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Beyond the Finish Line | Dr. Mahesh Joshi | TEDxOMCH


thank you for making me a part of this
evening it’s such a pleasure to be here
wonderful to hear from such outstanding
speakers so the theme of the session is
beyond the finish line
and there are a lot of young guys and
girls sitting in this audience I’m sure
all of you have been part of some of the
other race yes/no if not anything
because this is a medical college I know
there’s one race which is perpetually
there in every class at least three to
four boys after one girl right right and
then you know the result of that race
what happens most of the times right
each race at the finish line there’s
somebody who gets the girl and the
second one is so many of your second
ones is it the second one is crying and
the third one is angry and frustrated
right finish lines can bring in my
reared of emotions into minds of people
for somebody it would mean success for
somebody it would mean elation joy for
the other person it could be frustration
despair anger helplessness feeling sorry
about not giving their best at that
point in time so finish lines come in
different connotations what is important
beyond every finish line whether it is a
finished line of a race or a finish line
which was your goal or ambition it is
important to pause it is important to
reflect and in those moments of pause
and reflect you need to do learning you
need to get some message out of what you
have done during this journey why is
that important that is important because
it helps you plan your next run your
next goal your next ambition all right
so if I look back at race track versus
life and what it means from my
experience in finished lines in life I
came to this conclusion there are three
sets of finish lines that come into our
lives first one is what we say
for our cells that is our ambitions
goals targets etcetera there’s another
set of finished line which usually
people set for you and this could be
societal beliefs moral beliefs ethical
beliefs etc and the third one is
circumstantial which is not in your hand
but certain turn of events actually go
into your life as if they are going to
be a big obstacle and they might turn
into a finish line for you so what I am
going to do here on is share some of
these finish lines that I came across in
my life and by the time we reach the
finish line of this talk I am hoping to
touch a few hearts ignite few minds
inspire some of you and motivate the
rest of you to reflect on some of the
finish lines that come into your life
and focus upon them to see beyond
achieving that target or number of goal
can you add value to yourself and to the
stakeholders that are involved into that
journey so are you ready for it great
the first finished line and this is one
of the finished lines which is set for
you if you are not from Ames PGI Gipp
mur CMC you can never be a great doctor
if you have not gone to IIT I am so you
will never achieve great heights in life
have you heard this and all our lives we
are driven by this that if I am from
Ames I can reach here but if I am not
from Ames I will only reach here that’s
the finish line which is drawn for you
very early in life let me tell you have
you heard of the place called JAL Gao
very few of you okay it’s a small town
only famous for sex scandal many years
ago there is nothing more to talk about
that place very small town it’s in
Maharashtra that’s where I was born born
into a typical Orthodox Marathi family
where nobody had passed even 12 standard
for a
these two generations then buy a little
bit of effort managed to get into a
medical school which was a private
medical college such a shame this did
not have Medical Council of India
recognition when I joined into that
medical school and for somebody like
that to be standing here today as a TEDx
speaker in front of you I must have done
something right there must be something
that I created for myself to be able to
get people to look up to me and say why
don’t you come and talk to these young
doctors were there so here is my
learning from this first finished line
please don’t get bogged down by these
societal finished lines or lines that
people create for you my learning out of
this was you reach where you deserve to
your destiny or pedigree should not
decide where you reach in life all right
what makes you reach there self belief
hard work consistent focus and not
getting bogged down by what people lay
down as norms for you in life we’ll move
on to the second finish line this is
what I call as circumstantial finish
line I never failed a unit test in my
life ever thankfully teachers were very
kind to me and then everything was going
on well first time ABS first class
second MBBS first class final MBBS great
scores in medicine surgery orthopedics
and I failed in preventive and social
medicine by three marks what lucky
career has come to an end yes or no he’s
cut the bamboo bhajiya right this is
what is the message right it was a very
difficult thing to digest for somebody
who had never failed ever in his career
now what do you do
get on to the rooftop and commit suicide
this is what some of us do isn’t it it’s
such a shame that we lose lives for such
a small and insignificant thing in our
lives which is just a passing episode
trust me friends no failure is permanent
unless you decide to make it permanent
by your inaction you have to take
failure in stride you have to fight out
you have to say it’s all right this is a
temporary pause and I will get over this
now how do you get over such an epic
failure in life suddenly from a star you
become a villain
in all your groups right there’s only a
couple of things which are important in
such times first and foremost thing you
have to tell yourself that yes I am
capable of doing this the second
important thing is when you are passing
through this phase you have to ask for
help don’t feel shy to ask for help this
is the biggest mistake that we do when
we fail at something because our ego
comes in between don’t feel shy to ask
for help get your focus aligned keep
only singular goal that rest of the
thing can stop but right now I need to
get through this failure that I have
encountered in life and move on as if
this was not enough I managed to clear
if they finally PSM in the next six
months and six months later on one fine
day somebody was extremely important to
me in life my whole life revolved around
her we are going on into a relationship
for close to three years suddenly turned
up and told me I don’t feel the same for
you anymore if there is anything close
to a doomsday feeling that was the
dr. V that retire
right it is a heart shattering moment
now what do you do again get on to the
rooftop right jump or take some acid and
throw on to somebody is this what you
are supposed to do this is what cowards
do no relationship failure is an
integral part of life this is just one
relationship as you encounter you will
have failed relationship with your
colleagues with your spouse’s with your
bosses with your friends this is one
such relation this is a very personal
relationship it is extremely important
but yes if you feel that you have given
your best and therefore I think it’s
important to reflect on this finish line
that you encountered in life and if you
happen to encounter
have you given you a hundred percent
into a relationship the problem happens
there when you don’t give you a hundred
percent
and now after this thing is happening
you are saying I wish I had done this I
wish I had bought her a birthday gift
right you have to give a hundred percent
to the relationship beforehand and then
you give a fair tribe doesn’t work it’s
time to move on you have to be honest to
yourself that honesty gives you the
courage to take that call and move on in
life remember relationship failure
should be like bruises not tattoos right
so this is the second finish line that
I’m talking about which is again
circumstantial you don’t plan nobody
plans for it just happens but you have
to overcome this with your inner
strength grit determination I must be a
crazy man right I fail in the final MBBS
I go through this thing after a couple
of years I get married and just when
things seem to be settling in the whole
societal norms I wonder decide and tell
my wife was just six months into
marriage I want to pursue emergency
medicine this I am talking in 1999 what
was the reaction what is the reaction
normal reaction
Casualty medical officer one mother what
is the future you are spoiling why what
are you doing this we spent so much
money on this you come we’ll build a new
hospital for you why are you doing in
life why you want to do all this where
is your career going to go with all
these things if I reflect back at all
the decisions that I have taken in life
there is one thing which was the
life-changing decision for me this was
it this was driven by passion I enjoyed
taking care of patients who were
critically ill I enjoyed the thrill of
getting back somebody was in cardiac
arrest ERISA stating him I enjoyed
taking care of an MI or a snake by 250
kilometers away from the nearest
hospital being the hand of the God and
the look on the face and the eyes of the
man and the grip that this patient would
hold holding a marriage on watch alone
that feeling is second to none in life
and that gave me the courage to take and
follow this as a passion I started this
by saying that I want to create a
mission of establishing the best
emergency department and slowly over the
years it became a vision to establish
emergency medicine in India as a
specialty today when there is a road
traffic accident and an ambulance passes
by and there is a paramedic who steps
down and he’s putting the spine board
and he’s taking that person out
somewhere you take the pride I and my
colleagues must have played some role in
this millions of lives are being saved
because we created emergency medicine
specialty when MCA did not agree to it
the end we did not agree to it no
hospital was willing to take emergency
medicine specialist but we some of us
believed that this makes difference to
the lives of people do hell with whether
a nurse here wants to do it or not and
we did this for 10 years
inspired more than three hundred four
hundred doctors five hundred paramedics
and save millions of lives over the last
decade this is what is called as
creating legacy it is not just about
saying I want to do MD emergency
medicine you are creating a legacy and
that should be your important
goal as you cross any important finish
line that you set out for yourself it
should not be a target or a number there
should be a purpose there should be a
cause there should be value creation
beyond yourself and to all the
stakeholders who are involved to that
next one couple of my colleagues already
talked about this doctor okay got that
up gonna be got there as if there is a
law which says that doctors not supposed
to sing which was in you without dr. be
a mullah heart attack like au sommet de
agate natural doctor right I have gone
through this in every single moment in
meeting but that has only given me more
courage to say that I have to get better
as a singer and as a doctor and I am so
glad that I persevered it I did not
succumb to this finish line which is set
by the society not just society my
colleagues some of them when I became
CEO of a company here come signal up to
Ghana McGaha CEO Byrne ichabod mandible
garnished Ruger there right never get
booked on by what people create is
finished lines lot of this is coming
from envy and because of their
helplessness that they cannot be like
you and more importantly what does it do
to you if you cannot pursue things that
you are passionate about in life life is
not worth leading it let me be very
upfront with you guys you are leading a
very hollow life if you do not have a
passion that you cannot pursue so
singing gave me a lot of self value
creation more importantly I think as
physicians we tend to get desensitized
over time about suffering pain it is
important to keep that human being alive
with you so there should not happen that
10 years ago when somebody cried with
pain you responded in one minute and
after 20 years you take two hours to
respond no even today if there is
somebody who has pain I cannot cross
that patient unless I have managed that
because under Kajal Insogna was in there
and how does that happen when you create
the art the feeling inside you’re alive
you break up tend to remain sensitive
more sensitive towards people this guy
is really crazy I did emergency medicine
I did singing ten years of emergency
medicine establish the department I was
having a good life and one fine day I
decided to do an MBA that too at ëismí
which comes at a huge cost you know that
right
what is the first reaction Charlie’s
humor mr. Hager right and I am so glad
that I took this decision this was the
call I took and there’s a reason I took
that call I felt monotony in my life I
felt less challenged I felt certain
skills guests were lacking in me when I
was discussing with the CEO and other
administrators in the hospital and I
could not pitch my thing across to them
although I was a great doctor
this respected the physician side of
them but he said you make a business
case for this equipment and I could not
I said I want to talk the language that
these people understand I got into MBA
and as expected in the first term I felt
I failed miserably in the class of 65 I
was the only guy who failed in a subject
called statistics it was not easy very
embarrassing at the age of forty 45 just
sitting in a class of 65 you fail into a
subject but that’s what it is it takes
courage you should not be ashamed you
have decided ask for help I asked my
colleagues they spend time with me got
through this and then when we passed out
as one of the candidates was featured
into the ice big coffee table book of
this most influential MBA graduates out
of ice be in the last decades and this
is not self brag am telling if I can do
any one of you can do it lot of us we do
not do it because we don’t do self
reflection create self goals with
to succumb and loot lead a monotonous
life the last finished line that I want
to share with you is having done the MA
after handling like a soldier high
adrenaline job of emergency care one day
I decide to get into this laid-back
senior citizen job of home health care
services a lot of people again came back
and same the same said the same thing
you are crazy Abbey’s heart Kemal Rosati
again right but there was a very simple
thing which made me take this call as I
told you there has to be a larger
purpose I looked at what where medicine
is going reactive medicine does not have
future it will have to be proactive and
preventive look at how our dynamics are
changing the demographics more and more
elderly care problems are coming I said
here is an opportunity here is the blue
ocean that not many people are thinking
it is exactly how emergency medicine was
15 years ago when I took it up I took
that up in 3 years we grew from a
three-member team to a thousand member
team it touch more than 60,000 lives and
we are a 30 Croton our company in three
years
this is called as value creation for
investors and shareholders and what is
the largest value today I get emails
from people in us who write down and say
doc in last 10 years I have not slept
with such less guilt as I have slept
yesterday because your nurses are there
taking care of my father who’s there in
shankarpalli area of Hyderabad they’re
trying to be bigger gratification and
joy of what you have put in your hard
work and sweat so here is again a lesson
for all of you take up finished lines or
goals which are not usual taken up by
others the risk/reward ratio is much
higher there the likely of creating
legacy is much higher there so as I have
shared with you the different finished
lines and how I went through this finish
lines some of this were very challenging
to go through emotionally
also otherwise but you come across so
here’s my take-home message for all of
you first and foremost do not succumb to
the lines that are created by others for
you that’s my first message to all of
you the second important thing is when
you create finished lines for yourself
look for opportunities which are not
explored by others be committed to it
have self believe that is the most
important thing at every step people
will challenge you but the runs that you
do in the past the failures that you
have had in the past the small successes
that you have in the past
give you the courage to be on board this
journey and take those calls it wasn’t
easy for me to be here see a group head
of emergency medicine having close to
100 plus doctors reporting from in the
country to sit in a cave in and have
three member team to start the Apollo
home health care services but you have
to take those calls if you believe that
and if I could do this coming from a
small town from a private medical
college which did not have MCI
recognition having failed couple of
exams you guys are much smarter than me
and you can make a world of difference
to yourself to the population around and
all the stakeholders that could be there
aligned with you in every course that
you take away from here thank you very
much [Applause]
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