How my greatest strengths became my greatest weakness
February 13th, 2023 by Brett Levine MD
We all dedicate an enormous amount of time to our education, training and careers in medicine.
We learn a new language, skills, systems and experience in our niches over decades.
Our vast knowledge and expertise create a comfortable space of knowing and control that we thrive on within medicine.
We can also become addicted to who we are and limit ourselves from who we can become.
I feel most secure when it’s my way or the highway because it is known but that strength of knowing also keeps me stuck and prevents alternatives.
That mindset limits us from discovering what we don’t even know that we don’t know.
Our strengths can become our religion,
our reasons,
our excuses,
our crutches,
our barriers,
our blind spots and
our limits.
Sometimes what we call our strengths become our habits, our false sage as well as our inner critic that is ego based and causes worry and fear for anything different and paralysis from exploration and growth.
Over time,
our careers and lives in medicine can also become a safe room
where we hide like turtles in our shells and
miss out on other opportunities in life.
Breaking Out of Our Medical Mindset
Encourages you to stop hiding behind your strengths and
Repeating what you always do and is safely what others expect.
I have discovered that when I stop hiding behind my strengths and what I do comfortably and repeatedly,
I can explore what excites me
that represents the growth I yearn for.
Every stage in medicine
we began again with a clean slate
As we were excited to learn, grow and expand our lives in
college,
med school,
residency,
job.
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Every day we wake up,
we are blessed
with countless choices of what we dream for today and tomorrow.
Fall back in love with your dreams.
Never stop growing and expanding.
Do not let your strengths become a limitation for your future.
Instead,
Allow your strengths to be a solid foundation for your exploration and expansion into your future.
Where would you like to grow if you were guaranteed to succeed?
What do you dream for tomorrow?
