Part 1: Are you ready to admit your addiction?

Are you ready to admit your addiction?  

I will admit that I used to be an addict.  I was addicted to my goals and accomplishments.  The moment I achieved one goal, I’d cross it off and list 4 more… Without even celebrating my achievement.  

That’s what I did when I was accepted into med school.  

When I matched in residency.  

I got lost in the horizon effect of kicking goals down the road and never reaching my destination.  

I was always driving toward a goal and when I reached it,  before I celebrated my achievement and the joy of my success, I found another goal

Or 5.

Can you relate?

I was obsessed with more goals and constantly dissatisfied, 

always heading toward a horizon that I could never reach.  

Do you keep moving the finish line and never celebrate?

Are you an addict?

What are you addicted to?

Goals?

Work?

Money?

You may not think you are.  

But I’m sure if you have made it this far in the pursuit of your goals and career, 

there is no doubt you have a work addiction 

or a goal addiction 

or an achievement addiction… 

like me.  

There is no way you can make it this far without 

laser focus, 

intense drive, 

superhuman resilience, and 

relentless endurance.

This is a pillar of the tribe we learn and train in.

called Healthcare.

It is so contagious in medicine.

And yet invisible and lethal.

In fact, this addiction is so severe that most of us don’t appreciate it or realize it even when other areas of our lives come crashing down around us.  

Our health.  

Our relationships.  

Our sanity.  

Or the rare day that you don’t go to work and have nothing to do! And are uncertain who you are… without work.  

That is how that hunger for more achievement, 

more goals, 

more success 

and of course, 

more money is never satisfied and always pulling us to the next MORE.  

Our addiction becomes our religion, our habits, our excuses, our reasons, our blindspots, and our biggest challenge.  

That is why you are here at Breaking Out of the Medical Mindset.  

Do you need an intervention?

Before you OD.

Let’s review BOOMM’s 12 steps of recovery from the work addiction consuming our lives.  

So that we can recover from our goal-itis and work obsession which has bulldozed us to depletion, exhaustion, and into a stampede to the fire exits of medicine.

1. We admit we were powerless over our medical mindset and the shackles it places on who we think we are and the actions we take to the point that our lives have become unmanageable.

2. We know there exist other people who are happy and live their lives with joy and freedom better than ourselves and to restore us to sanity, we must be open to new ideas, strategies, and people in our world.

3. We decide to turn our will and our lives over to the truth and authenticity that we once followed as a child to make our dreams come true.  

4. We conduct a searching and fearless inventory of who we are and our lives at this moment.

5. We admit to ourselves and to another human being whom we trust, who is safe and non-judgmental on the exact nature of our challenges and problems as we use that pain as a wake-up call for change.

6. We admit that we are ready to pivot our thinking and reclaim our power in our lives.

7. We humbly acknowledge all our achievements and gratitude for our accomplishments as well as for our pain and problems.

8. We list all the persons we are grateful for in our lives and those we wish we treated better and commit to acknowledging them in person or in writing.

9. We let go of who we have been and step into the discomfort of the unknown for a better, different future.   

10. We seek through creating time and space as well as prayer and meditation to realize our truth so we can lead a different life.

11. We vision a better life and future and accept the struggle of transformation to realize who we want to be. 

12. Having had an awakening as the result of these changes, we carry this message to others who suffer and we can help.

Each one of these steps is addressed in the BOOMM 1.0 Course with questions for you to answer,

exercises to perform,

books to read and

goals and vision to set.

So that you can recover and enjoy the growth and journey that your amazing life deserves to be.

Are you ready to admit your addiction? 

What is it?

We want to hear from you.