Dr Michael Taylor

13/10/2026

09/10/2026

100000 patients taught me everything.

The first hundred, you follow the textbook.

By a thousand, you’ve watched the textbook be wrong. We commonly say, ‘the patient didn’t read the textbook.’

By ten thousand, very little surprises you.

Somewhere after that you stop counting and you start seeing the same story come in again and again: everything seemed fine, ‘he was good’, ‘he was never sick’. Then a sudden shock leaving all involved in disbelief.

‘How could this happen to me?’ The taboo and stigma felt from cancer, HIV and other diagnoses that shake one’s core and the extending web that envelops and eventually drains the family.

You ultimately see where the fight is won and it’s years before the ward.

I’m Dr Michael Taylor.

You should learn what to check before you feel.

Follow for more.

08/10/2026

06/10/2026

Points to consider:

1. Personal growth.

2. Experiences: relationships, travel, career.

3. Social Contribution: What did you give or make better by existing?

06/10/2026

Screening only helps if it’s done.

You know how this goes. The imaging center can do your mammogram on Thursday at eight. Thursday is the quarterly review. You move it to next month and that makes three times.

Studies from many countries have looked at why women miss breast cancer screening. The most common reasons were practical: forgetting to book, appointment times that didn’t suit and work commitments. In England the NHS asked 1,074 women who had missed their appointment. Three in ten said it was hard to get a convenient time.

So treat it like a meeting that doesn’t move. Ask for the first appointment of the day, before the meetings start. Put it in the calendar with the same emphasis as the quarterly review.

When to start and how often depends on your own risk. The main guidelines don’t all agree on it.

Ask your doctor which schedule fits you. If breast or ovarian cancer runs in your family, say so. It may change the answer.

Today, find out when you’re due and give it a date.

Source: Hutton G et al. Understanding barriers to breast screening: an online survey of non-attenders. BMC Public Health. 2025;25:2509.

06/10/2026

If your clearest thinking only shows up after nine at night, look at your calendar first.

You can test this with a pen. Write the letters A to J, then the numbers 1 to 10 and time yourself. Then do it again but alternate them: A1, B2, C3.

I tried it on camera. The two separate lines took me about 16 seconds and the alternating line took about 25. I was writing the same letters and the same numbers both times. The extra 9 seconds came from switching between them.

Lab studies find the same thing. People are slower right after they switch tasks and they tend to make more mistakes. If you know the switch is coming the cost shrinks but some of it stays.

Now look at a day of back-to-back meetings with messages in every gap. You are switching all day. By nine at night most of that has stopped, which may be part of why thinking feels easier then. Your body clock can play a part too.

If you fix your day and your focus still feels poor, see a doctor. Sleep, mood and other health problems can all affect focus.

This week, protect one hour before lunch. Close the door, turn off your phone and messages, then compare that hour with your evenings.

Source: Monsell S. Task switching. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2003;7(3):134-140.