That first attending paycheck changes everything, and not always for the better. In this episode I break down lifestyle inflation: how a sudden jump in income quietly turns into a stack of obligations that hand your hard-earned freedom right back, this time to credit cards and debt instead of a residency program. I get into why physicians are uniquely at risk, how the golden handcuffs form, and why high income doesn't mean high disposable income.

This one is for new attendings, residents about to graduate, and any physician who wants to build a great life on their income without ending up trapped by it. I cover the ego trap, the purchases that actually commit you, the real cost of waiting to invest, and a set of practical filters you can use before your next big purchase.

0:00 The First Attending Paycheck

1:14 How Lifestyle Inflation Actually Happens

2:13 Why Doctors Are at Higher Risk

3:25 The Ego Trap and Spending to Impress

5:32 The Purchases That Trap You

6:42 The Cost of Waiting to Invest

7:54 Don't Make Being a Doctor Your Identity

10:33 Practical Ways to Stay Free

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🎙YouTube: https://youtu.be/VaYcoo7epNk

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Personal

💌 Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thezeja.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📸 Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🐦 Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🎵 Tiktok - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🎙Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3xJGTFWMNcMxzQsN4Be0Aj⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📽️ YouTube-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfIedEQ6vWfjkcvYLeTXSaw

👔 LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ze-ja-672028285/

🤝Community: https://www.skool.com/the-second-pursuit-6189

About Me

I am a physician (M.D.) practicing a mix of hospitalist medicine, and urgent care. I learned a lot in my journey to becoming a physician and about more than just medicine. Follow along as I reflect and teach what I wish I knew, which for the most part, is the stuff you don’t learn in school.

Get In Touch:Happy to chat, reach out via above options.

Medical school teaches you the Krebs cycle, but it never teaches you how to handle the difficult patients, family members, colleagues, and attendings who will define your worst days on the job. In this episode I break down the people skills that actually keep you sane and functional in medicine, from staying calm under fire to setting boundaries that protect you and your staff.

Whether you are a premed, med student, resident, or early attending, this is the skill that will carry you farther than any textbook. We cover how to reframe difficult interactions, get on the same team as an angry family member, deal with lazy co-residents, and the nuclear option I reserve for the truly brutal days.

0:00 Doctors Are People Too

0:55 Why People Skills Matter Most

2:42 Reframe and Don't Assume Malice

4:35 Staying Calm With Difficult Patients

6:18 Getting on the Same Team

8:27 Boundaries and Knowing Your Options

11:04 Handling Difficult Colleagues

14:24 Never Chase Approval

15:11 The Nuclear Option

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🎙YouTube: https://youtu.be/VaYcoo7epNk

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Personal

💌 Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thezeja.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📸 Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🐦 Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🎵 Tiktok - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🎙Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3xJGTFWMNcMxzQsN4Be0Aj⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📽️ YouTube-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfIedEQ6vWfjkcvYLeTXSaw

👔 LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ze-ja-672028285/

🤝Community: https://www.skool.com/the-second-pursuit-6189

About Me

I am a physician (M.D.) practicing a mix of hospitalist medicine, and urgent care. I learned a lot in my journey to becoming a physician and about more than just medicine. Follow along as I reflect and teach what I wish I knew, which for the most part, is the stuff you don’t learn in school.

Get In Touch:Happy to chat, reach out via above options.

Burnout gets treated like a personal failing in medicine, something you're supposed to meditate or wellness-seminar your way out of. It isn't. This episode breaks down why burnout is a systems problem first and a personal one second, what it actually looks like day to day, and what you can realistically control to prevent and treat it.

This one's for anyone in medicine at any stage, med students, residents, and especially attendings, who's felt flat, exhausted, or numb and assumed something was wrong with them.

0:00 The wrong question we ask ourselves

1:02 Why burnout is common at every career stage

1:54 The training story that sets you up to burn out

4:04 What burnout actually feels like

5:16 Prevention starts with controlling your inputs

6:55 Boundaries, schedule, and saying no

8:00 Why your finances change your relationship to the job

10:08 The stoic exercise for when you're already burnt out

12:14 Remembering medicine is a part of your life, not all of it

Follow Along:

💌 Website/Newsletter: https://www.pathofadoctor.com

🎙YouTube: https://youtu.be/VaYcoo7epNk

🤝 Community - https://www.skool.com/path-of-a-doctor-community-2383/about?ref=5155176e9b914782b3983a512f24b00a

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Personal

💌 Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thezeja.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📸 Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🐦 Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🎵 Tiktok - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🎙Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3xJGTFWMNcMxzQsN4Be0Aj⁠⁠⁠⁠

📽️ YouTube-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfIedEQ6vWfjkcvYLeTXSaw

👔 LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ze-ja-672028285/

🤝Community: https://www.skool.com/the-second-pursuit-6189

About Me

I am a physician (M.D.) practicing a mix of hospitalist medicine, and urgent care. I learned a lot in my journey to becoming a physician and about more than just medicine. Follow along as I reflect and teach what I wish I knew, which for the most part, is the stuff you don’t learn in school.

Get In Touch:Happy to chat, reach out via above options.

If you're a new attending or about to finish residency, this one is for you. I cover the things nobody sits you down and explains before you cross the line from resident to staff physician: how stress changes rather than disappears, why saying yes to everything will cost you your schedule and your sanity, how to think about flexibility in your contracts, and why your finances need more attention than anyone is probably giving them right now.

This is the conversation I wish someone had with me on the last day of residency. Whether you're freshly graduated or a few years in and something isn't sitting right, these are the fundamentals worth knowing.

0:00 Introduction

0:39 Stress Doesn't Go Away

2:37 Learning to Be Selfish

4:00 Not Everything Is an Emergency

5:28 Don't Make Medicine Your Whole Identity

7:35 Protect Your Flexibility

9:53 Financial Traps New Attendings Fall Into

12:45 What's Coming Next

Follow Along:

💌 Website/Newsletter: https://www.pathofadoctor.com

🎙YouTube: https://youtu.be/VaYcoo7epNk

🤝 Community - https://www.skool.com/path-of-a-doctor-community-2383/about?ref=5155176e9b914782b3983a512f24b00a

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Personal

💌 Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thezeja.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📸 Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🐦 Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🎵 Tiktok - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🎙Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3xJGTFWMNcMxzQsN4Be0Aj⁠⁠⁠

📽️ YouTube-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfIedEQ6vWfjkcvYLeTXSaw

👔 LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ze-ja-672028285/

🤝Community: https://www.skool.com/the-second-pursuit-6189

About Me

I am a physician (M.D.) practicing a mix of hospitalist medicine, and urgent care. I learned a lot in my journey to becoming a physician and about more than just medicine. Follow along as I reflect and teach what I wish I knew, which for the most part, is the stuff you don’t learn in school.

Get In Touch:Happy to chat, reach out via above options.

This video is for medical students who want the behind-the-scenes playbook that no one hands you on day one. Not study tips, not exam strategies. The real stuff: how medicine actually works as a social and professional environment, what differentiates students who get opportunities from those who do not, and how to build the reputation and relationships that will follow you into residency.

Whether you are just starting out or already in your clinical years, these are the frameworks and mindset shifts that will change how you show up and how much you actually get out of the experience.

0:00 Med School Is High School

0:38 The Comparison Trap

1:42 How to Carry Yourself

2:07 Medicine Is Corporate Culture

3:02 Residency Applications Start Now

4:27 Soft Skills and Resourcefulness

6:36 Think One Level Ahead

8:34 Get Something From Every Rotation

10:47 Protecting Your Time and Enjoying the Ride

Follow Along:

💌 Website/Newsletter: https://www.pathofadoctor.com

🎙YouTube: https://youtu.be/VaYcoo7epNk

🤝 Community - https://www.skool.com/path-of-a-doctor-community-2383/about?ref=5155176e9b914782b3983a512f24b00a

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Personal

💌 Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thezeja.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

📸 Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🐦 Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠

🎵 Tiktok - ⁠⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠⁠

🎙Podcast: ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3xJGTFWMNcMxzQsN4Be0Aj⁠⁠

📽️ YouTube-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfIedEQ6vWfjkcvYLeTXSaw

👔 LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ze-ja-672028285/

🤝Community: https://www.skool.com/the-second-pursuit-6189

About Me

I am a physician (M.D.) practicing a mix of hospitalist medicine, and urgent care. I learned a lot in my journey to becoming a physician and about more than just medicine. Follow along as I reflect and teach what I wish I knew, which for the most part, is the stuff you don’t learn in school.

Get In Touch:Happy to chat, reach out via above options.

A premed student shadowed me recently, and it reminded me of everything nobody told me when I was in their shoes.

In this episode, I break down what med schools are actually looking for once you have cleared the GPA and MCAT cutoff. Spoiler: it is not more grades.

We cover:

• Why GPA and MCAT only get your foot in the door

• The physician roles framework and how to use it in premed

• Depth over breadth in clinical exposure, research, and volunteering

• Why you are a product and how to market yourself

• Using unfair advantages the right way

• Why your premed years do not have to be miserable

0:00: Introduction and Why This Video Exists

1:14: The Physician Roles Framework

2:49: Clinical Exposure: Depth Over Breadth

5:02: Research and Volunteering Done Right

7:01: You Are the Product: The Marketing Mindset

9:22: Unfair Advantages and How to Use Them

11:29: Stop Making Premed Harder Than It Has to Be

Follow Along:

💌 Website/Newsletter: https://www.pathofadoctor.com

🎙YouTube: https://youtu.be/VaYcoo7epNk

🤝 Community - https://www.skool.com/path-of-a-doctor-community-2383/about?ref=5155176e9b914782b3983a512f24b00a

📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/pathofadoctor

🐦 Twitter/X - https://twitter.com/pathofadoctor

🎵 Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@pathofadoctor

👔 LinkedIn- www.linkedin.com/in/path-of-a-doctor-725238191

Personal

💌 Website: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.thezeja.com⁠⁠⁠

📸 Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🐦 Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠

🎵 Tiktok - ⁠⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠⁠

🎙Podcast: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3xJGTFWMNcMxzQsN4Be0Aj⁠

📽️ YouTube-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfIedEQ6vWfjkcvYLeTXSaw

👔 LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ze-ja-672028285/

🤝Community: https://www.skool.com/the-second-pursuit-6189

About Me

I am a physician (M.D.) practicing a mix of hospitalist medicine, and urgent care . I learned a lot in my journey to becoming a physician and about more than just medicine. Follow along as I reflect and teach what I wish I knew, which for the most part, is the stuff you don’t learn in school.

Get In Touch:Happy to chat, reach out via above options.

Why after all those years of training and work do you feel so empty?

00:00 Introduction: The Unspoken Struggles of Doctors

01:59 The Achievement Trap in Medicine

05:37 Redefining Success and Finding Fulfillment

07:24 Treatment: Addressing the Root Causes

11:37 Rebuilding Your Identity Beyond Medicine

16:08 Conclusion: Building a Life, Not Just a Career

Follow Along:

🤝 Community - https://www.skool.com/path-of-a-doctor-community-2383/about?ref=5155176e9b914782b3983a512f24b00a

📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/pathofadoctor

🐦 Twitter/X - https://twitter.com/pathofadoctor

🎵 Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@pathofadoctor

💌 Website/Newsletter: https://www.pathofadoctor.com

🎙YouTube: https://youtu.be/VaYcoo7epNk

Personal

💌 Website: ⁠⁠https://www.thezeja.com⁠⁠

📸 Instagram - ⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠

⁠⁠⁠🐦 Twitter - ⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠

🎵 Tiktok - ⁠⁠  / thezeja  ⁠⁠

🎙Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3xJGTFWMNcMxzQsN4Be0Aj

About Me

I am a physician (M.D.) practicing a mix of hospitalist medicine, and urgent care . I learned a lot in my journey to becoming a physician and about more than just medicine. Follow along as I reflect and teach what I wish I knew, which for the most part, is the stuff you don’t learn in school.

Get In Touch:Happy to chat, reach out via above options.

Let's talk about how to make the best of residency!

Follow Along:

🤝 Community - https://www.skool.com/path-of-a-doctor-community-2383/about?ref=5155176e9b914782b3983a512f24b00a

📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/pathofadoctor

🐦 Twitter/X - https://twitter.com/pathofadoctor

🎵 Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@pathofadoctor

💌 Website/Newsletter: https://www.pathofadoctor.com

🎙YouTube: https://youtu.be/VaYcoo7epNk

Personal

💌 Website: ⁠https://www.thezeja.com⁠

📸 Instagram - ⁠  / thezeja  

⁠🐦 Twitter - ⁠  / thezeja  ⁠

🎵 Tiktok - ⁠  / thezeja  ⁠

🎙Podcast: ⁠https://anchor.fm/tsp3⁠

About Me

I am a physician (M.D.) practicing a mix of hospitalist medicine, and urgent care . I learned a lot in my journey to becoming a physician and about more than just medicine. Follow along as I reflect and teach what I wish I knew, which for the most part, is the stuff you don’t learn in school.

Get In Touch:Happy to chat, reach out via above options.

After two years the platform and I are back and excited to get going!

Follow Along:

📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/pathofadoctor

🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pathofadoctor

🎵 Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@pathofadoctor

💌 Website/Newsletter: https://www.pathofadoctor.com

🎙YouTube: https://youtu.be/VaYcoo7epNk

Personal💌 Website: https://www.thezeja.com

📸 Instagram -   / thezeja  

🐦 Twitter -   / thezeja  

🎵 Tiktok -   / thezeja  

🎙Podcast: https://anchor.fm/tsp3

About Me

I am a physician (M.D.) practicing a mix of hospitalist medicine, and urgent care . I learned a lot in my journey to becoming a physician and about more than just medicine. Follow along as I reflect and teach what I wish I knew, which for the most part, is the stuff you don’t learn in school.

Get In Touch:

Happy to chat, reach out via above options.