Believing in Yourself

Abstract

The significance of believing in yourself might appear very obvious; nevertheless, belief in self is so important that it is worth repeating until it sinks into our sometimes unconvinced minds. This special state of believing in yourself reaches considerable proportions of support and help for the surgeon—whether in training, early professional life, or experienced—especially when introduced with principles of self-worth, trust, and confidence. This essay reviews the essential understanding of the role of believing in yourself in the surgeon's career and professional life. Historical examples highlight pioneer surgeons who dealt with circumstances where self-belief was crucial in their advanced work. The goal is to make the surgeon a better professional and a better human being.

KEYWORDS:

• Believe in yourself
• trust
• confidence
• surgery

BELIEVING IN YOURSELF

What if I told you that believing in yourself is the most important characteristic in your evolving life and career? That is absolutely true, I think. Let me explain as I apply this assertion to the surgeon's way of living and professional goals.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is apparently well known, or rather implicitly understood, that surgeons are supposed to be so sure of themselves that they cannot exude anything but confidence. It is also assumed that surgeons trust their decisions so much that the opportunity for error is not even considered. These two statements are not necessarily correct and are part of a commonly stereotyped behavior frequently used to define practicing surgeons. Specialists and surgeons in training can acknowledge the stereotype but should also exert the effort to portray themselves and their profession more realistically and positively.

THE ISSUE OF BELIEVING IN YOURSELF

Exuberant confidence and poorly understood trust are not the desirable traits for surgeons who believe in themselves. Believing in yourself is accepting what is good and what is bad or incomplete about yourself or your professional activity. Believing in yourself is realistically viewing your deficiencies and your willingness to improve with dedicated effort. Believing in yourself is patting yourself in the back when you notice good results or have helped a fellow human being. Believing in yourself is not being afraid of accepting that you are good, that you can help patients, and that you can make life more livable for them and their families. Believing in yourself is honestly and bravely attending to the needs of your patients with the confidence of someone who knows the field, has reviewed the pathology many times, and has effectively intervened in many similar situations.

BELIEVING IN YOURSELF MAKES YOU A BETTER SURGEON AND A BETTER HUMAN BEING

For the surgical resident or surgical fellow in training or just finishing the educational years of commitment to surgery, believing in yourself becomes a particularly essential attitude.

If you are like me and many residents and fellows, you may at times have lost your surgical identity for a variety of reasons. Without being fully inclusive, the reasons can relate to following faculty directions at all times, as well as to being subjected, in the name of education, to not infrequent downgrading of your surgical abilities while you were attempting to master certain complex procedures. Even though this training approach is changing, on some occasions the change is not fast enough.

Under all circumstances, the surgical trainee or recently graduated surgeon needs to be and remain resilient. In trying times, believing in yourself becomes or should become an essential component of your surgical life. Let me address this issue in more detail, since believing in yourself makes you a better surgeon and a better human being.

HOW DO YOU REACH THE STATE OF BELIEVING IN YOURSELF?

Of course, believing in yourself is not a task accomplished in a few hours, but rather a prolonged, committed exercise in reemphasizing to yourself the positive values of knowledge, experience, and attention to detail that you possess. Build upon these characteristics and convey to yourself these facts—that you can certainly do the surgical operation since you have done it before, that you have knowledge since you have studied this particular topic many times, and that you will pay attention to details since you will observe and avoid possible complications, and thus remain before all else a safe and competent surgeon.

Now, let us talk about specific means to reach the state of believing in yourself: (1) know the topic theoretically; (2) strategize the operative procedure in your mind, or better yet, in writing with specific steps to save time and prevent complications; (3) know the complications and how to get out of trouble; (4) do not rush through the surgical procedure, take your time and operate at the pace that fits you since safety is very important; and (5) follow your patient closely. If all these steps are covered, you are a surgeon who will and should believe in him or herself, because you are, and believe it, an excellent surgeon.

IS BELIEVING IN YOURSELF REALLY NECESSARY?

I certainly think so. Believing in yourself represents a positive and forward attitude of the surgical trainee or practicing surgeon. Creating or cultivating this attitude would give the surgical professional the emotional basis for enjoying this chosen field of medicine and for reaching superior levels of practice.

Believing in yourself is uplifting for any professional discipline and, indeed, for any human endeavor. It is very plausible to think that professionals who trust and believe in themselves have more opportunities to succeed in life.

Advancing your particular choice of surgical or medical practice becomes a clearer outlook if you believe in what you do and represent. Believing in yourself will give you an added benefit when considering the possibility of participating in the advances of medicine or surgery.

DOES HISTORY SUPPORT THE CONCEPT OF BELIEVING IN YOURSELF?

As far as I can determine, history has been generous with those who believe in themselves. In fact, history might be saying to us, “Believe in yourself and you will be able to help your patients better and perhaps to advance the surgical sciences to heights never seen before.”

Examples of surgeons who believed in themselves are numerous. From surgeons of antiquity like Galen (129–200) [[1]], to those of modern times like Blalock (1899–1964) [[2]], Wangensteen (1898–1981) [[3]], Lillehei (1918–1999) [[4]], and others [[5]], they showed us their firm desire to believe in themselves, their works, and their lives. This is not to say that they experienced no disappointments during their professional practice. In fact, intervening with new treatments was a source of major concern for all of them. See, for instance, how Galen was unable to cure a great number of his patients in the gladiators' arena, how Blalock did not reach complete heart repair for blue babies, how Wangensteen was remiss in offering an effective cure for peptic ulcer disease, and how Lillehei in all his wisdom did not foresee the development of heart transplantation. Many other similar considerations could be offered for other surgical professionals.

Truthfully, the previous examples give us the opportunity to reflect upon the deeds of these great individuals and upon imperfections too, how they struggled to find good treatments, how failure was not far away in some instances, but more than anything else on the reality that these pioneering surgeons at no point stopped believing in themselves. In the same manner, I would like to think we can reach out and remain firm believers in ourselves and our extraordinary possibilities. Let us try together. I believe, we can do it! And that we can make this an uplifting endeavor.

OTHER EXAMPLES IN DAILY PRACTICE

On more than a few occasions during my surgical career, I and others have encountered perplexing surgical operating situations that have required reaching down to the depths of surgical knowledge and experience and, more importantly, to the depths of character and mental toughness. Not infrequently, determination and believing in yourself represent the saving grace in these sometimes desperate and sometimes routine situations.

The question is how can we better prepare ourselves for this kind of development? The most likely answer is that there is no well-structured plan that can be followed for the difficult cases that challenge you and me to the core of our surgical genes. My only advice is that if we persist in believing in ourselves, that if we believe we can do these complicated or even sometimes innocent, but unusual cases, I know we can be successful. The main ingredient, then, would be to believe in yourself at all times. Believe me!

I am fully aware that a great deal of psychological outreach is needed to maintain us fully alert of the ups and downs of surgery. There is nothing wrong in being aware of life's contingencies, and in being ready to exercise our ability to strike our mental attitudes towards our intimal status of self-belief. Believing then becomes the positive force, unstoppable, that will carry us through this and many other easy or complicated surgical feats.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I have given you and myself what I consider to be a worthwhile thought, a worthwhile attitude, and a worthwhile way of living: “Believe in yourself.” This is, I think, one of the most important attitudinal changes we can embrace or maintain throughout our surgical and personal careers. Let's together make this a reality to reach a full and enhanced experience in surgery and in our lives. With this mental attitude, I can repeat, there will be no surgical case, within certain limits, which falls outside the scope of our cure. Let's do it!