- With Mayo Clinic oncologist
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
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Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
Edward Creagan, M.D.
"The magic of the electronic village is transforming health information. The mouse and keyboard have extended the stethoscope to the 500 million people now online." — Dr. Edward Creagan
The power of the medium inspires Dr. Edward Creagan as he searches for ways to share Mayo Clinic's vast resources with the general public.
Dr. Creagan, a Newark, N.J., native, is board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hospice medicine and palliative care. He has been with Mayo Clinic since 1973 and in 1999 was president of the staff of Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Creagan, a professor of medical oncology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, was honored in 1995 with the John and Roma Rouse Professor of Humanism in Medicine Award and in 1992 with the Distinguished Mayo Clinician Award, Mayo's highest recognition. He has been recognized with the American Cancer Society Professorship of Clinical Oncology.
He describes his areas of special interest as "wellness as a bio-psycho-social-spiritual-financial model" and fitness, mind-body connection, aging and burnout.
Dr. Creagan has been an associate medical editor with Mayo Clinic's health information websites and has edited publications and CD-ROMs and reviewed articles.
"We the team of (the website) provide reliable, easy-to-understand health and wellness information so that each of us can have productive, meaningful lives," he says.
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Stress blog
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July 20, 2011
Focus is essential for success
By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
In the late 1990s, one of the top-ranked golfers in the world had a seemingly insurmountable lead in the Masters Tournament, one of the most prestigious golfing events on the planet. However, he underwent an emotional and psychological unraveling, and ended up losing the tournament. He never fully recovered from that experience and never again won a major tournament.
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In contrast, one of the youngest professional players recently won the U.S. Open Championship, which is also a prestigious event. The commentators made two insightful observations about his victory:
- During the four days of the tournament, he had a stoic, almost monastic, demeanor. He had very little engagement with the crowds. He focused on the task at hand and blocked out the distractions.
- He didn't agonize over each shot but swung within 10 seconds of addressing the ball.
So what's the lesson here? What I take away is the importance of putting on psychological blinders to filter out extraneous events and fully focus on your task. The smart phone, the electronic tablet and all the other gadgets are wonderful — but only if they get you where you want to go. Mindlessly surfing the Internet will never get you where you want to go.
What else can we learn from a courageous young athlete who showed great composure under pressure?
3 comments posted
February 13, 2012 3:50 p.m.
Dr. Creagan, my apology for sending this out of context although I've read many of your articles and most recently Mayo Clinics Embody Health-ask an expert..Coping with adversity and challenges. Curious you do not mention religious faith, do you see this as one of the most calming factors in a way for a person to cope with dreadful problems. My Daughter was diagonsed with Sporadic LAM (Lymphangioleiomyomatosis) she and our family have been and are stressed. Faith is such an important strength during these times to help understand the unknown, its kinda like whats up is down and whats down is up...as dealing with this disease has lead to our strength as a family and in faith for the future, strange but true. Hope that there is someway you might add to #5 as Faith, religious faith as a major strength for bouncing back.
- Larry
July 27, 2011 4:59 p.m.
It all depends on your definition of success. If it means achieving the goal you have set to do, yes focus is important. If it means becoming wealthy, then we have another thought coming. Focusing on that is unhealthy I would say.
- Roberta
July 24, 2011 8:38 p.m.
Rory also learned from his mistakes at the Masters. He spoke with Jack Nicklaus about what he could do to improve and better deal with pressure. Evidently it worked!!!
- Rick
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