Photo by ÁLVARO MENDOZA on Unsplash

Table of Contents

1. Preface

2. Main Article

3. Readers’ Favorite

4. Stuff

Preface

📜 Manuscript alert!

Our latest review was published last week. We dove into the exciting world of immunogenic radiation ⚡💉.

In simple terms, we review how radiotherapy can boost the immune response against head and neck cancer. You can check it out by clicking here.

✈️ On a more personal note, I took a spontaneous trip to Israel last week to visit my family. This wasn't a preplanned visit, so it involved finding a last-minute flight, but luckily, it was easy to find and not too expensive.

🇺🇸 Coming back to Boston felt different. It was like coming home, and my time in Israel felt like just a short trip. It's not that Boston feels more like home, but everything seems turned around. Weird.

Anyway, because of that visit, and after spending 10 straight months writing this newsletter, I took a short break and didn't publish last Friday.

💪But today, we're back in business!

Today I will share the three actions I take immediately after failing.

Enjoy number 47!

Main Article

😳 Failure. Such a heavy word.

It's packed with self-doubt, disappointment, and often embarrassment.

We all fail. But the real difference between people isn't the failure itself. It's what they do RIGHT AFTER they fail.

This can shape a joyful life or a life full of regret.

It took me 25 years to understand, and now I share it in this short 5-minute read.

Storytime!

It's 2006, and I'm a second-year dental student 🦷.

🤔Hard study and top grades weren't a priority of mine. But then came the failures.

The first failure was neuroanatomy. 64. 😨

The second blow was embryology. 63. 😱

Histology was the final dagger. 62. 😵

😱And to my horror, I was among the few who failed in my class.

How did I know? Well, back then, the secretary used to hang a list of grades on the wall 🗒️. So, I had the privilege (or curse) of seeing my classmates’ grades.

I ranked really low 😢.

And the worst part? I had to wait five months before I could retake those tests. Five months of feeling like a failure 😔.

Every single day, I watched my classmates and wondered how smart they were 🧠 and how stupid I was 🙃.

In retrospect, this is the worst thing I could have done after failing. I spent my time wallowing in self-pity.

Determined not to repeat these failures, I threw myself into my studies.

And the outcome?

Obscenely high grades!

96 in neuroanatomy, 97 in histology, and 98 in embryology.

In hindsight, I could have studied less and achieved the same results. But at the time, I was driven by a need to prove my worth to myself and society.

Oh, naive young Shay 🐣.

So what have I learned?

💡Coping with failure should never push me to extremes.

I shouldn't have wasted time and energy on self-pity, nor should I have devoted so much time to studying for the makeup tests.

It took me years to find the right balance, and today, I'll share my secrets with you.

Rather than stating the obvious on how failure is a part of life, I will focus on the 3 actions I take whenever I fail.

So without further ado, here are:

The Three Actions I Take After Failing

1️⃣Acknowledge that I'm in a better position than when I started.

That's a crucial first step! 🔑

No matter how crappy you feel ☹️, you must identify the lessons learned from your failures.

If none come to mind, remember that your starting point after failure is always better than when you first began.

For example, if you score 55% on an exam, you start again from 55, not 0.

And remember - with each failure, you gain more experience. Ironically, after enough failures, you're considered an expert!

2️⃣Change my approach.

If I failed, it meant I did something wrong.

Some may disagree with this viewpoint, attributing their failures to fate or external factors. This might be a helpful mindset for some, but not for me.

If I attribute my failure to luck, it implies that I've learned nothing and plan to change nothing.

That doesn't work for me.

🏡Take home message:

Don't attribute your failures to something external. Assume responsibility and make a change.

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
— Thomas A. Edison

3️⃣Get back in the saddle IMMEDIATELY 🏇.

I find this the MOST CRITICAL step and also the easiest to implement.

It could be polishing up your CV after a job interview rejection, answering a few practice questions for an exam you didn't pass (I started to study again for the USMLE a few hours after failing it), or reading through a rejection letter for a manuscript you submitted.

Taking such action shifts your mindset from dwelling on the failure 😣 to initiating action.

When you're engaged in action, you have less time to ruminate on your failures.

🏡Take home message:

Take immediate action. It doesn't really matter what the action is.

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."
— Winston Churchill

Readers’ Favorite

How do I find time for everything I do?

And for all of you who continue to ask me how I find time to write this newsletter 😀:

Check out my secrets for time management and productivity by clicking here.

Stuff

💡Gear my kids use - Nintendo Switch.

Having no television set at home, buying a Nintendo Switch for our kids wasn't easy. Don't get me wrong - our kids get their share of cartoons on weekend mornings. But we have them do so on an iPad and a laptop, deliberately making their TV experience less comfortable.

But in the spirit of summer vacation, we cut them some slack and ordered the Nintendo Switch.

This is by far my favorite gaming console for kids. Plus, the cherry on top? The parental control application on our phones allows us to monitor EVERYTHING they do with it.

Epilogue

That's it for this issue.

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Have a great weekend!

Shay