability can help you achieve more overall. I learned a while ago that a goal without a timeline is just a dream and a goal without a plan is just a wish.  In order to make sure I achieved my goals, I decided to write down them down along with some concrete objectives and action steps. Doing so has helped me create accountability and drastically increased my chance of success. I definitely plan to continue this practice in 2020. If I truly want to go higher, achieve more, and have continued success then I need to be constantly striving for more and putting safeguards in place to remind me of my goals and motivate me on the journey. Writing down my goals and placing them on my bathroom mirror forces me to look at them each morning and be reminded of the bigger picture.

6. The people you surround yourself with have a major influence on your life choices, decisions, and accomplishments. The people we surround ourselves with, listen to, and speak with have a major influence on our life. We begin to think about what we constantly hear and we begin to believe what we are repetitively told. When I started interacting with friends who were very religious, I too gained more zeal and faith. When I started meeting up with young professionals were business-minded with multiple side hustles I too began to think of ways to create additional revenue streams. When I conversed with doctors in the hospital who were positive despite the challenges, I too became more optimistic about my job. In 2020 lets think about who we want to become and surround ourselves with more people that embody those traits.

What are some key lessons you learned in 2019, that you are bringing into 2020?

Before you head into the new year, REFLECT

One of the best things we can do as we head into the new year is review and re-evaluate. 2020 is the start of a new decade if we want this one to be better than the last one, we must take some time out of our busy schedules to reflect. As we contemplate things that occurred in 2019 and prep for the new year, here are 4 key areas we should examine:

Look at things done well. When it comes to your career, your finances, and your personal life what are some things you feel you did well in 2019? For me, that could include a variety of things. In terms of my career, I interviewed at many amazing hospitals and accepted a job at my top choice in Atlanta. I learned quite a bit during my first 6 months as a physician and have done well on various tests and evaluations. In terms of my finances, there are many things I am proud of as well. I started living in an affordable apartment and paid off a significant amount of debt. I also created a monthly budget that allowed me to give money away to others, save for retirement, and teach me to live below my means. In terms of my personal life there are few things I’m proud of as well. I finally moved to the same city as my family and have cultivated some amazing friendships. What about you? What are some things you feel went well in2019?

Look at things that could have been done better. Although it’s nice to think back on our accomplishments, in order for us to keep progressing we must also reflect on our shortcomings. We must take a look at things that could have gone a bit better and determine where we can make improvements in the new year. For me, that includes several areas of my life. In my career, I’m happy I started working as a physician, but I need to do a better job continuing to learn new information by reading updated journals more frequently and researching the medical management of specific diagnoses more consistently. In terms of my finances, I need to do a better job tracking my spending. I have a general spending plan, but there are certain areas in my budget, mainly food and restaurant spending, that I could cut back on if I tracked it better. I also need to build up a larger emergency fund. What are some things you’d like to be better in your life in 2020?

Determine what you’d like to achieve this year. We should each have a few goals for 2020 in various areas of our lives. My 2020 goals in my career are to take and pass the last of a 3-part series of national board exams. I’d also like to publish and present research at a national conference, begin a quality-improvement project within my family medicine clinic, and be the team doctor for more athletic events. Within my finances, I’d like to pay off all credit card debt from my graduate school days, save and invest even more money toward retirement, continue to give to charities, and pay for a couple international vacations in cash. In my personal life, I’d like to prioritize more time with my family and continue to cultivate friendships with even more people who push me to be a better version of myself. What are some things you’d like to accomplish in your career, finances, and personal life this year?

Determine the actions, steps, or commitments you need to make to ensure this year is better than the last. In order to achieve the goals we set out in the previous step there are different action steps and character traits we must adopt in order to turn those dreams into a reality. For example, if I want to do well on my board exam, present research, and start a quality improvement project I need to stay organized and create deadlines to finish certain parts of my research. If I want to pay down the remaining credit card debt and save more for retirement, I must make sure I have some automatic payments coming out from my bank account and increase the percentage of my check that goes towards index mutual funds. If I’d like to make more time for the people I love, then I need to prioritize time each day that is free from other commitments. No meetings, no emails, no work projects, or blog writing, and instead having at least an hour each day of personal time. Tell me, what action steps and commitments are willing to make to ensure that you meet your goals for 2020?