04/11/2025
The one thing I never thought mattered… until I saw it change my patients’ results.
When I was training to become a laparoscopic surgeon, I had this one constant worry.
It wasn’t about instruments, or long hours, or even the complexity of the cases.
It was sutures.
Because no matter how good we are with the tools, if our stitches are not great, it affects the patient’s outcome directly.
I wasn’t naturally great at it.
So I did what needed to be done.
I sat with mentors and carefully watched them in LIVE surgeries. I travelled across countries, joining workshops, quietly observing their fingers, their grip, their hand movements.
I wanted to understand the nuances — the things I didn’t learn in lectures or even during my master’s.
And that’s when I noticed the importance of something we hear so often, but rarely take seriously.
If a surgeon has to be good, their left and right hands should work like partners.
I had never realized how much of a difference this made.
But when I saw my mentors switch seamlessly between hands during a tricky angle, it was like watching music… smooth, effortless, precise.
And it didn’t come naturally. They had trained themselves for years to use both their hands.
That’s when I realized I had been sitting on a gift I never paid attention to.
Since childhood, my left hand worked almost as well as my right.
I never thought it was important.
But in that moment, I realized I could build it into a skill.
So I did.
By consciously training both hands, stitch by stitch, knot by knot.
Slowly, I started noticing a shift. The sutures looked cleaner, the tension was right, the results were better, and my patients healed faster.
That’s when I understood something I want to share with you.
We all have some natural ability.
Sometimes it’s obvious. Sometimes it hides in the background, so normal to us that we don’t even notice it.
For me, it was ambidexterity… being able to use both hands equally well.
I never thought much of it.
But when I started developing it, I saw how it changed the way I worked… and the results for my patients.
For you, it could be something else.
Maybe you’re naturally good at explaining complex things in a simple way.
Maybe you can calm people down in stressful situations.
Maybe you’re good at spotting small details others miss.
These things may not look “big.”
They may not even feel valuable at first.
But when we build on them, they turn into our edge, the thing that separates us, the thing that helps us deliver real value to others.
Most of us only double down on what comes easy and ignore the quiet gifts we already have.
But I believe growth, real growth, happens when we notice those gifts and put in the work to make them stronger.
Because sometimes, the ability we almost ignored… is the one that ends up making the biggest difference
