Name: FAILURE as a Student (& What to Do Next)
Uploaded: 2020-04-28T01:59:01.000Z
Duration: 9 min 28 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

In your path to becoming a future doctor, one thing is for certain.

You will face the disappointment of failure on more than one occasion.

Adverbs of manner

Whether that's performing poorly in a class, bombing your MCAT, or not getting accepted

to medical school the first time, you're not alone.

For those of you who are subscribed to this channel and voted in the recent poll, this

You voted for this video, and here it is.

Our parents, friends, and even role models and celebrities have also faced failure.

If you're confronting failure right now, know that there is hope, and it does get better,

And if you are not in the middle of a failure right now, keep these 7 steps in mind the

next time you or someone you care about is faced with failure.

The first step is acceptance — and no, we're not about to dive into the Kubler Ross 5 stages

Without first accepting the facts, you're in no position to begin building yourself

Think of acceptance as the foundation upon which everything builds from.

Sometimes it means allowing your emotions to run their course.

I'm not saying take 6 months to be upset about getting rejected from medical school,

but I am saying that taking a few days, or even a few weeks, to sit with the facts and

allow your emotions to cool off is not a bad idea.

While you're ruminating on what happened, it's important to follow step number two.

Step two requires you to practice nuance in your self talk and the story you tell yourself

To be successful in rebounding from failure, it's imperative that you do not confuse

identity with occurrence, meaning you do not confuse failing with being a failure.

Failing is something that happened, being a failure is taking on an identity.

And identities are incredibly powerful, so pick them wisely.

As Mark Manson writes in his recent book,

“Your identity will stay your identity until a new experience acts against it … When

you adopt these little narratives as your identity, you protect them and react emotionally

to them as though they were an inherent part of you.”

Just because you got a D in organic chemistry does't mean you're stupid and not good

It just means your performance in a challenging science class was subpar, and that you likely

weren't utilizing the proper study or test taking strategies.

And just because someone else got an A in the same class doesn't make them better

We all simply have different strengths and weaknesses, and what they find easy, you may

find difficult, and what you find easy, they may find difficult.

Failure should never be a part of your identity, but rather should be viewed as a necessary

“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.

On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed.

I have failed over and over and over again in my life.

Third, during your period of reflection and acceptance, it's important to reach out

This can be friends, family, and mentors.

This step is often overlooked by macho men wanting to tell themselves that they don't

need help — but isolation during a time of need can drastically worsen the outcome.

Talk things through, but on the other hand, don't use other people as a crutch to avoid

having to deal with your own emotions and the realities of what happened.

When reaching out for support, the aim is to help you accept the circumstances, understand

failing doesn't make you a failure, and get you in the proper mindset to take the

After completing the first three steps, we've laid a foundation upon which we can build

Step four is to get back in touch with your why, the greater purpose and larger vision

Why are you going to college, why are you studying this particular degree?

Why do you want to go to medical school and become a doctor?

If your “why” isn't bigger than yourself, it's less likely to endure the inevitable

My “why” was twofold: first, after experiencing the challenges of battling Crohn's colitis,

I was inspired to help children and adolescents with digestive issues.

Second, I chose to believe that getting ill at the pivotal time when I was deciding on

computer science versus medicine was part of a greater story to inspire me to pursue

I am not religious and don't believe in the supernatural — I simply chose to believe

The alternative would be to tell myself that I was super unlucky, life isn't fair, and

I'm doomed to always be at a disadvantage compared to my healthy peers.

You could argue the validity of either narrative, but you, and you alone, are completely in

control of deciding which one to believe.

Any time I was faced with something particularly challenging, I revisited my “why”.

Any time doubt entered my head, either through me second guessing myself or someone else

being doubtful of me, my inner dialogue was always “watch me.”

Driven by my why, I was empowered to take on an identity of being able to do things

not in spite of, but because of my illness.

My weakness was turned into strength, and I became far more effective rather than less.

Many students, in particular due to their young age, are impressionable and exhibit

Our fear of failure is often times rooted in a fear of being judged, ostracized, or

being an outsider to your peers or friend groups.

Once you find your “why”, you'll be able to break free from this limiting mindset.

You don't need approval from others — you only need approval from yourself with the

belief that you are doing the right thing.

Step five, it's time to revisit our systems and improve them to avoid repeating the same

Remember, how we frame our perspectives and stories is critical.

Starting off with calling your systems doomed or a lost causes isn't going to bring you

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FAILURE as a Student (& What to Do Next)

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