7 Powerful Thoughts That Have Made Me Who I Am

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Hi, docs. Welcome to the Entre MD podcast where it is all about helping amazing physicians just like you. Embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and and practice medicine on your terms. I'm your host, Dr. Una. Well, hello everybody. Welcome to another episode of the On Tremity podcast. This is going to be one of the most powerful episodes you have ever listened to. And the reason why I say that is because it is completely off schedule. So if you don't know this, one of my favorite things to do is to walk. And I don't necessarily walk for exercise. I walk because. Because it's so relaxing and it's my time to think. It's my time to kind of declutter my mind and capture thoughts and stuff like that. So today I took a walk and I started thinking. I tracked back all the way to high school. Like, what are the most powerful lessons I have learned? What are the things that have molded me into the person I've become? And believe it or not, I came up with seven powerful lessons. So we're talking from high school all the way to today. And I got back into the house after about an hour. That's typically how long I'll walk for. And I'm like, you know what? I want to share this with my community. I want to share this with the Entre MD community and say, listen, these are the things that I've learned This is the behind the scenes of my life. I want to share that with you. Little vulnerable, if you will, but so transformational. And so I want you to kick back and I just want you to relax and learn from this and take lessons from it and maybe see yourself in some of the stories and. And we'll just see where it goes. Okay? So the very first lesson I learned was in high school, all right? And in high school, I got into high school a little earlier, so I was one of the youngest in my class. And I had the option of taking an exam that will be equivalent to maybe the GED here, because high school, we're talking. I was still in Nigeria at the time. And an entrance exam for college, we don't do anything like that in the U.S. but it's called jam, and it's, you know, it's an entrance exam you have to take to pass. And I had the opportunity of taking it a year before the rest of my classmates would. And I had this little thought that I might be able to pull it off. Did I know I'd pull it off? No. Was I scared spitless? Yes. But there's just this nagging thing, like, I might. It's the same way, maybe as an entrepreneur, you're thinking, you're like, I may be able to start that business. I may be able to scale it. I may be able to hit my first hundred thousand or first half a million or first million or first multiple million. I may. And I took the exam. I registered for the exams. I studied like crazy for the exams. And at the end of the day, I won't say I rocked it right? But I did very well. I did very well, and it was enough to get me into medical school. Now, again, I was in Nigeria at the time, and we use the European system. So you literally go from high school to medical school. Okay, so there's no pre med, none of that. So at the age of 16, I found myself in medical school. I literally turned 17 in medical school. And if you think about it, you're like, wow, that's amazing. I think about it, I'm like, wow, that's amazing. But where did all that start from? What made it possible for me to do that? It was one thing. I said, yes. I wasn't sure of the outcome. I was scared spitless, but I was willing to bet on myself. So the first lesson is, say yes when you have a dream pulling at you. Say yes when you have something that looks challenging in front of you, but you kind of sort of think you can do it. Say yes. And I said yes to that. And I said yes to so many things after that. But saying yes, even in the face of fear, is one of the great lessons I've learned and one of the ones that served me well. So that's number one. Now. So I get into med school. So I'm 16, okay? So I was one of the youngest. And I didn't feel like I was as smart as the others, of course. I mean, these are people who, you know, finished high school when they should have. They had time to invest, to study for the exams, to do all this stuff. I felt like they're the people who deserve to be there. I was kind of sort of there, right? So imposter syndrome at its finest. And I was like, you're not supposed to be here. And what it made me do was it made me not give my best effort, right? Because what am I trying to do? What am I trying to do? Get straight A's. Like, what am I trying to do? I don't deserve to be here. These other people, these are the people that are supposed to be here. And so because of that, I held back. I kind of studied. I studied enough so I wouldn't fail, right? I studied enough to make it seem like I tried, right? And to my shock, at the end of the semester, I have, like, B's. And I think I had one or two A's, right? But mostly B's. And I had this aha moment. I was like, wait a minute. If I'm kind of sort of studying and I have these grades, if I threw my whole self at it, what could happen? What could happen? It took me a whole semester to figure this out. But it taught me a lesson that I'll never forget, and that's this. In the face of fear, don't quit. Because I started thinking about it. I was like, what if I'm like, dudette, you're 16 years old. What are you doing here? Like, who's a medical student? 16? What are you doing? What if I thought that because I didn't have the mindset of, I deserve to be here, I can do this. I'm super smart. Look at me here. I'm 60. No. I felt like a fraud. But even with that feeling, I didn't stop. I didn't quit. Maybe I didn't do as much as I could have, but I did a lot. I didn't quit because the question is, if I quit, I wouldn't have come to the realization that maybe I could pull this Off, I wouldn't have come to the realization, maybe, you know, if I put in a little more, maybe I could be like the other people. Maybe I am the other people. I wouldn't have come to that realization. One of the most dangerous things you can do is quit on your dreams. Don't do it. Don't quit. Maybe you're not going as fast as other people. Don't quit. Maybe your business doesn't look like someone else's business. Don't quit. Maybe you're not getting the kind of revenue other people are getting. Don't quit. Maybe your website is not as cute. Don't quit. Maybe you don't understand the concepts as much as they do. Don't quit. Don't quit. If you stay in motion, if you stay in action, you'll keep hitting aha. Moments that let you know you can do this. Okay, that's the second lesson, all right? And then we go through med school. Now, I have to tell you about the European model, okay? In the US when you get into med school, if you do what you're supposed to, chances are you will graduate from med school. Okay? The European model is like, wait a minute. Everybody can't get in med school. So this is what we're going to do. We're going to give as many people as possible the opportunity to get into med school, and then it will be survival of the fittest. I kid you not. So in my class, we're about 420, 420 students that got in. It was about 108 or 112 that graduated. I need you to think about that. So having an A is not enough. Being smart is not enough. You have to be the top 112 who would make it. It's literally survival of the fittest. So I need you to understand the kind of mind games that go on there, right? Like, when it's time to take exams, time to take tests. It's awful. Awful. And somewhere in my final year in med school was when I became a person of faith. Now, the lesson, one of the many lessons I learned is every thought that goes through my mind is not my thought. And I don't have to think everything that comes to my mind. So I need you to think about this, like, literally during exams, even though I have a history of passing my exams, right, I still have these thoughts, you know? You guys know I call my inner critic Vicki, right? So here comes Vicki. She's like, oh, my gosh, after all this time in medical school, you're finally going to fail this exam, and you're going to fail out of medical school. It would have all been for nothing. You're not going to pass this exam. You don't have it. What it takes. Those are. The people are smarter than you. Da da da. She was brutal and relentless. And I started realizing, because now I can say, Vicki, my inner critic, I thought those are all my thoughts. I. I thought I was thinking the truth. I thought these were facts that could not be changed. And I started realizing every thought is like an invitation to treat. Like what you think about me, what you think about me. And I started choosing my thoughts on purpose. I didn't have to think everything that came to my mind. Now, in your business, you may be thinking, oh, I don't have a website like that person. I'm not good at sales like that person. I can't speak like that person. I can't do videos like that person. Da da da da. And all day, and it leads you to nothing but paralysis. I learned I can choose what I want to think. I can choose to believe that it's working. I can choose to believe that my voice matters. I can choose to believe that my ideal clients are actively looking for me. They're just waiting for me to show up. I can choose to believe that I don't do overwhelm. I can choose what I believe. And I started choosing now, as a person of faith, I had. This is literally what I did. Okay? My final exam in med school is called the final mba and brutal. Brutal. I mean, like, imagine working that hard for that long and you don't make it. It's insane. Such an insane model. But anyway, I literally have my book, my medical book on one side, I have my Bible on the other side. And I'm studying and studying, and maybe I do a practice test. And in the course of doing the practice test, I get a number wrong, a few of them wrong. And here comes Vicki. Oh, my gosh, look at what you did. Look at the questions. You failed. And because you failed those, you're going to fail your exam. You're going to fail out of like, oh, my goodness. I literally push my books to the side and slide my Bible in front of me. I kid you not, okay? And just hear me out. You don't have to be a person of faith, but I want you to get the concept. And I had a list, right? I had a list of the scriptures I focused on. And you're the head and not the tail. You're above only and not beneath everything you lay your hands to do prosper. And I read about Daniel where it says, and God gave him an unusual ability to learn, and he was found to be 10 times smarter than all his peers. And I'm like, God has no. No favorite. So if you could do it for Daniel, he'll do it for me. And I do all of that to get my mind to a place where like, yeah, we got it. And then slide the Bible away and push my books back and then get back into. Into work. And I kid you not, this is what I did. But what it did was it gave me a level of mental toughness that even though Vicki shows up and Vicki is relentless, I'm like, I got this. I can do this. I knew how to fight the battle in my mind, right? So you're here, and you think all those negative things about your business. You can literally choose what you think you can choose. You must not think every thought that comes into your mind. So that was the third lesson. Really powerful lesson. Okay? Now after all of this stuff, you can guess it. I passed all my exams and I became a doctor. And it was so exciting. It was so amazing. It's like, oh, my gosh, look what you did. And then I was like, I'm moving back to the US because, you know, I was born in California, and my dad wanted us to have the culture, right? So he wanted us to grow up in Nigeria. So we moved back when I was about six. I didn't come back till after medical school. And I was thoroughly not impressed by his thoughts at the time. Right? He went to med school. He went to UCLA for med school. And I'm like, who goes to UCLA and sends their kids to the University of Nigeria? But, you know, it was a great experience, and it's my story, and it makes me who I am. And I don't have any school loans, so I guess I can't complain. I think it was a brilliant decision in hindsight. But now I need you to think about it. I need to think about how difficult this time was. Okay? So I'd learned to say yes. So I knew it was going to be challenging, but I said yes. Right? But we're talking of, I didn't have any family that I could come stay with. And we're talking 2004, 2003, 2004. So there's no Facebook. Like, now we literally live in a global village. It wasn't like that, right? So I didn't know anybody. I knew nobody. And I met, you know, my uncle is like, hey, I have this friend who lives in New Jersey, who I called my uncle. And you should know Nigerians, when we say somebody is your uncle, it means you're from the same country. Literally. That's it. But amazing family. And so I moved to. I moved to New Jersey. I stayed with them for the first year, a year and a half or so. And they. I mean, they were. They were. They were so amazing. Just like family. But I need you to think of the move, okay? So I moved from a place where on a cold day is probably 69 degrees to New Jersey with 15 inches of snow. And I moved in October, and I moved from a place where there's tropical medicine to what we practice here. So I was an expert at malaria and typhoid and bacterial meningitis and all of these things. Malnutrition, Bruckitt's lymphoma, those things. And now I had to come learn a whole brand new different kind of thing. I'd been in a hospital where maybe there were two ventilators, and now I have to be on call and manage a 70 bed NICU. It's like, what? It was such a big, big, big, big change. But I learned to say yes. So I said yes. I learned not to quit. So I didn't quit. I learned that every thought is not my thought and I don't have to think it. So I started choosing what I would think about it. But it was difficult. But I got here October 5, 2004, and within four months, I had a contract in hand to get into residency. It was the most amazing, miraculous thing ever. And the lesson I learned from that is fear and difficulty don't mean stop. Times may look difficult, it may be challenging. Maybe in your business right now, it's challenging. Doesn't mean stop. It doesn't mean stop. It means go through it. Now, you may need help, you may need counsel, you might need to work with a coach, whichever, but you got it. Fear and difficulty don't mean stop. Okay? Don't mean stop. So that's the. That's the fourth lesson I learned. So we get into residency, right? And I don't know about you listening, but I didn't know how to do any of these things, okay? So maybe I knew how to put in IVs, but I didn't know how to do spinal taps. I didn't know how to intubate preemie Bates. I didn't know how to manage events. I didn't know how to do any of that stuff. But the beautiful thing about residency, I think if we Apply the process of learning, the process of acquiring skills, from residency and med school to business. We would be geniuses. Okay? So they will take you. They're not concerned about the fact that you don't know how to do any of these things. They just throw you to the wolves. Like, watch one, right? And do one with someone watching you, and then do one on your own. You're good, right? So nobody let you say, oh, my imposter syndrome is stopping me. No, you will do it. You will do it. And, you know, so I started off not knowing any of those things, and by second year, I was like, confident enough to teach other people. I'm like, third year, I'm like, I can do this stuff in my sleep. I remember, oh, this is so funny. I need to tell you. I remember being on call. I was a third year resident at the time. And this said 70 bed NICU. And there was a 590 gram baby, itty bitty itty baby baby. And I hear extubation, room one. And I knew that baby was in room one. I'm like, gosh, I hope it's not that baby, right? So get to room one. Of course it was that baby baby that extubated. So I walk up to the bed to go intubate this baby, and the nurse in charge of the baby lifts her head over me and she's like, can somebody get me a real doctor? I was like, geez Louise, woman, I'm right here, right? And, you know, so I look at her, I look away, and I think, at this point, I'd learned when people do stuff like that is their issue, it's not really me. So, you know, I'll just be great. And then, so I intubate the kid, get it in one try. Respiratory therapist confirms it, it's in place. And then she looks at me and she's like, thank you so much, doctor. The same nurse. No harm, no foul. I'm like, you know, that's your issue, not mine. I had become the person who could intubate a 590 grammar on one try. Why? Because of lesson number five. And lesson number five is sucking at something is not bad. Like, the fact that you suck at something is not bad. That is the path to becoming a genius, right? The reason why I could do that is because for two and a half years, I was willing to suck at intubating and do it time after time after time after time. So listen, if you suck at something right now, like you say, oh, I do videos and they suck. I do Facebook lives and they suck. I try to sell and it sucks. You know, I try to figure out profit and loss statements and I suck at it. If you think like my message, I've been working on my message and I suck at it. If you're willing to suck at something long enough, you can become a genius at it. Okay? And I've applied this to everything. When I started speaking, I. I sucked at it. When I started doing videos, I sucked at it. When I started as an entrepreneur and I had to sell, I royally sucked at that. But the more I'm willing to put myself out there and suck and suck and suck, the better I become, the better I become. And people see me now, they're like, oh, you're a natural. I'm like, at what? So when people say, you're a natural, I'm like, natural at what? Not natural at all. I was just willing to suck at it long enough and because of that, I seem good at it. Okay? So that was lesson number five. So if you suck at something, just throw yourself at it. Keep learning, keep putting yourself out there, keep being willing to suck, and finally you'll become great at it. All right? So then we go through residency and I enjoyed it. I mean, I'll never do it again, but I enjoyed it. And finally I graduate. Wow. 2008, still remember, great. I graduate. I had interviewed at a practice in Georgia and I was coming to start my real big girl job and get paid six figures. I mean, like what? And so I moved my family. It was me, my husband and my daughter who was six months old at the time. And we moved to Georgia. I remember my first day at work. I go in, nobody to present to, right? And I go in, I see this kid, can't remember what he had, but something simple. And I prescribed my first prescription. Not monitored. And the box stops with me. Saw the kid, walked out the room and I was confused by the feeling. I felt, I was expecting to be excited, like I did it, like, I'm here, like I've arrived. But it was so anti climatic. It was like disappointing. And I started anal. I'm like, why do I feel like this? And the reason why I felt like that is because I was like, so wait a minute, this is what I'm going to do from now to whenever I retire. Like, this is it, I'm done, I've arrived. And it was disappointing. It was so disappointing. Why? Because of the next lesson. And that lesson is this. My evolution should never end. My evolution should never end. Your evolution should never end. Like yes, you became a doctor, yes you're a surgeon, but there's more. And it's not from a place of greed, is just that we have so much potential in, in us crying for expression. We haven't arrived. We haven't arrived. I finished residency going like I'm done, like I'm never studying hard like that for anything. I'm, you know, and not from a standpoint of being lazy, but it was from a standpoint of there's more, there's more, there's so much more. And so, you know, so that's lesson number six. My evolution should never end. It should never end. It should never end. So I took that up and I embraced personal development. That's where I started from. And I started studying the Brian Tracy's and the Jim Rohns and my mind was blown. I started learning about vision and goal setting and overcoming procrastination and all of these things and all these success habits and it opened up a brand new world. And a number of things happened. One of them, you know, I started my own pediatric practice. That's 10 years ago at this point. And I realized, man, you have to learn a whole new skill set. So I started evolving and you know, I got to the point where I was like, look, the medical landscape is changing. Like if my only skill in the medical space is seeing patients, that's going to be a problem. And I started learning how to be a CEO of my practice. I started learning how to work on my practice, not just in my practice. Started learning how to build teams, started learning all these things. I was scared spitless of all of them. I knew nothing about them. But my evolution must never end. And when I was like, wait a minute, this is amazing. There are so many other Dr. UNAs that would want to know that they could be great entrepreneurs who want to know that yes, I'm a physician, but I can be a business savvy physician and I can build a great practice, I can build a great service, I can launch a great product line or whatever it is that I want to do. And that's when Entre MD was born. And I realized I didn't have what it takes to pull it off. And I continued because the evolution must go on. And I started investing heavily in coaching and programs to acquire skills and learn skills to put me in a better place, to serve my audience, to serve my world, to serve my tribe, to serve my community. The evolution should never end. It should never end. And so if you're here and you Have a lot of struggles in your business and all of that. And you haven't come to that point where you're like, I invested in my education to become a doctor. I need to invest in my education to become a great entrepreneur. I want you to realize it's one of the most powerful decisions you can make. Most powerful decision. The evolution should never end. Should never end. Okay, so now number seven is something I'm right smack in the middle of. You know, Covid hit. And I remember in March, maybe it was February, that the first thought that came to my mind when, you know, we're like, oh, Covid, we're going to shut the cities down. All this, you know, all this conversation was going on and what will happen to practices and all of this stuff and, you know, doctors being furloughed, all these things happening. The first thought that came is, I have a choice. I can make a decision. My decisions. In spite of this pandemic, I am going to thrive. Now, at this point, the pandemic is kind of like, compared to now, like, in its baby stage, right? And we didn't even know which way it was going. I didn't even know how I was going to thrive, but I was like, this is a decision I'm making. I am going to thrive, and my people are going to thrive. In spite of this pandemic. Started working on it, started strategizing, started scenario planning, started doing all these things. I did tons of webinars. I did a telemedicine course. I. I opened up a program called Thrive. I wasn't even planning it initially, but I was like, whoever's willing, I need to help. And did a lot of podcast episodes to help in that season. And the feedback I got. The feedback I got is so. I don't know. I will always hold that in my heart to see doctors say I had a number of doctors in a program, and they're like, I've thrived in spite of this. You said it at the beginning. I've thrived in spite of it. My business has grown in spite of it. I finally launched my business in the middle of a pandemic and is doing well. I've watched people embrace. They're like, I can't change what is happening, but I can change what's happening in my world. It's in the pandemic. We launched the Entre MD Business school. And to watch the doctors there not let fear stop them. And they're chasing down their dreams. They're doing things they've never done before. They're getting results they've never had before. To see their outlook of positivity, I can do it. To see the community, support each other. To see, hear people say, because of your podcast, I was able to go through this pandemic. It taught me lesson number seven. My voice matters. And for you listening, your voice matters. You may sound different from everybody. Your perspectives may be different. Your take on things may be different. You may not be as great as the gurus. You may not have websites that look as cute as theirs. You may not have teams as big as theirs. But. But your voice matters. Ontremd is not perfect. It's not. But guess what it did in the middle of a pandemic. It saved lives. It helped doctors. It changed people's perspective. It helped. It made a difference. Your voice matters. Your passions matter. The change you're trying to make in the world matters. So I want to tell you, if you've been here and you've been hiding, you've not been putting your things out there because you're like, it doesn't look like somebody else's. You've held back because you're like, oh, I don't. I don't think everybody, anybody wants what I have to offer you. Listen to me. Your voice matters. There will always be people that have bigger businesses than yours. There will always be people that have bigger platforms than yours. There always be people have. Who have cuter social media than yours, have larger followings than yours, that can speak better than you. There'll always be people who earn more than you, who have businesses that will run circles around yours. It doesn't change the fact that your voice matters. So whatever it is that you've been holding back on, it's time to go all out. It's time to go serve your community. It's time to commit and follow through with that commitment. It is time. It is time. So those are my lessons. Say yes even when you're afraid. Say yes. Don't quit even if you feel fear. Every thought is not yours. You don't have to think it. Fear and difficulties don't mean stop sucking at something is not bad. It's not bad is the path to becoming a genius. Number six, My evolution should never end. Never. Number seven, Your voice matters. It matters. Okay. So as always, I will leave you with something to do. And I want you to do two things. Number one, I want you to own your voice. I want you to own your voice, Own your business, Own what you're trying to do, own your change in the world. Own it and do it. I want you to be able to celebrate on your 90th birthday how your life has changed the world. Now, when I say change the world, you mean like 7.2 billion? It could, but it could change your world. What if you could disrupt an industry? What if you can build a practice that is a safe haven where your employees don't have to wonder if they still have a job? What if you could do that? Whatever it is, own it and do it and know that it matters. The second thing I want you to do is. You guys know my bhag, right? My bhag is I want to help 80,000 doctors learn how to build profitable businesses. So what I want you to do, since I told all my business. I want you to share this podcast. I want you to take this episode, I want you to give it to a friend, a colleague at work, or maybe someone who's in charge of an institution or in charge of a bunch of residents or a hospital system and say, hey, I want you to listen to this. I want you to share it. You do that for me. That's what I want. Just share it. Just share it and say, hey, you should listen to this. Okay? So own your voice and help share mine. Okay? So I hope this was helpful. I didn't script this or anything. I was just like, these were my thoughts as I took a walk and I really wanted to share them with you. So, you know, if you're not part of the On Trendy Facebook community, you can find us on Facebook and you can come in there and just share and let me know how this episode helped you, or you can post it on your social media platform. Just tag me, hashtag On Trend. Let me know how this helped you and I will see you next week on another amazing episode of the entremd podcast. If you love this podcast, please take a moment to subscribe, share and review it on itunes as you go about your week. Remember, you're not just an md, you're an entre md. Don't forget to tune in next week for another great episode.

Until next time.

SA.