Dr. Goobie

Sometimes you just have to walk away.

Aug 06, 2024

I have a big anniversary coming up: the time that I quit a brand-new, six-figure job as an attorney after only one day.

While I had good reasons, I didn't tell anyone for a long time. But later, I got the courage to write about it several times. In fact, I’ve written about it a few times in this newsletter.

For a while, this was my claim to fame.

I couldn't open my email or my LinkedIn account without readers tracking me down to say that they were stuck in jobs they wanted to leave and wanted to ask me for advice.

In fact, I’ve long since passed the point where I've spent many more hours talking and writing about the job I quit than I spent actually working there.

This is what was on my mind when I first heard about a neurosurgeon who practiced for nine years and then apparently ditched his career and posted a 48-minute YouTube video explaining why.

He doesn't give his full name -- going only by "Dr. Goobie" in the video, which has more than 10 million views as of this writing (plus millions more on other platforms).

(I can't verify every detail of his story independently, but I haven't seen anyone challenging the particulars. Also, he’s apparently inspired an entire genre of medical professionals who are making their own videos agreeing with him.)

I'll embed the video below, but here are his key points:

First, he says his body was telling him something as he practiced for nearly a decade and gained 40 pounds as a result of stress and lack of sleep.
Next, he became convinced that the U.S. health care system is set up to maximize profit, not patient health.
Finally, he said he realized that the people who fared the best after he treated them were the ones who made lifestyle choices like not eating much meat, exercising to the point where they'd sweat (or, he also noted, going to saunas or living in a warm area), avoiding salt and alcohol, and not smoking -- and who had good support networks and either avoided stress or dealt with it well.

Since none of these factors are things that help the health care system make money, he said, he felt like he was putting in lots of effort toward things that didn't lead to optimal results for patients, and that led to his own personal problems:

I was very unhappy. On the surface it didn't make sense. I was getting paid very well. It was a very well-respected job. I had good colleagues. I had good support. But I was the most unhappy I have ever been, and I couldn't really figure it out for a long time.

Ultimately, he talked it over with his wife, and they decided that for his own health and well-being, he should walk away, and that they'd figure out what to do together.

Important point I’ve made in my own story: He and his wife don't have kids, and I had yet to become a father when my own "quitting" story took place. I think the calculations would be different now, with other people depending on you for support.

Although, his underlying points would still stand.

I'm fortunate in that I haven't spent a lot of time in hospitals. So, while I'll certainly advocate for people to make healthy lifestyle choices like those advocated in the video, I acknowledge that what really strikes me here is how Goobie made his own peace with his career -- or at least, how he's trying to do so.

His video seems like the effort of a man still trying to find his path -- it's literally recorded out in the mountains somewhere, with mosquitos buzzing around him as he talks. He has to switch out his camera battery in the middle.

But there's a message of hope in it, and clearly one that's resonated with a lot of people:

I quit. I quit and I had no plan. But when you let go of something that you're holding too tightly, even though it's hurting you, you're able to pick up something else that's hopefully better for you....
So, that's how an MIT-educated neurosurgeon got to the point where they're unemployed and out in the mountains by himself.

Look, when people would ask me whether they should quit their jobs after I wrote about my own story back in 2018, I rarely had a satisfying answer.

These were permission-seeking questions, and I couldn't possibly give good advice since I didn't know their situations.

But I also thought they probably knew the answer deep down.

There's a reason why we see stories of so many people who were only able to set out on the path they needed to be on after they let go of something else.

Maybe the question isn't whether you have what you need to be successful.

Maybe the real question is what you ought to let go of, what might be holding you back.

Here's the original video. Let me know what you think.

7 other things …

Vice President Kamala Harris is bringing her crash search for a running mate to a close, with a final decision expected over the next 24 hours with a video announcement likely to follow sometime Tuesday, according to people familiar with the selection process. While the precise nature of the rollout is not final, campaign insiders are pointing to President Joe Biden’s 2020 video introduction of Harris as a likely model. A media leak of the pick could upend those plans, they said. (Politico)
Stocks fell sharply on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average headed for its worst day in nearly two years, as worries over the health of the U.S. economy sparked a global market sell-off. (CNBC)
A drone attack from Lebanon injured an Israeli officer and a soldier near Israel’s northern border early Monday after an exchange of fire overnight, Israel’s military said, as the country remains on alert for the major retaliation promised by its adversaries after senior Hamas and Hezbollah officials were killed last week. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts continued over the weekend in an attempt to defuse regional tensions and avert an all-out war beyond the current conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, where more than 2 million Palestinians remain under Israeli siege and bombardment. (Washington Post)
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned "far-right thuggery" and said perpetrators would face the full force of the law after days of violent anti-immigration protests culminated in hotels being targeted. Violent protests have erupted in towns and cities across Britain after three girls were killed in a knife attack at a children's dance class. The murders were seized on by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim groups as misinformation spread that the suspected attacker was an immigrant and a radical Islamist. Police have said the suspect was born in Britain and are not treating it as a terrorist incident. (Reuters)
Hurricane Debby made landfall near Steinhatchee in Florida's Big Bend region early Monday. According to the National Hurricane Center, the Category 1 storm came ashore with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and is slowly moving north. It is expected to dump significant amounts of rain across the Southeast and bring a potentially “life threatening” storm surge to parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina over the next several days. (Yahoo News)
The number of Chinese couples who got married in the first half of this year fell to its lowest level since 2013, official data showed, as more young people deferred nuptials amid a slowing economy and a rise in living costs. The number of marriages and the related striking number of births is likely to upset policymakers trying hard to boost the population. About 3.43 million couples tied the knot in the first six months of the year, a drop of 498,000 from the same year-ago period. (Reuters)
In what may very well be her final Olympics routine ever, Simone Biles went out in style at the 2024 Paris Olympics, taking home a silver medal in the women’s floor exercise final on Monday, Aug. 5. The second place finish marked the first silver medal for Biles, 27, in Paris, and her 11th overall Olympic medal. (People)

Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.

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