Growing up with 4 older brothers who were all honors students (like me), I learned that I could choose to follow any pathway I chose, regardless of whether they made fun of me or told me I'd never be able to do what I wanted (considering that my pathway was good, but outside the box). I was the only one to go to medical school and ended up doing an MD, PhD. The rest is history.
One key is to develop many close mentors, and to ignore people who try to put you down or get in your way. Believe in yourself. There are many ways to get around obstacles: jump over, go around, dig a tunnel underneath, ask someone to throw you a rope from the other side, simply knock the barrier over, or think about paradigm shifts that would be better than your original goal.
- Dr. Mary Sunday, Professor of Medicine at Duke University
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