Theory isn't good enough

“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.”

Albert Einstein

I can rote memorise formulas and it’ll get me an A (I’m speaking from experience - it’s how I got through high school). I can say with certainty ‘X means Y, so therefore Z is the answer’. Textbook knowledge doesn’t have ‘exceptions’, everything makes intuitive sense.

But real-life is sort of like that stereotypical cruel aunt who shows NO sympathy and tries to make your life hell…

Compared to textbooks, real-life is unpredictable, highly personalised and can sniff out bullshit from kilometres away. If you don’t know your stuff, you don’t know it.

“Ma’am, can you make an incision near the spleen please?”

“Um please give me just a second-“

*Hurriedly grabs 1st year anatomy book volume 6*

“Ye-yes the image looks a bit different but I think I’ve got it”

All professions have something in common…

They deal with people.

People with all communication styles, cultures, boundaries, beliefs, which means you need to shape shift that theory from class into something RELEVANT for that client/patient/boss/grandma.

If you cannot do that, then this is probably where you’d excel: