When I began as pre-med, then a med student, intern, and resident,
I was ALL IN.
1000% laser focused on learning new knowledge, skills, and thinking to be the best doctor and ear, nose, and throat surgeon I could be.
I sacrificed exercise, dating, parties, travel, and any distraction so I could compete and excel
That medical mindset earned me Valedictorian in high school, Magna Cum Laude as a pre-med, AOA in med school, and allowed me to match in one of the premier residency programs in the country.
As I doubled down on my medical mindset in private practice, I found myself rushing on the 405 freeway between 3 offices and 5 hospitals 6 days a week, married with 3 kids, on the edge of a life about to crash into an existential cement wall. of no more time, energy, patience or even space to breathe.
Sound familiar?
If I kept working the way I had always worked, I knew I would find myself in the ICU with a heart attack, divorced, and estranged from kids who did not know me.
I needed a change.
I didn’t know what change I needed.
But I could not keep doing more of the same.
My crises forced me to change.
My pain pushed me to get uncomfortable.
I began challenging my mind with meditation to stop the race for more goals and more achievement and to discover gratitude and peace here and now.
I began sharing my vulnerability and problems in a safe space with people I could trust.
I began learning all that I didn’t know…
Leverage
Good debt
Networks
Tax strategies
Real estate benefits
Imperfection
Fear
Risk
Over time
what I discovered shocks me to this day!!!
The biggest surprise I have discovered about medicine is the exact opposite of the medical mindset that enabled me to excel in medicine.
The more I expand my world outside of medicine,
The more I enjoy medicine.
The more I invest in income opportunities where I don’t trade time for dollars,
the more I realize how my money can make money other than in medicine.
The more I learn about leverage and using good debt for investments, the higher my velocity of money.
The more I network and collaborate with people outside of healthcare, the more I learn how to think and act differently from what I have done in the past
The more I embrace change…
The more I enjoy my patients
The more I look forward to my surgeries
The more I cut down my clinic hours and do not fear cutting down my income
The more I step into new opportunities
The more I learn
The more I evolve
The more I break out of the medical mindset,
The more I discover all of who I can be and how amazing my life is
BOOMM!!
BOOMM ACTION STEP: Schedule something this week
that excites you and has nothing to do with work or money.
Share it at work the next day with a patient.
The secret to an amazing life and enjoying medicine more is to not allow medicine to suffocate your life, and to grow the richness of your life outside of medicine
to learn more,
to dive deeper into your own exploration and discovery,
to expand your world
And discover how amazing your life can be!
Outside of healthcare!
And at work too!
Let us know what you think.
