There are many haunting lines in #TheOdyssey. This was one of them. “You’re a man who needs to control his fate. But you cannot control this. You must give yourself to the storm. And take your punishment. Give up the fight, give up control and live.”

#Odyssey reminds me to come home to what really matters. I’m still needed at home.

Many haunting lines in The Odyssey. This one is messing up with my head and heart. The Siren song. The temptation of wanting to live another life at the expense of living this one. Does anyone else struggle with this?

I remember the day I had to run to the ICU to do a slash tracheostomy at 1 am on a COVID positive patient with multi-organ failure and airway obstruction. I remember the fear and confusion. I remember the helpers and the teamwork.

My newsfeed today is full of revisionist history and villainisation of one clinician scientist. The COVID years were really tough. And we all did whatever we could with the limited information we had. Stand up for truth and science. Stand up for community. Stand up for fairness.

True or false? What are your positive and negative experiences with leadership?

Teach your kids how to lose a game with grace and dignity.

I have been seeing a lot of aggression and violence on TV from a recent major sporting event. It makes me think that if pride, aggression and violent behaviour can go unchecked in front of millions, what would happen behind closed doors?

Looking through the timeline, it’s getting easier to pick out AI word output, sentences and images. They look and sound alike. It’s getting really boring.

The ability to stay focused for a long time is critical. Teach your kids to pay attention. Drop the heroin-addiction of screens. Play a long game. Do long sports. Read books. Those who can master attention will lead those who can’t.

If you can, go where you’ll grow and you get to help others grow. I know that this is not always possible for many of us. On the other hand, consider staying where you are and influencing culture so everyone can grow.

We are complex human beings. We are designed to draw from multiple wells. Your wellbeing rests on multiple legs of the chair. I made this diagram 7 years ago to remind myself and my colleagues that if one leg is weak, the whole chair will topple over. Strengthen all the legs.

Today we had lunch with a lovely couple. We spoke about life and all of its ups and downs. We live in world where we use noise and chaos to hide our pain and loneliness. I suddenly felt a deep longing for peace and solitude.

This is an uncomfortable fact. We can philosophise & theologise all we like, this is reality. Nothing we can do to cancel this, but there’s a lot we can do in response to this.

Am I the only one seeing this? Why is there no obvious collab yet between Kia and Star Wars? #starwars #kia

Yes, my wife is an elementary school teacher

No American cities made it to the top 10. The top three most livable cities on planet Earth hold 0.11% of the global population. I was born in a city that did not make it to the top 100. I migrated and now live in Australia’s most livable city and the world’s third most livable city.

The algorithm steals your time and your attention. The algorithm cheapens your thoughts and dumbs down your ideas. The algorithm sharpens your tongue and poisons your words. Do not be conformed to the algorithm of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

When you battle it out with tumours for hours you do get blood on your hands and faces sometimes. Head and Neck surgery involve the manipulation of many tumours wrapped around vessels, nerves and other critical structures. That’s why it takes up to 15 years & thousands of operations to produce one.

2057. Time to go home after multiple procedures around the lingual nerve, hypoglossal nerve, great auricular nerve, marginal mandibular nerve, buccal nerve, zygomatic nerve and temporal nerve. Any guesses what procedures were done today?

As a surgeon I see families going through the trauma of surgery. I see many great examples of parenting. I also see many overprotective styles. And I see kids struggle as surgery can often be the first challenge the family encounter. How do you prepare your kids for life in the real world?

Drooling is a modifiable condition. Drooling matters to the children, young adults and families we look after. So it matters to us. Surgery may be beneficial in some patients. Do the right operation with the right technique for the right reason at the right time. #surgeon #surgery #drooling

Surgeons make mistakes too. We’re only human. #ENT #surgery #surgeon #ENTsurgery #ENTsecrets

Today, I am #Belgian! Go #Belgium! #fifa May your game be not intervened by corruption.

0730 Unit meeting 0830 first patient 1055 coffee 1058 patients 1345 coffee & sandwich 1350 patients 1630 airway conference 1700 unit meeting 1800 Phonecall to patients. 1845 admin 2000 leave clinic 27 patients, 8 phonecalls, 3 meetings. Rinse and repeat

To all the teachers, trainers, and coaches out there. What do you think? Have you found students or trainees with a resistance to learning? They know it all and they don’t need any feedback? How do you encourage humility and a learning environment?

Last week I spoke to about 1000 students at the Plenary for Melbourne Medical School Student Conference. This Sunday I will be sharing with my smaller community on Wisdom for Life from an ancient book. Crafting each message has been challenging. What would you say is a core life philosophy for you?

This day, a decade ago, I completed my Adult Head & Neck Surgery, Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship in Canada. It was the best year of my life professionally. I apprenticed under amazing mentors and did hundreds of complex surgical cases. #Canada was just amazing.

Cutting the throats of 2kg infants. Removing the tongue of a 5-month-old due to cancer. Securing the airway of a fetus while still connected to the placenta in an EXIT procedure. Retrieving an inhaled foreign body in a child who had out of hospital arrest.