Creating One's Own Luck

I’ve been inspired to write this blog piece after seeing the wonderful Prezi presentation constructed by Dr Marni Basto on Urology Social Media 101.  It really is a fantastic presentation that has gone viral throughout the international urological community.  Although she is yet to commence formal urological training (she deferred commencement by a year to work on her Masters of Surgery), she now has an international reputation for her skill and understanding in the area of social media and associated technology.  When you look at her presentation, it is obvious that she is an individual who has great clarity of thought and able to develop depth of understanding of a given topic – these types of skills are easily translated to any area of medicine.  One can only sense that she has a bright future ahead of her. 

I’ll now move onto what her Prezi has got me thinking about.  Over the years, I have observed a number of young urologists returning to Australia after completing post FRACS (surgical qualification) training.  I commonly see this expression of despair that they cannot find a coveted public teaching hospital position, which is always the best way to kick-start a new practice in surgery.  Here you have access to multidisciplinary care, senior collegial mentorship, teaching of surgical trainees and medical students as well as research opportunities.  These positions are in limited supply and only come about when they are to replace a surgeon who has either resigned or retired or if the waters have parted to create a new position. 

Some of these young surgeons feel a sense of entitlement that they should be able to just walk into such a position.  I recall one surgeon who complained that he was a subspecialized surgeon who had done his special post fellowship training and could not understand why no teaching hospital was making any particular effort to find space for him within their units.  Another said to me that he was technically a much better surgeon than some others who had received teaching hospital appointments. When I thought about their achievements, they had not made a single presentation at a major urological meeting, had not published a single paper whilst away and since returning home, had contributed little to the profession (eg could do volunteer work or perform committee work with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons or Urological Society of Australian and New Zealand).   

And here lies the point that people can create their own luck.  I can usually make a prediction before one of our trainees goes overseas or interstate for post FRACS training, as to who will literally walk back into a teaching hospital position. When I look at trainees who have done research with me, the ones who reliably kept to deadlines and completed their assignments were the same who did such when abroad and the same ones who eventually found positions in teaching hospitals.  These were individuals prepared to go the extra mile and create their own luck.  The trainees where I had to repeatedly provide gentle reminders to complete tasks to help their own careers have more often struggled.   The ability to create luck had already been defined early in their careers.

Back to Marni.  She has already passed the hurdles to be selected for urological training and is yet to commence whilst she does her Masters of Surgery.  You know that Marni has already begun to create her own luck and I am excited that we will have a future urologist who will be more than just ordinary.