WAFT OR WILL?

February 9, 2016

One of the things that concerns me about the current era, is the serious aversion to hard work. I see far too many people use contentment as a mask for laziness. It’s far easy to waft along in life without any true application of will. In reality we need a bit of both and as with all things, it’s all about that balance.

Our medical profession has copped criticism for the ridiculous hours that many of us worked as part of hour training program. I am strongly supportive of safe working hours for patients and for doctors, however, one of the things that long hours trained me in was the ability to push through discomforts. There were days my body wanted to stay in bed, but I knew I had to be at the hospital at 6am. The nighttime phone calls that you just wanted to ignore, but we had to respond because someone’s life depended on it. And evenings when you got home form work and you wanted to relax with family, but you just had to hit the books and study for fellowship exams. That’s the endurance required to get through the training program.

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These days there is a better balance in Australia. However in The UK where I worked in 2007, the system had gone the other extreme. Trainee Doctors were instructed not work more than 38 hours. It was bordering on ridiculous. At 5pm they would “clock off” even if there was work to be done. The end result, was that they qualified as doctors and surgeons, but they were incredibly underdone in terms of training. Even some of the junior surgical consultants needed help with certain operations.

Everything in life has a price. There are no overnight success stories. That’s fairy tale stuff. Every success requires the application of will. This applies to career, material prosperity, health, and even spirituality and meditation. Therefore, learn to apply consistent willpower. Waft or will? It’s in your hands.

Be Well

In Health and Wellness