I puzzled and pondered, what is the most terrifying thing for a PA student? I wanted to dispel the most horrifying thing I could find for Halloween. And then it hit me. The thing that keeps PA students tossing and turning all night is …
FAILING
Failing is the worst possible fear. I think you can survive an attending dressing you down. I think you can survive a huge pile of notes, but nothing makes the blood drain from you face and the sweat start to drip down your forehead like failing.
For whatever reason, I feel like in the last two months I’ve had more people than ever reach out to me about failing, and it isn’t just the PANCE. It’s anatomy quizzes, EORs, the PANRE, and everything else. I don’t know if it’s in the air with the dynamic of the country and around the world, but at least from where I’m sitting, the number of failures is on the rise.
Like we talked about yesterday, we all make mistakes. Bad things happen. It’s ok. What’s important is what we do about them. Or how we react when things don’t go according to plan.
One of my favorite lines from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight comes from the Joker:
“Nobody panics when things go ‘according to plan.’ Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it’s all ‘part of the plan.’ But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds. Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos.”
Failure is not part of the plan and it can send you into chaos, into a pit of despair. As a PA student, you’re pretty likely to run into failure. The game is a tough one, but no one thinks it will happen to them. So we silently stew and sweep it under the rug as best we can.
Tsk… Tsk… Tsk… although that’s the normal reaction, it’s a HUGE mistake. Failure isn’t the problem in and of itself; it’s the problems that compound from there.
Anyway, in the brilliant Halloween edition of the Physician Assistant Exam Scholars newsletter, I’m going to give you a treat. I’m going to show you what many of your compatriots have done to turn failure around. I’m going to show you how to avoid it all together, and I’m going to do it all right before your very eyes. It’s going to be quite the magic show.
Oh, haven’t had a problem with failure or close calls? Well my above-average friend, there is plenty of raw meat in this issue to help you along your merry journey even if you manage to avoid the pitfalls of your cohorts and classmates.
The deadline is tomorrow, at the time when the monsters leave their lairs. Don’t dawdle now, click that link right there to get your talisman:
Physician Assistant Exam Scholars
Brian Wallace