How Bad Do You Want It?

This was a post I wrote over about 5-6 months ago but never posted. I added a couple of thoughts to the end of the piece.

I was watching this video of a motivational speaker, Eric Thomas, and he tells the story of this young man that wanted to make a lot of money, or be successful, and went to a guru for help. The guru agrees and asks the young man to meet him at the beach at 4am. The guru walks the young man out in the water waist deep and then continues to walk farther and farther. The young man thought the guru was crazy but played along. When they were deep enough, the guru grabbed the young man’s head and held him underwater. Just as the young man was about to pass out, the guru lifts the young man’s head up and asks him “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful.” He then draws analogies between an asthmatic having an asthma attack wanting to breathe—does not care about parties, TV, or anything but air. Eric Thomas declares that when “most of say we want to be successful, but you don’t want it bad. You just kinda want it. You don’t want it badder than you want to party; You don’t want it as much as you want to be cool.”

As a pre-med student, I think this is extremely applicable. There are some that want it as bad as they want to breathe. And there are those who kind of want it. Those who ‘kind of want it’ are the people in it for the money, the prestige, their parents, or because they didn’t know what else to be. (I am not saying solely going into medicine because of passion—money is an important consideration.) The point is that these are the people that do not have their whole heart set in and be willing to do what is necessary to achieve the end point. As Eric Thomas said in his story, these people are not willing to give up partying or drinking—short term considerations—for their long term goal of being a doctor. They don’t really want it. They kinda want it. Some are smart enough that their kind-of-want-it attitude will suffice, but for others, it does not. And a portion of those that don’t make it, don’t have backup plans and are left few options that they like after graduation (another post, another time).

“Wait, cdl, what you are suggesting is that we all be gunners.” No, I am not. Gunners are those sabotage others or refuse to help others because it may hurt their position in the class. What I am saying is that if you truly deeply want to be a doctor, you would willing to give up a portion of the “college experience,” to study, volunteer, or whatever to have good enough extracurriculars, GPA, and MCAT to gain acceptance into medical school. “Wait, cdl, you are saying we can’t have a life as pre-medical student.” Maybe, it depends on how much the “college experience” is worth to you and how much you are willing to trade for success. For most people, pre-med track requires a bit more studying than the average major, but a social life still strong. For the select few, parties every night and all nighter before the exam will suffice. Life sucks but life isn’t fair. For others, being a doctor isn’t worth sacrificing a couple of hours every week, and that is okay because it differs from person to person how much success is worth to them. Just don’t complain if you don’t want to put in the time because in the end, it is all about how bad do you want it.

There will inevitably be people who simply cannot hack it in the pre-medical track. No matter how much they study, they cannot pull off the A’s or B’s in the necessary classes. Before you are quick to put yourself in that group, these people are far and fewer than you may assume. Those who study for hours and still do not pull off the necessary grades are probably studying the inefficiently or the wrong way. For those who truly cannot cut it, there are other options just as appealing. To have the wisdom to know when to change and when to persist is up to you.