Back in 2018, fresh out of training, I was asked, along with some physician finance bloggers, to contribute an answer to an article about early-career financial mistakes (my post about that post is here). That post is now defunct, but my answer at the time:
“The ‘correct’ answer is usually to spend less on a car, not buy a house, put more away for retirement, and get disability insurance. But looking back, my biggest real regret is not being more purposeful with my discretionary time. Time outside of work obligations has both a monetary and nonmonetary value, and I was very free with spending too much of it to ‘maximize’ my income at rates that are trivial to me now. I was worth more on a per-hour basis back then, even if I didn’t realize it.”