#67 – How to Thrive in Training

This is the first episode in a series that will focus on helping anesthesia residents thrive in training. This is designed for physician and nurse anesthesia trainees and will unpack crucial beta for helping you dial your game in during anesthesia training. In this first episode I discuss finding your why behind going to anesthesia school. Your why is what will propel you through the tough times in training and help you find the motivation to excel. Angela Duckworth is a psychologist and researcher who, in her bestselling book titled Grit – the power of passion and perseverance, says that grit is what separates those who succeed from those who fail when facing extreme challenge. Your why will help you develop the level of grit that you need to get through the challenges of anesthesia training.   Grit is what you have when your passion fuels a perseverance that propels you through obstacles to achieve your goals. Duckworth says there’s four components of developing grit: interested, practice, purpose and hope. Do you have an authentic interest in the work anesthesia providers do? Are you stoked about the field of anesthesia and have an accurate mental representation of what it’s actually about? You will need to develop deliberate practice in order to master the craft of anesthesia and become competent in the core skills/knowledge base. If you’re unwilling to do this, anesthesia training will quickly seem overwhelming and you probably won’t make it. But deliberate practice is the key to unlocking true skill development and expertise and will make the road ahead achievable. You must know your purpose – or your why – behind going to anesthesia school. This episode is all about finding that. It will be the reason you come back to when the road gets tough and you have to find the motivation to push through the challenges, set backs and hurdles that will inevitably come your way. And lastly, hope is what you will have in your back pocket when you believe that the journey is worth all the hard work you put in. Hope comes when you believe that the juice is worth the squeeze, that the payoff is worth the effort. Interest. Practice. Purpose. Hope. When you understand and foster each of these in your journey, you will develop a grittiness that will see you through the steepest of climbs and most difficult days. Stay tuned for the upcoming series where you’ll hear from CRNAs, professors and SRNAs alike on the following topics: developing a growth mindsetdialing in didacticscrushing clinicals developing time management avoiding landmines and overcoming set backsdealing with hardship in anesthesia trainingfinancial management preparing for and acing exams and boardstips for the job hunttransitioning to practice and through the first six months after training This series is an active work in progress so if there’s something you want to hear about, be sure to reach out and let me know!