Better: a Surgeon’s Notes on Performance

“What does it take to be good at something in which failure is so easy, so effortless?” This is the main question that ‘Better: a Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande’ attempts to answer. It lays down three core requirements for success in medicine, and by extension in life. Each of these is beautifully explained through stories of real doctors fighting for excellence in very real scenarios. 

Diligence - attention to detail, Doing the right thing, and Ingenuity - reflecting on failure and constantly searching for new solutions

The best thing about this book is that it is written by a surgeon. Stakes are really high when a surgeon is at work. Mistakes are very easy and expensive. So when a surgeon talks about errors, obstacles, and failures and ways to minimize, and overcome them, you listen. 

This is one of the books that has had a profound impact on me. I can’t recommend it enough. It is logical, methodical, and surprisingly, inspirational. Though the book looks at performance from a surgeon’s perspective, it is not hard to extrapolate the learnings to your field of work. I first read it almost 10 years ago, but it has stayed with me.

The book is filled with rich stories that highlight the importance of the three core requirements mentioned earlier. But my favorite part of the book is the Afterword. The author gives five suggestions to help you become a ‘positive deviant’. 

Ask unscripted questions - I love this one. Ask people unscripted questions. 

“You start to remember the people you see, instead of letting them all blur together. And sometimes you discover the unexpected.”

This is a life skill that needs to be learned. Be genuinely curious. You will find something about the other person, and maybe something about yourself too.

Don’t Complain - There is so much in our lives that we could keep complaining about. Ranting or complaining is one of the easiest things to do. At any point in time you will have the sympathy of at least half of your audience. But it brings us down. More importantly, it doesn’t solve anything. 

Count - The main thing that this suggestion signifies for me is that one should analyse and understand their work. It follows that the work should be interesting. For someone like me, it means keeping an eye out for manual work that feels like a chore. Once you notice something like this automate it. If you are not counting (paying attention to) the amount of manual repetitive work that you are doing, how can you be efficient. 

“One should be a scientist in this world. In the simplest terms, this means one should count something.” 

“If you count something interesting, you will learn something interesting.” 

Write - Writing forces you to think. Writing really helps me think clearly when I am overwhelmed with information or confused about a problem. More importantly…

“The published word is a declaration of membership in that community and also of a willingness to contribute something meaningful to it.”

Change - Be open to change your thinking and yourself when new information presents itself. As thinking beings, this is one of the most precious gifts we have received. The ability to be aware. 

The phone wallpaper I created in 2015, after reading this book.