The Power of NO! “I realized for the first time that when I said NO, I was in actuality saying YES to something else, and until I discovered the ability to honestly say NO, I could never ever say YES to anything” In my position every year I mentor one or two students who are applying to medical school. These students shadow me 8 hours each day as I move through clinic, hospital and nursing home in my daily rounds and we have this informal continuous dialogue on all things pertaining to the field of medicine and humanity in general. Last year, one of my students asked me a very curious question while we were having coffee at the doctor’s lounge in the hospital, about whether the word YES had more power than the word NO. This is the story I told him…. “For the first three years of my practice, I refused to take a single day of break from work” I said as I sipped my coffee. “My pager was on 24/7. My patients could and did reach me at all hours of the day and n