Formation — A Personal Syllabus

Ordered Excellence

Not "read more" — become the kind of person for whom success becomes a form of service. Twelve months, seven dimensions, one daily protocol that turns reading into practiced behavior at the OR table, the desk, and home.

"How do I become the kind of person for whom success becomes a form of service?"

THE SEVEN DIMENSIONSWhat this formation is built around

1

Inner command

Calm, courage, humility, self-control.

2

Physician's humanity

Suffering, mortality, compassion, patient narratives.

3

Builder's judgment

Leadership, decisions, institutions, long-term strategy.

4

Researcher's mind

Rigor, skepticism, memory, writing, truth-seeking.

5

Family man's wisdom

Love, presence, limits, meaning beyond achievement.

6

Brazilian intellectual's depth

Brazil, language, culture, public life.

7

AI-age humanist

Preserving attention, judgment, ethics, agency.

THE ARC · ADAPTIVE, NOT FIXEDTwelve months

Order and depth flex based on learning records and what life throws — a hard complication may pull Month 2 forward; a career decision may pull Month 3. Each month = 2–3 core texts + one written practice.

01

Inner command

Marcus Aurelius Meditations · Epictetus Enchiridion · Osler Aequanimitas

PracticeDaily morning Stoic note before work

02

Mortality & medicine

Tolstoy The Death of Ivan Ilyich · Gawande Being Mortal · Charon "Narrative Medicine" (JAMA 2001)

PracticeAfter clinic, write one patient's illness story (not disease summary)

03

Effectiveness & vocation

Drucker "Managing Oneself" · Drucker The Effective Executive · Christensen "How Will You Measure Your Life?"

Practice10-year contribution statement

04

Literature & self-deception

Machado Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas · Shakespeare Macbeth · Dostoevsky Brothers Karamazov (selected chapters)

PracticeIdentify one ego-pattern in yourself

05

Decision-making

Kahneman Thinking, Fast and Slow · Gigerenzer Risk Savvy · Duke Thinking in Bets

PracticeStart a surgical/research decision journal

06

Family & limits

Burkeman Four Thousand Weeks · Pieper Leisure: The Basis of Culture · Tolstoy "Family Happiness"

PracticeDefine non-negotiable family rituals

07

Brazil & institution-building

Sérgio Buarque Raízes do Brasil · Nabuco Minha Formação · Darcy Ribeiro O Povo Brasileiro (sel.)

PracticeEssay: what makes building a serious skull base center in Brazil uniquely hard and uniquely meaningful?

08

Research craft

Feynman "Cargo Cult Science" · Ioannidis "Why Most Published Research Findings Are False" · Zinsser On Writing Well

PracticeRewrite one manuscript introduction with brutal clarity

09

AI & attention

Carr The Shallows · Newport Deep Work · Weizenbaum Computer Power and Human Reason

PracticeWrite your rules for AI use without cognitive outsourcing

10

Surgical growth

Gawande "Personal Best" · ESRT/mindfulness literature · surgical coaching literature

PracticeOne case/month structured video or mental review

11

Great fiction

Guimarães Rosa Grande Sertão: Veredas · Borges (selected stories) · Clarice A Hora da Estrela

PracticeOne page on courage, language, and ambiguity

12

Integration

Frankl Man's Search for Meaning · Hadot Philosophy as a Way of Life · Lewis The Abolition of Man

PracticePersonal "rule of life" for the next year

E

Elective track — Philosophical literature

Goethe · Nietzsche · Kant · Dostoevsky

InterleaveAfter M04 (self-deception → Raskolnikov), after M09 (build-urge → Faust's pact), before M12 (eternal return as the year audit)

THE SPINE · RUNS CONTINUOUSLYThe daily protocol

Regardless of month — the reading feeds it, not the other way around.

Morning (5 min)

Read one paragraph (Marcus, Epictetus, Osler, or Frankl). Write: "Today I will practice ______."

Pre-op (2 min)

  1. What matters most in this case?
  2. What can go wrong?
  3. What is my first rescue plan?
  4. What emotional state do I need to bring?
  5. What must I not let ego decide?

Post-op (3 min)

  1. What went well?
  2. What did I learn?
  3. What should I do differently?
  4. What must I accept?
  5. Who needs communication now?

Evening (5 min)

  1. Did I become more or less the man I want to be today?
  2. Was I present at home?
  3. Did ambition serve love, or compete with it?
  4. What deserves gratitude?
  5. What is tomorrow's one essential thing?