Goals

It’s difficult to succeed at anything without an idea of the endgame. I found myself falling behind in undergrad when the goals were hazy. In order to prevent that from happening again, here’s a list of my goals (large and small) for the first semester of medical school.

• Study hard- After taking a self-assessment for Biochemistry I can say with a fair amount of confidence that I have retained almost none of the knowledge I tried to acquire over the past four years. The only way to fix that is to work hard and focus on internalizing all the information I can in the next four months. My goal is to get an A in each of the three classes I’ll be taking- not an easy goal, but one worth undertaking
• Stay in shape- a recent physical saw me hitting 231 pounds, some of which is muscle but not nearly enough. I know it’s too easy to stop taking care of myself in stressful situations. Late night “study food” is going to look amazing pretty much every night. I’ve been running three times a week and trying to cut down on useless calories at home. When I get to school I need to figure out a way to make myself healthy, inexpensive food and keep active. My goal is to return to my fall season playing weight of 215 pounds.
• Be social- Making new friends isn’t exactly my wheelhouse. I’m not amazing at adapting to change, but I’d like to at the very least have a good relationship with my roommate, and classmates. Freshman year of college didn’t really work out super well for me roommate-wise. My goal is to reach out to the person I’m rooming with.
• Play Rugby- I know that a full-fledged club is out of the question on the island of greneda, where Rugby isn’t popular. I’ve seen that there are some pickup gams going on some weekends, and I’d like to do my best to play in those. My goal is to work on my fitness, passing, kicking, and ball carrying so when I return to the US I can play for a Men’s club either as a loose forward or a back.
• Don’t forget Anthropology- I may not be going to graduate school in the field, but I don’t want to entirely stop learning. I’ve noticed that there some medically oriented anthropological research projects going on at St. George’s. My goal is to involve myself at some point in research.
• Study Abroad- Just by showing up to class on the first day I will have achieved my goal. I always wanted to study abroad in college but never could for a variety of reasons. It will be an amazing experience to see what live is like in a foreign country, one that I’m sure will expand my understanding of the world. My goal is to study and live abroad.
• Appreciate what I have- Studying medicine in Grenada will give me the chance to better understand and appreciate how fortunate I am to have grown up in a country like the US, with almost unlimited resources. My goal is to learn not to take those blessings for granted.
• Have fun- Going to medical school will be an ordeal, but also the fulfillment of one of my life’s goals. I’m not expecting it to be easy, but I also don’t want to be miserable during the experience. I’m lucky enough to be learning medicine at an excellent school set in a lush tropical paradise. My goal is to enjoy my first semester in medical school.