The Stupid List

Do you know what a Stupid List is? I don't mean that thing you needlessly create everyday in your iPhone, planner, or head. I mean a list of things that routinely get neglected until something goes wrong and then you say "I can't believe I was so stupid!". That list. It's almost the end of 2010 and now is a good time to attend to your Stupid List. Want a practical example of what should be on said list?

1. Update dog's microchip when you move or else when she runs away and gets picked up by a policeman and taken to the Humane Society they will have no idea how she got from Chicago to Madison. Or how in the world to get ahold of you, her stupid owner who didn't update her microchip info.

See how easy that is? Here's another one,

2. Clean out email contact list so that when your account gets hacked you don't send emails selling *cheapest* electronics to your previous employer and your stylist who moved to Atlanta years ago and that guy you met on a cross country flight before you ever laid eyes on your husband.

On a practical note, how about checking when your passport expires? Wouldn't it be a shame to plan a big beer drinking trip to Belgium and discover that your passport expired the month before? And how about your Facebook privacy settings? Better check on that before you post those NYE pics, huh? Do you have any old email accounts that you don't use anymore? What if a long lost acquaintance sent you a holiday message? You might want to peruse your inbox. If only to remind yourself of who you used to be. My old email address is girlyhood@.... Why? I don't remember, but I like it. Oh and while you're checking old email addresses, google yourself in the advanced search option. It's important to see how you are being portrayed to the world, intentionally or not. Any random credit cards you don't use anymore? How do you know someone else isn't using them? Check your credit report. Like Wilford Brimley says about your blood sugar, "check it often".

Whew, don't you feel productive and organized? Just in time for the new year. You're welcome.

How To Live A More Interesting Life

I have this friend whom I love dearly and is nothing like me. I tend to gravitate toward people who are living lives that I would love to be living, at least a little bit. She is one of those people who has a new adventure planned every weekend and has changed careers mid-life. She always seems to 'fall into' random experiences and has the most awesome stories. She embraces life daily and does not apologize for it. She is successful at making her life interesting. So, as I struggle with building a suburban life in the Midwest and holding down a very 'adult' job, I'm conscious of holding onto that small part of myself who still craves a little 'randomness'.

I came across this blog called "The Friendly Anarchist" and I want to share with you what he says about living a more interesting life.

The mistake when trying to find out about interestingness is to look at what interesting people are actually doing. Because this only leads to even more passivity on the side of the spectator:

• “Oh, Tyler Tervooren can jump out of an airplane, but I couldn’t possibly do that because I don’t fly. Climate change is more important than having fun.”
• “Oh, Sean Ogle is traveling to South East Asia and checking off the points on his bucket list, but I couldn’t possibly do that because I love my home and wouldn’t want to leave.”
• “Oh, Karol Gadja is building a business around his Ridiculously Extraordinary blog, but I couldn’t possibly do that because I haven’t got any idea of internet marketing and writing.”

One thing is for sure: You will always find reasons not to do something interesting, even if other people are doing it. Often enough, these reasons will be pretty good. Sometimes, they won’t. But you’ll definitely find some!

I believe we have to look at what these people are not doing. And then we have to stop doing that, too. For example:

• Stop worrying 18% of your life.
• Stop overthinking everything.
• Stop remaining seated comfortably.
• Stop accepting things as they are, even if they suck.
• Stop taking the path of least resistance.
• Stop living the life other people planned for you.
• Stop worrying 18% of your life. (This comes twice, as it’s really the basics.) The good thing is that interestingness doesn’t always have to be confronting pickpockets or jumping from airplanes. It may be small things:

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• Buy unknown food at your supermarket (or an Asian / African / Latino shop) and try to cook something tasty with it.
• Go to a new bar / restaurant instead of always going to your old favorites.
• Watch a recommended movie from a genre you normally ignore.
• Engage in a street fight.

It may be big things:

• Quit your boring job.
• Write and publish that novel you’ve got inside.
• Sell everything you own and travel the world.
• Have and raise five children.

And it’s really your personal choice. Each of us is different, each of us has different ideas of how to live an interesting life.

There’s one thing interesting things have in common, though: They make us feel at least a tiny bit uncomfortable. Anxiety is the perfect indicator. Instead of worrying about or trying to ignore it, maybe we should let it be our guidance. This is not about becoming an adrenaline junkie, though. It’s not about extreme sports, about permanent travel, or about becoming an entrepreneur. It’s about taking the direction that you want to take in order to make your life more interesting.

Just wanted to share something in the blog-o-sphere that brought a little bit of clarity to my day. Hopefully you get something out of this and make a small change today!

Another Awesome Word I Didn't Create

Intrapreneurship. Know what it is? I didn't think so. It's another awesome word I didn't come up with myself. Like 'bromance', 'bootylicious', and 'staycation'. It is defined as follows:

While an entrepreneur ventures out on their own to pursue an idea, an intrapreneur does this within the organization in which they already work. It could be creating a new product, coming up with an innovative idea, or improving a service.

I'm an intrapreneur right now and I didn't even realize it! Here's what i'm up to. As part of an academic hospitalist division, I felt that we needed to do more...academic things. So, I am in the midst of trying to drum up enthusiasm for starting a divisional journal club. That's important right? We are responsible for teaching and modeling for medical students and residents so we should attempt to uphold the academic standards on which our profession was built. Here's my issue, albeit a minor one. I'm not sure that everyone is quite as passionate about reading journal articles as I am. So let's say that only half of our division wants to participate and the other half aren't that interested. Should I make it totally voluntary? I foresee that becoming pushed by the wayside when other 'mandatory' things come up. Soon enough it might be a club of 2 members. And that's sort of sad. But, if I make a schedule with everyone assigned to a month in which they are responsible for journal club, I'm afraid I will make some enemies. And they will whisper "who the hell does she think she is?!", preferably to my back and not to my face. Yes, I worry about these things.

So, the concept I am "intrapreneuring" is a division journal club. But really maybe I should be inventing a way to make learning a passionate endeavor for all.

I'm Ridiculous: Part 2

I just finished up a weekend of call and I'm exhausted. Yes, I slept in my own bed. No, I did not have any "middle of the night" admits. So why the heck am I so tired??!! If you read the first year of my blog you will understand how ridiculous this is. I spent 2 years working nights and weekends in the NICU and would've been overjoyed to have a job where I could sleep in my own bed at night and not be up for over 24 hours multiple times a week. Our call from home currently requires us to personally see every admission within 2 hours regardless of acuity or time of day/night. But herein lies the rub.....I like to be prepared for whatever situation may befall me. "Plan" is my middle name. So what do I do when i'm on call from Friday night to Monday morning and I don't have any nighttime admits? I anticipate them. I lie in bed and anticipate the beeping of my pager. I anticipate dragging myself out of bed at 2 am. I anticipate getting into the car and driving to the hospital in the 10 degree weather. And I anticipate getting home with just enough time to get comfortable before my alarm goes off signaling a new day of rounding on patients. I think subconsciously my body does not want to relax because it is so much harder to get out of bed during a dead sleep than not. So I lie awake waiting for the inevitable admission that never comes.

This is problematic on so many levels. There is no way I can justify being tired after a night of call when I don't even get called. I have to carefully conceal the bags under my eyes and tell my coworkers what an easy weekend of call I had. I can't blame my less-than-enthusiastic teaching and blunted affect the next day on the rough call night I just had. Sometimes, and I can't believe i'm saying this, I think I would sleep better if I just stayed at the hospital. The mere anticipation of leaving my bed and driving to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning clearly throws off my tenuous grip on stability and sends me into a spiral of anxiety the likes of which prevents my brain from shutting down. Any advice? Meditation? Hot tea? Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies? My battle against sleep deprivation continues...