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Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills

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to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.

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As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients.

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When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find

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that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research

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program.

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Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit.

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However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs.

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For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians

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the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.

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Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene.

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Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast.

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I'm your host, Toyosi Onwuemene., and it is such a pleasure, such a pleasure to be talking

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with you today.

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I'm excited to bring you today's episode, where we are talking about the keys to your

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success in 2024.

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By now, 2024 is a couple of weeks old, but hey, we're still talking about the keys to

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your focus in 2024.

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They apply in 2024, and they definitely go beyond 2024.

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But today we're talking about your thoughts.

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We're talking about your thoughts, and the quote I just want to share is, whether you

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think you can or you think you can't, you are right.

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Okay, so we're talking about the quality of your thoughts, and we recognize that how we

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think drives our lives, and we know that intuitively, but we don't necessarily take the time to

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guard the thoughts that we have.

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And I want to just help you today, and help me too, by really thinking about really focusing

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on the quality of our thoughts, and how to create thoughts of high quality.

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And it's so important because if we can create high quality thoughts, we can have high quality

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experiences, we can have high quality outputs, we can have a high quality life.

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But it all comes to, first of all, creating the kind of thoughts that create the high

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quality life.

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Now, one of the things I struggled with when I first started my faculty career was I thought

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I wasn't qualified.

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And I heard it enough times, and in retrospect, I see what people were saying.

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They were saying, hey, you don't have enough experience doing research.

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You don't have enough experience leading a research program.

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You don't have enough experience doing research in terms of research methodology.

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You haven't really spent as much time as is needed for the stage of your career for someone

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who wants to lead a research program, therefore you're not qualified.

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I heard that over and over and over again, where I started to internalize my lack of

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qualifications.

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And whenever I would apply for an award, whenever I would go for a grant, I would write with

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a not qualified experience, with a not qualified thought life, right?

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Because that's the way I was feeling.

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And it wasn't until I would hand my document over to someone else to review for me and

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they would say, oh, you're speaking as if you're so unworthy.

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You're writing as if you're so unworthy.

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And I didn't understand that.

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I was like, well, of course I'm not.

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But whatever you're thinking is what you're producing because thoughts are the foundation

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of all of our actions, the foundations of our, I mean, they're the foundation of our

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speech, they're the foundation of our life.

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And so even when you don't think, you're projecting a certain thought.

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If you're having it, you're projecting it, whether you know it or not.

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And some of us have become very skilled at being divided.

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You feel one way inside, you express a different thing to the external body.

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Some of us have gotten really good at that.

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But for the most of us, we struggle to do that.

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And most people, even if we've gotten very good at lying, that's what that is, where

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you think one thing and you do a different thing.

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Some of us have gotten good enough that we can fool most people.

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But there are some people who are very savvy and can pick up on the subtle cues of when

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how you're feeling inside doesn't line up with what you're expressing on the outside.

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And most importantly, we can pick it up too.

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So that's important.

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But anyway, so there I was feeling unworthy, unqualified because I had accepted the thoughts

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that I was and I was producing lack of qualification in my writing.

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Wow.

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And I couldn't see it until somebody pointed it out to me.

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They're like, you don't have to explain away this.

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You don't have to say, oh, if only I had because that's what I was doing.

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I was saying, well, I didn't have the training.

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I didn't have, you know, yeah, it's OK that you didn't have the training.

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But what do you think about who you are now?

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And so that was definitely showing up.

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I was definitely showing up the wrong way inside.

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And that was coming out the wrong way on the outside, even when I didn't know it was doing

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that.

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So that's why I'm talking today about thoughts, because your thoughts are so important.

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You know that you know that intuitively.

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And here's the challenge with our thoughts.

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They're happening all the time.

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We're always thinking.

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And when we're not thinking intentionally, we're not controlling our thoughts.

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They can run wild.

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Like you can literally see a black cat.

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And the next thing you know, you're imagining yourself six feet under.

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And it was just, oh, it was just a cat.

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How did you get to that vision of your funeral?

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You know, I mean, I'm just giving an example of where your thoughts take you.

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And usually, especially when we are not like paying attention to our thoughts, they don't

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spiral out of control into a great direction where it's like, wow, I imagine myself as

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the king of England.

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Most of the time, our thoughts don't take us there.

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Where they take us is imagining the worst.

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And that's what one of my mentors calls undisciplined thought.

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It's like your thought life needs to be disciplined.

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And where you don't discipline it, it just runs crazy.

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It's like the wild animal or the new puppy that if you don't train this puppy, it just

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will embarrass you over and over again.

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And so your thought life is so key, it's so critical.

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And that's why I'm talking about it today.

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And I want to give you five things to think about in mastering your thought life.

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So the first thing I want to share is that you've got to be intentional about the thoughts

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you create.

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That's number one.

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Be intentional about the thoughts you create.

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And this is very challenging because our thoughts run so wild.

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And many times we're not thinking about what we're thinking.

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But if we are not intentional about creating thoughts of possibility, we're going to just

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create whatever.

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Or actually more likely, we're going to create the negative.

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Because think about it, funding is hard.

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You can't make enough.

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You can't get enough.

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There's not enough to go around.

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Everybody else has a great idea.

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Your idea may not be fundable.

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There are so many thoughts that limit us, that keep us from moving forward.

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And that's the challenge with the thoughts.

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The moment you think the thought, accept the thought, begin to imagine the thought and

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ruminate on the thought, you begin to produce actions consistent with the thought.

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And then you fulfill the prophecy of the thought.

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If you think, you know, this idea sucks so bad, no one will ever fund it.

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You begin to act like someone whose idea sucks so bad that no one will ever fund it.

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You begin to write like that.

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You begin to produce like that.

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And maybe you don't even finish the grant.

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Maybe you don't even submit it.

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And it all started with a thought that you couldn't.

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And so being intentional about creating the kinds of thoughts that lead us in the direction

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that we need is so important.

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Be intentional because if you intentionally create a thought of, oh, my idea is fundable.

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And it doesn't mean that you don't take feedback seriously.

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It means that if somebody says this idea sucks, you don't accept this idea sucks.

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You push back.

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You say, how can we make this idea not suck?

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Or how can we make this idea suck less?

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Right?

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You start to ask, how do we improve it?

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You don't accept it and then like wither away.

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That only comes with being intentional.

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It only comes with being intentional.

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So how can we be intentional about our thought life?

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Well, you got to be intentional about the source of your thoughts.

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And so what is the source of your thoughts?

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Well, the source of your thoughts for those of us who are really visual are the things

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we see, for those of us who are really sensitive to what we hear, the things we hear.

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And it's also the things we experience.

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Right?

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And so if we're going to be intentional about our thoughts, going to be intentional about

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the source of those thoughts, if you have a superstar mentor who's always yelling at

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you and driving fear into your heart, anxiety and worry, guess the kind of thoughts you're

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going to produce?

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Thoughts of fear, worry, anxiety.

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You're going to have a lot of stress, you know, produce in a stressful way.

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And here's the challenge with people like you and me, we can produce a lot under a lot

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of duress.

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And so because we can, we think that our anxiety, our worry is what's really fueling our success.

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And we're already getting plenty of success, but we're burning out in the process.

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It's like, you know, burning yourself up as fuel.

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The challenge is when the fuel burns up.

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There is no more source.

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And so being intentional about creating the kinds of environments, including your mentoring

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team that allows you to think thoughts that move you in the direction you want to go.

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It's also about being intentional about what you're reading.

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So what's the quality of the thoughts, the ideas that enter your mind?

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What's the quality of the entertainment that you watch?

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What's the quality of the books that you read?

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What's the quality of the audio that you listen to?

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So it's being intentional about curating it.

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So it's not just, well, most of the stuff around me is good, so I guess I'll be okay.

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It's saying, hmm, what is not good?

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Or what could be more excellent?

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Because you want to create thoughts that transform your life, you pay attention to the thoughts

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you want to have, and then you curate a body of work that allows you to have high quality

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thoughts.

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Now, it doesn't mean that you're in an echo chamber, not not at all.

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But it does mean that you are creating thoughts that are high quality thoughts of possibility,

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thoughts that you have no limitations because you have none.

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And so number one is being intentional about your thoughts.

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Number two is removing everything that impacts your thoughts.

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And this kind of goes with number one, which is being intentional, because on the one hand,

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it's kind of like where you exercise and you're so good about like exercising 30 minutes every

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day, you go to the gym, you do all the stuff, and then you come home and you down three

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glasses of soda, and you're like, yeah, I worked out of the gym, I can drink whatever

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I want, I can eat whatever I want.

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And it's like, oh, no, you can't.

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There's no amount of exercise that can outrun a bad diet.

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You know that, I know that, you advise your patients about that.

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And so why do we do it?

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Why would we be intentional about curating thoughts of high quality by creating an environment

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that encourages high quality thought by allowing things into our system that drain our ability

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to think well?

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And so what does that mean?

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It means not just being intentional about creating the environment, but it means removing

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things that affect the quality of our thoughts.

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Yeah, I didn't say it earlier, but it means, hey, limiting the amount of access the mentor

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who's always yelling at you has to you.

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But you're like, oh, no, he's a noble laureate.

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What do you mean limiting my access?

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If I keep this way, I'm going to become a noble laureate too.

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I believe it.

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I agree.

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You're going to be the most miserable noble laureate ever.

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Sure, you'll be a noble laureate.

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Is that all you want?

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Yes, your mentor is successful.

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And in academia, a lot of people can be very bad to the bone and still be considered super

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successful.

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They can have poor attitudes to life and people and still be considered very successful.

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And if that is the path you want to choose for yourself, I am so glad that we have the

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power of choice and you do get to choose that if that is what you want.

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But for most of us, we want the success without all that other stuff.

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Sometimes we think they all have to go together like, well, if I want the stuff that leads

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me to win this amazing award that this person already has, then I guess I got to take all

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of it.

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And you know the answer is that no, you do not have to take all of it.

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And so I encourage you to remove all the stuff that impacts upon your high quality thought

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life.

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Yeah, stop listening to that music that makes you feel sad at the end of the day.

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Stop watching those things that make you angry.

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Yeah, I'm talking about the news.

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Because at the end of watching the news cycle, oh, newsflash, there is no end to the news

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cycle.

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It's a constant cycle.

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At the end of watching that, you're down in the dumps, you're depressed, you're angry.

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Actually, the more likely emotion is anger.

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Clearly, anger affects the quality of your thoughts.

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How much of the manuscript can you produce while you're super angry?

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Okay, so I feel like I belabored the newsflash.

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Okay, so I feel like I belabored that point a lot.

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Number two is to remove the thoughts or remove the source of thoughts that impact your ability

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to function well.

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The third thing is to focus on thoughts that create possibility.

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Focus on thoughts that create possibility.

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People will say, oh, are you trying to be idealistic here?

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Be realistic.

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Yeah, I am talking about being positive.

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I'm talking about creating thoughts of possibility because they are the only space from which

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real greatness comes.

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There's a lot of actions.

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There are a lot of actions that are created from negative, self-hating thoughts.

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I know that.

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I'm an academia, you're an academia, you see it.

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People who like, actually, you probably do it.

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You yell at yourself, you're like, can't you get it together?

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And somehow you produce this amazing manuscript that goes on to be a binary abstract or something

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in your journal.

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You did it.

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You did it by yelling at yourself.

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You did it by being mean to yourself.

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And so you think that's the way life should be.

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And I will tell you that encouragement will always go so much further in motivating people

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than being mean to them.

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And that goes for you as well.

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That goes for you being mean to you.

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And so if you would think for a moment with me about where possibility could take you,

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where an encouraging kind word could take you, and I'm talking about you speaking these

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encouraging kind words to yourself first, but also surrounding yourself with people

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who believe in possibility.

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I mean, let me ask you, what is the point of submitting for an award that you don't

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think it's possible for you to get?

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What is the point of that?

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Oh, yeah, everybody just submits anyway.

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Don't do it.

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Don't ever submit for an award that you don't think it's possible for you to get.

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Because of the very fact that you don't think it's possible, you are creating a grant that

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is probably not going to be funded.

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Because people say, well, it's not possible to be funded.

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I'm submitting anyway.

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Oh, there he goes.

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I wasn't funded.

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How can you be funded when you created a grant out of your impossibility?

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OK, that's me on the soapbox.

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I'm getting off right now.

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But what I'm asking you to do is to create possibility.

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And if you don't think it's possible, wait.

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Create possibility, build possibility, and then go for it.

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Don't move forward not thinking it's possible.

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Instead, build the muscle of possibility.

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And how do you do that?

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You build the muscle of possibility by talking to people like me who believe all things are

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possible.

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And if I don't yet believe it's possible, I go work on deciding and figuring out on

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intentionally creating the possibility.

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And how do I do that?

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I go read about people who've done it before me.

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I go read about people who've been successful.

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I go hang out with them.

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And I say, hey, you've succeeded in this impossible environment.

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How have you done it?

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You don't go to the person who hasn't succeeded and ask for their advice.

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You go to the person who's done it.

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That's how you create possibility.

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Because the moment you are surrounded by people who are doing it, who didn't just do it once,

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who didn't just have a lucky moment, who are doing it over and over and over again, it

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changes the way you experience that activity, whatever it is.

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And so number three is create possibility.

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Create possibility.

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Number four is have thoughts that are grounded in objective truth.

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Oh, I want to say this again, have thoughts that are grounded in objective truth.

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And this is the point at which people will say, well, the objective truth is that funding

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is impossible.

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It's one objective truth.

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Why would you stake your life on that one?

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Another objective truth is that there are a group of people for whom funding is never

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impossible.

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Okay, go find out the truth of their lives.

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Because I have to tell you, and I think you know this.

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All success is intentional success.

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Success never happens overnight.

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You know that.

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People may discover you one day and say, oh, wow, what an overnight success, because yesterday

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I didn't know you and today I do.

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Therefore you're an overnight success.

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But all success takes work.

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In the same way, if we think about it, a lack of success also takes work, just a different

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kind of work, the anti-work, the negative work, not saying that people who are not successful

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don't work hard.

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I'm just saying that there are strategies that lead to success.

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Nobody is successful by accident.

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And so in grounding yourself on the objective reality of truth, you go figure out what do

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these people who succeed all the time do?

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What do they do?

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Because they're doing something different from you.

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You want to know what that is.

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And that's how you ground yourself in objective truth, objective reality.

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Again, there are many objective realities.

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That's the objective reality of I can never get funded.

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We are surrounded by so many of those people because they're very loud and very vocal.

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But the objective reality of the people who get funded is a quiet objective reality.

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They're not even where you can find them.

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Sometimes you have to dig them out from, I don't know, dig them out from their bunker

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where they're holed up doing the things that are making them consistently successful.

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But you can find them if you choose.

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And then you ask them and they will tell you if you choose to listen.

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So ground your thoughts in objective truth, not in the objective truth of the people who

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haven't succeeded that surround you, but in the objective truth of the people who succeed

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again and again and again.

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Because success does not happen in any sphere of life by accident.

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I mean, if it happens by accident, it's called the lottery and we know what happens with

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people who win the lottery.

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Number five is have thoughts that are consistent with your desire.

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What do you want?

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What do you want to see for yourself?

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What do you want to see happen in your life?

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Those are the thoughts you entertain.

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The things you don't want for yourself.

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Those are the thoughts you banish.

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Those are the thoughts you starve.

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Those are the thoughts you kill.

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That sounds great, doesn't it?

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But yes, you nurture the thoughts that lead you where you want to go.

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The key is first deciding where do you want to go?

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Where do you want to go?

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That harkens back to number one being intentional about the thoughts you create.

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Maybe this should have been number one is deciding first.

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What do you want to be?

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Where do you want to go?

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How do you want to show up?

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And that helps you create the umbrella for what you're going to create in your thought

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life, for how you're going to support your thought life, for how you're going to weed

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out the things that don't belong.

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Because they could be good thoughts to someone else, but they're not the right thoughts for

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you because they're not your thoughts.

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And here we are in academia where the thought of the loudest mentor, the most obnoxious

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mentor is a thought that prevails.

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Oh, no, no, no.

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That's the worst idea ever.

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Throw that idea out.

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Let's not do that anymore.

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And then you're like, OK, I mean, your mentor is correct.

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It probably doesn't work as is, but it's what you want to do.

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And if it's what you want to do, it's worth fighting for.

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And so it's not the answer should not be OK.

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The answer should be, well, how?

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How can I get to the place I want?

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How can I get to the destination I want to?

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And so an important key to your thought life is defining who you want to be, where you

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want to go, because that defines the kinds of thoughts you need to have so that you can

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get there.

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So be intentional about your thoughts.

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You want to remove thoughts that are not consistent.

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You want to have thoughts that are grounded on objective truth.

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You want to have thoughts that are based on the reality that you desire.

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So those are the things that I am talking about today about your thoughts.

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You're going to have the life you want, the life you envy, the life you dreamed of.

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You don't want to master your thoughts.

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These are some things to think about in enhancing the quality of your thoughts, because you're

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curating an environment that leads you to think the way you need to, to get you to the

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place that you need to be.

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All right.

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Somebody else needs to hear this episode and I invite you to share it with them.

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I want to thank you so much for being part of this podcast, for letting your ears and

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for voting, voting with your ears.

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All right.

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Thank you for listening.

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I look forward to talking with you again the next time.

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Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic

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00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:02,520
clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they

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have a mentor.

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00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:10,160
If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself.

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00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:11,880
Someone else needs to hear it.

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00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,940
So take a minute right now and share it.

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00:25:15,940 --> 00:25:21,400
As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation

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00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:42,440
of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.