This is for everybody—new hires and the ones who’ve been around long enough to get comfortable.
First—credit where it’s due.
I see the ones paying attention. I see the ones taking notes. I see the ones asking questions when they’re not sure.
That matters. That’s how you get better. Keep doing that. Kudos!
But I also see the other side.
The scrolling. The heads dropping. The “I’m here but not really here” look.
And let me save you the trouble—
you’re not being slick.
Thirty-six years in this job tuned my situational awareness a long time ago.
I see you.
I always see you.
“I Already Know This”
Let me tell you a story.
I had a paramedic student ride with me once. Smart. Book smart. No question.
Start of shift, I handed her a basic EMT assessment chart. Head to toe. Nothing fancy. Just the bones of how you don’t miss something that will kill somebody.
She glanced at it and handed it back.
“I already know this.”
I didn’t argue. No point. Arguing with someone like that is like arguing with a vending machine that already ate your dollar. You are not getting your snickers bar or your dollar back.
“Good to know.” Took it back. Moved on.
We ran a couple easy calls early. Nothing dramatic. And I watched her get comfortable.
Not earned comfortable. Just confident. The cocky kind.
Thirty Seconds of Nothing
Then we got toned out for a bicycle versus car.
You know the call. I stepped back and gave her lead.
She walked up—and stopped.
Ten seconds. Fifteen. Thirty.
That’s a long time to do nothing.
So I knelt down next to her.
Didn’t call her out. Didn’t make a speech.
I just started my Rapid Trauma Assessment.
The same one she handed back a few hours earlier.
And I watched it hit her.
That quiet moment where you realize the difference between what you know…
and what you can actually do when it counts.
By the end of the call, she was asking real questions.
End of shift, she came and found me.
Asked for the sheet back.
I handed it to her.
“Good to know.”
Same words. Different meaning.
The Payoff
A few months later, I rolled up on a trauma as an acting-district chief.
There she was.
Primary.
And she nailed it.
Calm. Methodical. No freeze. No guessing.
Hands knew where to go because she had put the work in.
That’s the lesson.
The sheet isn’t there to insult you.
It’s there because one day—you’re going to need it in your hands, not in your head where you “already know it.”
Actionable Takeaway
And that’s what I’m trying to get through to you.
This job doesn’t care if you’re tired in a careless way.
Sleep matters.
If you show up exhausted, distracted, checked out—
you’re guessing.
You have mandatory actions for a reason.
Miss them, you fail. Get sloppy, you fail. Treat this like it doesn’t matter, you fail.
That’s not opinion. That’s the standard.
So here it is:
If you come to class—show up.
Not just your body.
Your attention. Your effort. Your standards.
Because I see the ones doing it right.
And I see the ones who aren’t.
And I would rather you figure out the difference in here…
than out there, when it actually costs something.