Dr. Sam Lam Plastic Surgery Forum

Just a quick intro

I am a young cosmetic medical doctor (26), writer, and entrepreneur [wannabe] living in Europe now (but originally American). I just want to say- Dr Lam is da man (that could be the site motto - it even rhymes!)

I love your philosophy, aesthetic approach, knowledge and energy. Funnily enough I stumbled upon the site via a youtube video about a year ago, only had a glance then, but just found it again today entirely by chance!

Funny how these things happen.

Anyway I've just bookmarked the site on my bookmark toolbar for easy access and look forward to learning and contributing here, love the forum, the people, the vibe, etc.

Vince

thanks vince. i'm glad i can help a fellow physician. i think you are a first!

heh, i'm not really a 'traditional' doc. Just 2 years out of med school, and I can't stand hospitals anymore so I left the NHS. I actually only practice part time now after getting taken on by a European medical cosmetic group. It pays the bills

I probably won't pursue plastic/cosmetic surgery as a career even though I have an interest. Don't think I'll make it through, can't handle beauracracy and not too academic. I do occasionally wonder if i'm making a mistake after investing the last 8 years through med school and doing training, but I've just got much more interest in building my own business online - my passion has always been in startups

But you certainly have inspired me to reconsider my options!! In the mean time as I'm still doing non-invasive cosmetic treatments it certainly helps to learn as much as I can to do the best I can!

vince, i only have one advice: follow your passion. success comes through that. everything else is a fraud in my opinion. follow your heart. as you may surmise, this is not a business for me. it is everything i love in life and stand for as a human being. if you feel those words are just a marketing comment, you don't know me. my staff believe in me because i believe in my vision. read my blogs this coming week on vision (sneak peek for all you out there who read my blogs).

hey dr lam! wow, thanks for the quick response and great advice. i really appreciate it.

i 100% agree about doing what u're passionate about - and in doing great at whatever you choose to do. and actually i can feel your passion about what you do. I'm just envious that you have found that thing, because I know myself and others who are far from having 'discovered' their true passion. I've always been a fast learner, picked things up and got good at them then got bored I'm like quicksilver when it comes to deciding on what I want to do, and I am concerned that will be my limitation to succeed.

A mentor of mine said you just don't really know your 'true' passions until you're in your early/mid 30s though. Who knows if that's true or not. BTW my parents are of a very traditional asian background (i'm originally from hong kong but lived abroad most of my life, having left home when I was in my early teens) I suppose I just feel a certain pressure to 'succeed' and do well- i'm sure you can relate!

I never looked at any 'mentors' there whose lives 10 years down the line I envisioned myself living. Hence, my decision to eliminate, against all logic and pressure - as you can imagine! I have some interest towards anti-aging/life extension right now and think I may look at going more towards biotech. At the same time I must admit, being financially free and having a great lifestyle is also very important to me. I don't want to worry about money, so that I can focus on the things I love doing. Maybe it's just a dichotomy. A problem, because I am not really sure what I want to do for the rest of my life.

If you have any thoughts on this from your own experience (but it sounds to me like you just discovered this to be your passion and didn't had spend much time 'searching'? correct me if I'm wrong though ) I'd love to hear. But this stuff is irrelevant to ur site, so I won't bore you It was just interesting because I restumbled upon the site today and here's Dr Lam giving me advice on something that's been on my mind for a very long time. Very cool.

I look forward to reading your post on vision and such. I'm sure it'll be a great read, I've been reading almost every post in the forum for the last copule of hours and think I'm truly addicted (better stop before I end up booking to have surgery!!)

no problem, vince. your comments are not superfluous or irrelevant. why do you think i created a section called "tell me about your passions"? i have created the most irrelevant section that in my opinion is absolutely the most relevant. it gets to the heart and soul of who we are as people. it also celebrates our loves and passions and hopefully we can find a common ground as part of this worldwide community.

i am from HK too. came over when i was 3. i would say that i actively pursued what i wanted but also it just did sort of fall in my lap. i was more interested in pursuing head and neck surgery until i realized my love was in facial cosmetic surgery. although the body is interesting, i always loved the face because it was just more interesting to me. now, i have married my love for the face with my love for aesthetics. i am confident things will work out for you because you seem to be a genuine person with your heart in the right place and you are not just sitting around. those who are open to their future will have their future. those who are closed to their future most likely won't recognize that future if it slammed them in the face!

you know, what you said there reminds me of something else steve job said. he said that everything that happens, happens for a reason, more specifically to the days where he ate free meals at hare krishna temples, saying it was the best days of his life, to learning how to design font at university, at the time seemingly irrelevant, only years later to realise how it fit the picture when it came to designing the first apple computers.

In a strange way, getting into non-invasive work was also very 'synchronous' for me - the events that led up to this, even to me posting on your forum, right here right now. But that shouldn't be an excuse for letting it passively come to me. I'm on an active mission with this, actually forking out ALOT of $ on a 'life coach' (she's actually a consultant for BP, a friend of a friend, so I'm still consider it as a big discount!). She seems to think while my short term goals of having an online passive income align up with my more immediate lifestyle of having time/mobility/lifestyle - my longer term goals of creating change in the world will require an investment of actively pursuing an entry into biotech/pharma/genetics.

No idea how it will work out, as the vision I have for myself 10-15 years from now is almost ridiculous and more of a day dream... I'm embarrasingly ambitious but also very fluctuant and always changing my mind... my weakness.

I will certainly keep you posted

wow, no wonder why we are synchronous. keep your dreams big and your passions bigger! i can't wait to hear from you in 10 years (or less)!