1. Don’t Waste Time or Words

• Don’t spend more time on a task than you need.
• Don’t say more than you need.

Efficiency matters. Medicine trains you to process large amounts of information quickly. Save your energy for what’s important.

2. Conserve Your Resources

Ask yourself: Is this worth my time? Every decision has an opportunity cost. Time wasted on low-value tasks is time lost for studying, resting, or spending with loved ones.

3. Learn Context Shifting

Doctors move from patient to patient, each with a completely different story. Likewise, as a student, you need to switch quickly from one subject or case to another without dragging mental baggage with you. This flexibility is essential.

4. Invest in Time Savers

Spend money where it saves you time:

• A driver for long commutes.
• Someone to help at home.

Your most precious resource is time, not money. Give it to what truly matters — family, patients, and focused study.

5. Relationships Matter

Enjoy time with family and friends. It doesn’t come back. People watch you, respect you, and often copy your behavior. Use that influence to leave a positive mark. Avoid negativity. Be someone others can trust.

6. Stay Humble and Seek Meaning

Not everyone will recognize your effort, and that’s okay. Stay humble. Always ask yourself: What does this mean? Understanding meaning makes learning easier and deeper.

7. Live with Uncertainty

You will never have full certainty in medicine. Stress and resilience go hand in hand. The key is learning to prioritize:

• What needs to be done now?
• What can wait?

Example: if you had one patient with a hemorrhage and another with a papercut, you would act on the hemorrhage first — even if you couldn’t save them. Priorities matter more than perfection.

8. Find Time in the Margins

You don’t always get big study blocks. But a few minutes here and there can save you hours later. Waiting at the post office? Sitting in class before lecture starts? Use that time to review.

Final Thought

To be at the top of your class in medical school, you don’t need perfection. You need completion, recognition, and efficiency. Guard your time, stay humble, embrace uncertainty, and keep your priorities clear.

Excellence in medicine is less about doing everything and more about doing the right things well.