Stephen Swensen

No Alarm Clock Needed

"To today’s students I would say, ‘seize the day!’ Life is too short not to be passionate..."

It’s not hard getting motivated for work each day, says Steve. All he has to do is look at the results from his latest research project. In that study, 1,500 people with significant risk factors for lung cancer were screened using the latest advances in digital imaging. Sixty-eight lung cancers were found, and all but a few were early stage. “If those cancers had gone without early detection, they wouldn’t have been diagnosed until a person was coughing up blood or when they were very sick. Instead, we caught the cancer before the patients even knew they were sick, and that means a better chance of being cured. Each one of those people is a story about a family—a husband, a wife, a child—people to whom we can give more time with family and friends,” explains Steve. “It’s very satisfying when you can make that kind of difference.”

“We have a short time on this planet,” he says, “and I’ve found something that is professionally satisfying and purposeful in my career at Mayo Clinic. That’s why I can get up most mornings without an alarm clock, eager to go to work. To today’s students I would say, ‘seize the day!’ Life is too short not to be passionate about what you want to do. You may change your mind, but if you’re focused on a goal that really excites you, that gives you meaning and purpose, it’s worth spending some time thinking about it. Always, always have something in your sights.”