Advice to students: Cultivate a skill or hobby in parallel with your academic duties. Finding self-worth in a goal other than “work” is instrumental in warding off burnout, and it will also make you a happier, more fulfilled, and more well-rounded person.

For me, in med school, this was learning to cook my mom’s and grandmother’s Hyderabadi dishes well and honing my skills in frame drumming. It kept me clear-headed and de-stressed, and cooking great food has been a nice way to make my wife happy since I got married last year.

As an aside, many med students are extremely one-dimensional, which is unfortunate, but I think it also predisposes them to burning out. If you’re always comparing yourself to others by this one academic metric, you’re destined for dissatisfaction. There’s always someone smarter.

Cultivating a skill or a craft is also something that will come in handy when you interview for jobs and postgraduate programs. People are genuinely interested in what you do other than “work.” You should be, too.