Doctors Who Stay Stuck In Unfulfilling Careers Are Failing To Ask This Question

Are you still stuck in a career that drains you more than it fulfills you? You say you "don't know what you want", but the truth is... you are dismissing the things that you want.

You think your desires are silly, childish or unrealistic. So you discount them before even exploring them.

This episode is the pep talk you need to believe that it IS possible to do meaningful work that doesn't burn you out.

After this episode you will

• Learn how to stop undermining your dreams and start claiming your purpose.
• Learn the one question- you must start asking to completely shift your mindset.
• Feel more confident in your ability to create a career you actually want.

Press play now- if you are ready to amplify your self belief. 

FREE 5 Part Audio series to kickstart your path to meaningful work >> https://coachchelsmd.com/careerkickstart/

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Life After Medicine explores doctors' journey of finding purpose beyond their medical careers, addressing physician burnout, career changes, opportunities in non-clinical jobs for physicians and remote jobs within the healthcare system without being burned out, using medical training.

Transcript

0:18

If you've ever dismissed your dreams as unrealistic, this episode will help you believe that doing meaningful work without burning out is actually possible for you.

Speaker 2: 0:29

Welcome to Life After Medicine, the podcast helping millennial health professionals leave the system and build a fulfilling career. I'm your host, Chelsea Turin, residency Dropout turned six, figure entrepreneur and World Traveler. I'll help you discover your unique path to making an impact without the burnout, because you were meant for more than 15 minute patient visits under fluorescent lights.

0:52

Welcome, welcome back, my Loves to another episode of Life After Medicine. Today's episode is a pep talk that you will want to listen to again and again. After this episode, you'll start to believe that having a career you actually enjoy is possible for you. You'll stop labeling your dreams as silly or unrealistic, and you'll feel more confident in your ability to create a career that you actually want. My intention is that you leave this episode believing in yourself just a little bit more than when you started. Let's get to the show.

Speaker: 1:28

You have this idea for a business that hits you out of nowhere, and it feels so inspired that you have to indulge in it. You stay up late, you're Googling, you're researching, you're literally filling a whole Google Doc with ideas and possibilities, you feel alive, you feel inspired, but then you wake up the next day, morning comes and you just feel hit with this reality check of like, that would never work. That's just a pipe dream. The thing that seemed so exciting and so expansive late at night when it was just you. The moment you got up and started moving about your day, it felt worlds away. You get in your car, you drive to work you listen to this podcast episode of someone who inspires you. This is something you binge on the drive to work every day, hoping, wishing, dreaming that this could be your life. But by the time you park, turn the car off, it all starts to crash down again. Ugh, that could never be me. You dismiss the whole thing. You feel ridiculous for even entertaining these ideas in the first place. You feel like it's all so childish, like why are you having these silly little fantasies and these dreams? But the reason that moment hurts so much is because in that moment you are standing at a distance from your true desires. You're separating yourself from what you truly want. You experience a desire and idea, and then you dismiss it. You say, that's not for me, and here's the harsh truth. It will never be for you if you don't decide that it is for you. All of your dreams will remain pipe dreams until you decide to do something about them. All of your desires will stay childish fantasies until you decide to claim them. Everything you want and you wish for will all remain out of reach until you start asking the question, why not me? Because why not you? Why not be the one who builds a business doing something that you love? Why not find a way to start up that clothing boutique that you've been thinking about? Why not pitch your demo game to a real life game designer and see how it goes? Why not apply to who wants to be a millionaire and shoot your shot? Why not you? We are so conditioned that we have to. Wait to be chosen by someone else. We have to contort ourselves, perform dance in this certain way, fill out these applications, jump through all of these hoops so that people can choose us, validate us, tell us that we're good enough. But when it comes to your purpose, your calling. These dreams that you have, the work that you're meant to be doing, that's a different realm. No one is going to validate that for you. No one is gonna hand that to you. No one's gonna say, here, you're chosen to do this. You're chosen by desiring to do it. That's the being chosen. The desires are choosing you, but no one outside of you is gonna tell you. You're ready. You're good enough to get started. You've been tapped. No one's gonna choose you. You have to choose yourself. And you need the audacity to start asking, why not me? Because have you forgotten how strong you are, how you've sat with patients while they're getting. Life altering diagnoses and have been this grounded, solid support system for them. How Even when you're going through your own pain and loss in your personal life, you've still managed to show up at work with an open heart, with a warm smile. You've still managed to be the person that other people can count on how you've worked through your own imposter syndromes, the self-doubt. Also that you can stand in front of your patients, in front of your coworkers with a level of confidence and authority to put people at ease. How you've learned to make these life and death decisions, and you're holding the weight and the consequences of that every single day, and you're still standing. Have you forgotten how resilient you are? And not in the toxic way that they tell you to try to make you keep going through burnout, but how truly resilient you are, how much you've already overcome to get to where you are, how people have doubted you or underestimated you, and you've continued to prove people wrong. How you've experienced trauma through showing up at work during COVID through watching a patient that you're close to code. And you still managed to show up every day. Not that you need to go through these things or you should go through these things, but you have, you've done it. Have you forgotten how good your heart is? How even at the end of a 24 hour call shift, you still go out of your way to tie up a loose end with a patient's family because that's how much you care. How you always know the right thing to say to cheer up one of your coworkers. Have you forgotten how exceptional you are? how even despite all the demands on your time, you still find time to look patients in the eye and have moments of genuine connection with them. No, you're not always perfect. You've made plenty of mistakes, but that's not the point. When the only standard you have is perfection or failure. You are never gonna give yourself credit for all the ways you are truly nailing it. You're never going to celebrate. All of the small victories and moments that make up your well-lived life, and when you're so harsh and critical on yourself, you're never gonna feel good enough to go after what you really want. When you think you need to be perfect to be worthy, you're never gonna feel deserving enough of a joyful, fulfilling life. Every single day you choose how to see yourself. You can see yourself as someone who is failing, who keeps falling short, who's not good enough, who's way too risk averse to actually leave their stable job. Who doesn't know anything about business, who is indecisive, who has a hard time making changes, who's just gonna be stuck in a moderately fulfilling mediocre career forever? Or you can see yourself as someone who's infinitely powerful, someone who's already accomplished so much, who is strong, who has done some pretty bold things. Who has some brilliantly creative ideas, who has so much to offer, who is learning and growing every day? Who's capable, who's brave, who doesn't need to be perfect to be potent? So why not choose the second one? Why not see yourself as powerful? And capable. Why not see yourself as someone who has a dream and makes it happen? Why not see yourself as the person who goes after what they really want? Why not see yourself as bold and brave? Why not rise up to become the person who does all of the things that you're dreaming of? Why not bet on yourself? Because until you decide that it is for you, it will never be for you there are people. People out there right now who are less talented, less intelligent, less qualified than you who have more money, more freedom, more joy. More fulfillment, more purpose, more meaning. There's people who are not as good as you living the exact life you want, and the only difference is that they decided to claim it. So, why not you? Why not claim it? Why not just go for the things that you want? Why not qualify yourself? Choose yourself. Put yourself in the arena. Why not you? What would happen if you not only had that feeling? That you're meant for more, but you stopped waiting for someone else to give you permission to go after it. You can argue for your limitations every single day. You can continue to undermine yourself and list all the reasons why you're not good enough, why now's not the time, why you're not ready, why it's never gonna work out, why it's not realistic. You can live there. You can live in doubt, or. You can just go rogue and start asking a different question. Start asking Why not me? Because you are meant for more. But until you claim it for yourself, you'll never get to experience it. So my love, I hope that. This was the pep talk you needed today to start actively betting on yourself, because I know that you're meant for more. You know that you're meant for more, and now all that's left is deciding that you're gonna actually do something about it.

11:11

If this episode landed for you and helped you believe in yourself just a little bit more, I have a request for you share this episode with someone else in your life who needs to hear it. I'm sure there's someone you're thinking of right now that is doubting themselves, second guessing themselves, and you can send this episode to them as a sign of like, Hey. I believe in you. Do you know how amazing you are? So whoever in your life really needs to hear this, send this episode their way. If you want to join a community of like-minded healthcare professionals who are also on this journey of figuring out how to make a difference and have a meaningful career that doesn't come at the expense of themselves. Come join the Life After Medicine Telegram community. This is our brand new space to connect and stay inspired between podcast episodes. Link in the show notes to join.