Evolved Physician

If your job is stressing you out, burning you out, what work would you do instead if money were no object?

Would your current work change if, in perpetuity, all your bills were paid, all your needs were met, and you always had plenty of extra cash to do what you wanted when you wanted?

You might dismiss this question as unrealistic and insipid.

Yet as seemingly ridiculous as it may seem, this question is a technique designed to stretch your mind to consider new possibilities. Coach stuff. A similar coaching conversation might go like this:

Coach: “So you hate your job, and you’d like to brainstorm ideas about what else you might do. Okay, I have one. What would it be like to run away and join the circus?”

Female Client: (laughing): “The circus?”

Coach: (seriously) “Yes, the circus.”

Client (still laughing, but playfully considering): “Okay. I might have to let my beard grow…that won’t be a problem; I’m...

 If you're a stressed-out, burning-out physician considering new work but confused about your next steps, you can get clarity. And one way to get clarity about your future work is to look back at your decision to pursue medicine.

What's your story? Did you choose medicine because of other's dreams for you--dreams of prestige, influence, and presumptive wealth? Or perhaps you wanted to be a healer since day one. How did you get here?

Consider the moment you decided to pursue medicine and what fueled that decision? Look at it, eyes wide open. How much of a fit was it?

What I saw when I looked back.

I’ve always loved to read and learn, writing my first book at 8 years old. When it came time to choose my life’s work at the tender age of 15, my grandmother suggested medical school. I thought, “That sounds cool.” What a great way to learn about life! Of course I wanted to help people. But it wasn’t until a patient vomited on my shoe that it hit me:...

Changing your stressful work situation is often hindered by fear of risk and loss.

What will you do for health insurance? How will you pay off your school loans? How will you pay your kids’ tuition?

But planning before you firmly decide to make your change is perilous. Planning before deciding might prolong damage to your physical and emotional health or even cause you to give up on the idea altogether.

I was a guest at an event for physicians transitioning into entrepreneurism from clinical medicine. The fear of losing benefits was palpable and real. Financial fear can be so overwhelming that we stop our dreams in their tracks, resigning our change to a “right” time that may never come.

Although this and other responsibilities are real concerns, having a clear plan is not the first step.

Change requires a breaking, a severing, of the ties to your present status quo. Your new future demands a shift in attachments.

First and foremost, be committed to your change....