105. The Degrees You Think You Need (But Don’t)

You already have the degree that matters, doc.

But somewhere along the way, many of us started believing that we need another certification, another course, or another set of letters behind our name before we’re “ready” to do the thing we actually want to do.

In this episode, I’m breaking down three common degrees I see women physicians chasing — not because they truly need them, but because they’ve been taught to delay, over-prepare, and perfect before taking action.

This isn’t about being anti-education. I love learning. But I want you to be honest with yourself:

→ Are you avoiding the leap by hiding behind a course?

→ Is this degree going to move you forward — or just keep you busy?

→ Do you actually need it… or just feel like you should?

Before you spend another dollar or minute chasing qualifications you may not even use — listen to this.

🎧 Hit play and find out what you actually need (and what you don’t) to get started.

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Transcript

 I want to talk to you today about three degrees that you do not need, You have your MD, you have your DO, and you're like, well, you know, I think I need an MBA, or, I think I just need to do this obesity medicine certification, or the menopause certification, or you know, I really think I wanna start coaching and I'm going to go and do.

Three different coaching certifications before I get started, just to make sure I really know my stuff, doc, you don't need that shit. And let me explain what I mean, because when I say that, and it's understandable, people have the wrong idea. Like I said, it's understandable. So is it that I gave them the wrong idea?

Maybe because I've never explained it, which is what I'm gonna do now. And this came up because I had one of my clients who was telling me she was going to do a leadership certification, like a leadership course, I should say. And she immediately said, yeah, I know you don't think I need to do this, but, and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

First of all, I have never told you that, because this was never relevant to her. But she does listen to my podcast, and I have talked before about like on my two year anniversary of Dr. Toya coaching, about my PMHC, my perinatal mental health certification, and how it's useless and how we don't need to get these extra certifications.

So she thought that I had, like this overarching belief that nobody who is a physician needs to go and get extra certifications, and that is not true. When I say you don't need extra certification, when I say you don't need the MBA, you don't need the obesity cert You don't need the coaching certification.

It's not because I don't believe in training. Come on, I'm a doctor just like you. And I actually believe in CME and like quality standards and evidence-based, like that's not the thing. The thing is that usually when we say. We are going to do this certification or do this course it is oftentimes a form of procrastination.

It is a manifestation of the fear to take a leap and therefore is a waste of time because a lot of times, , you get it and then you don't use it because there was no clear goal. You never actually started doing the thing. So you don't know if you actually like doing it in its full capacity, but you spend all the time getting the certification or doing the course or whatever, and now it's time to use it.

And you're like, well, eh, I don't, I don't think this is for me. And I'm not saying that if things don't work out, you made a mistake. 'cause I love a good pivot. As I said, I've said before, if it's not the thing, it will lead you to the thing. This is purely for the situations where action is being delayed because of lack of a certification.

So let me go through the three of them to give more examples. Number one is the MBA. So this is a hot one because there are a lot of people who want to start businesses as physicians, which I love. You know, I love a good physician entrepreneur. We make the best entrepreneurs, but there is a subset of us who believe that in order to start a business, we need an MBA 'cause we are overachievers, we have to go to the highest level. Well, let me tell you a secret doc. Most people who do MBAs are not entrepreneurs. They are trying to get C-suite jobs and they, they're employees. Nothing wrong with being an employee, but if you want to start a business, by definition, if you want to be an entrepreneur, doing an MBA is not required.

So it's important to be very clear about what your outcome is. What is your goal? If you want to become the president of a university, sure. Get your MBA. And I use that example, this is not a random thing I'm pulling out of the air. One of my old attendings who's also in at Howard, who's also from Trinidad,

when we were in medical school, he was getting his MBA at Howard. And he went on to be the president of Howard University, Dr. Wayne Frederick. Right. So he had a goal and. You best believe going from surgical oncology and he was like this prodigy in surg onc And then going back to MBA, he had a goal in his mind.

He knew he wanted to go into that kind of administrative situation. And if that's what you wanna do and you know that this will benefit you, you know it is an actual job requirement. You know that this is it. These are the skills that I need. This is the most efficient way to get these skills, by all means do it.

But I have talked to docs who say, you know, I really wanna start a business, but I'm just gonna get this MBA real quick. And I also know a lot of docs who went and got the MBA and are not using it, even if they started the business, the MBA did not help. Because the things you need to be an entrepreneur are the things that make us the most uncomfortable as physicians and MBAs really don't cover, you know, the ability to sell and market yourself and you know, ask people for money.

Those are things that a lot of physicians have a very hard time with. I don't know how much they focus on that in, in MBAs it's all about networking and yeah, you're gonna get some coursework on accounting and all that stuff, but most professional MBAs, which is what you would do as a physician, is about connections.

And yes, connections are important in entrepreneurship, but you don't need, you need to spend time and money on an MBA to know that. Right. So you wanna just ask yourself. Is this required for what I wanna do, or is it truly just a delay from me taking the leap and doing the thing under the guise of, well, I need to learn more.

And I'm also not saying, don't learn more. I'm not against learning. I'm not against training. But do you need to go and get these extra letters to obtain that training? Is the degree going to actually forward you in what you wanna do? Right? So that's the MBA. The next one is still in medicine, so it might be like, okay, well she's not talking about.

Like, why are you mentioning obesity certification? Because you know that's medicine. So if I am a family doctor and I want to know more about obesity med, I should get the certification because that's what we do. If I'm an OB GYN, and I want to integrate this into my practice, I should go get the obesity certification first so that I know it's safe and nothing that I'm seeing sounds ridiculous.

Except if it's a form of procrastination, except if you are collecting courses because you are unsure about your direction and you're like, well, let me just do this. Let me just do this in hopes that you find out what you want and that's not a good use of your time. Doc, get a coach. Come see me. We will work out what you actually want to do.

We will look at your life and see where things fit, what is possible for you, what mindset shifts you need to figure out what you actually want. We will connect you with your desires, all of those things, but collecting certifications so that you will see what your next step is in this field is a waste of time and money.

I've had clients in the past that gone and I choose obesity medicine because that's, you know, it's either obesity or menopause that people do and they're not using it. They do not have an obesity medicine practice. I actually had one client tell me after she was done, she's like, yeah, I don't want it. I don't wanna do that.

Like, that's not anything that I want to, to actually do. So be honest with yourself and the better thing, and this, this is the case for everything that I'm gonna say is to start doing. See if you actually like it. See if this is something that you want to do, and most importantly, see if you are really lacking in the knowledge or if you just feel like you are, because we have this thing as women physicians that we think we are not as qualified as we are, and that the only way we must do something is to be as qualified as possible when there are men out here doing all sorts of things.

Being wholly unqualified, and you might say, well, Dr. Toya, this is people's lives. I need to have the training. I'm not saying don't learn. I'm not saying go and practice outside of your scope. I'm not saying any of that, but do you need this certification before you even start doing the thing?

Before you even know if this is something that you want to integrate into your practice, before you know that you wanna start a private, cash pay, obesity medicine practice, you should probably start doing some of it first. And that is the point. Take the action, make the leap and see do I need this?

Is this what I want? Am I truly not qualified? Because you could have been in a residency where. You trained under somebody who was specialized in obesity, and your skills are exponential and there's not a whole lot extra that you necessarily need from a certification. It could be that, and sometimes I think we forget in this age of three year fellowship programs that most of medicine was like an apprenticeship.

People who are grandfathered in, yes, we have issues with people being grandfathered into subspecialties, but learning by. Mentorship and apprenticeship is not a bad thing. It's not this foreign thing that should not be done. It is how it was. And yes, there is benefit to standardization and continual learning and exams and all of those things, but let's not forget that you can gain skills and knowledge and be safe and be evidence-based without a certification, without an exam.

So. You can start doing the thing, and if you're like, yes, I want this certification on my name because it will open this door because it will fill this gap that I have realized that I have but , have a reason, not just, well, I probably should get this before I start doing anything because that's, that's what we do.

And then the last one is coaching. And I feel like I've made all of my points before. 'cause they're, they're all the same points. Physicians are natural coaches. Does that mean every physician can be a coach? Of course not. That's not what I mean. I mean, if you are called to do it, if you see a need, if you see that you have a unique ability start, like even if you don't wanna charge.

Start , is this something you want to do? And know that getting a coaching certification is one small part of having a coaching business. So is it that you want to have a coaching business? And I don't know why else you would get a certification for coaching if you weren't. Going to have a coaching business because if you're a physician, you don't really need a coaching certification.

I take that back. I have a friend who is a surgical coach and she's a MIGS specialist, so she did a certification for surgery coaching, which I think is the most interesting thing ever. So fine in that respect, you need a coaching certification for medicine, but

if you are getting this certification and you're not going to actually launch a business, what are you getting it for? And I think that's what a lot of people leave out when they say, I'm going to do X, Y, Z coaching certification. To be able to get clients, you have to do everything that comes with running a business, which may be things that you don't wanna do.

Like marketing and selling and going on social media and speaking, but if you're not doing that, what's the point of getting the certification? So when you decide to do X, Y, Z coaching certification, what does that even mean?

What does that mean to you? What does it mean to the clients that you will get? It has to mean something that is significant and that is going to help you actually help your clients, or it's gonna help you run your business. And if it's not doing either of those things, then what is the point of this certification, right?

Because you can learn all of the things you need to learn without saying, I went to the, what is it called? I went to. Life Coach school

so if you decide I want to be a coach, please know it is a business unless you are going to be employed by another coach and work in their business, which is possible. I don't think I know anybody who has done that and kept doing it. for a lot of reasons. If you're going to use the coaching certification and it is required for some pivot outside of medicine or even in medicine, fine.

But the principles are the same, right? Is it required for whatever pivot you wanna make? Whatever job you wanna get, whatever business you wanna start, is it required? And then are you using it as a reason to not take action and start doing the thing? Is it just because you think you must be as qualified as possible in the eyes of whoever?

Can you get the training elsewhere? So especially for the coaching, just like I said with the medicine apprenticeship mentorship, that's what I did. So remember, I'm not saying don't train.

I'm not saying don't get skills. That would be insane. I didn't just. Wake up out of my burnout and be like, you know what? I am gonna coach and this is what I'm gonna do. No training, no guidance, no nothing, no immediately got a mentor, a very expensive one at that who I am still working, which is, which is another side.

If you're a coach, doesn't have a coach. flags. There is ongoing growth to be had. They are always like, I, anyway, that's a whole other story. So I'm not saying don't get the guidance, don't get the training, don't get the mentorship, the certification. Why do you need it? Is it necessary? Is it helpful? Is it a form of procrastination?

These are the questions that I want you to answer when you're thinking, I need to get this degree. I need to get this cert. Please ask yourself and it will save you lots of time. It will save you lots of money and it'll save you feeling like you're wasting time and energy doing stuff and not even doing the right stuff because what's actually gonna move you forward even if it doesn't work out.

Is the doing of the thing is you going out and starting to coach? Is you going out and starting the business? Is you to tailor your practice to see more obesity? Me medicine patients, if you take the action and then you decide, you know what, this is not for me, that is different than no action, lots of education, and then.

Seeing what happens afterwards. So when I say, you don't need the degree, that's what I mean. Let it not be learnitis or cours-itis. That disease that we get as Dr. Una, my business coach likes to say, don't let it be a form of procrastination. Let it be something that has a clear. Goal that is clearly gonna benefit you.

'cause like my client who told me about doing that leadership conference, she's already in leadership. She was leadership at the job she was at. She went and got even more leadership positions at the new job. So now that she has more responsibility, she's like, yeah, I think that's a beautiful, wonderful use of time and energy and money.

Of course, I'm gonna be behind that. That is not what I'm talking about. It's if. She was an employed physician, no leadership roles, and instead of advocating for herself to go into that position to get the title, to get the raise to do the job, she decided, you know what, I'm gonna do this, this course first before I tell them that I, I wanna be considered, you know, before I, I go after that position, I'm just gonna, let me just go do this course real quick.

That is what I'm talking about. So I hope that clear things up. Dr. Toya is not against learning. I love learning. I love training. I love getting good at something and helping people with it and having that knowledge. What I don't love is seeing you waste your time. And your precious energy, you will have so many other things to do and worry about without going and getting all this extra stuff that you don't need.

Alright, doc, you know what to do. Share this episode with another doc who just told you, Hey, I'm gonna think about getting my MBA, make sure she listens and share it on social media, because there's somebody else in your circle right now who's like, yeah, I really think I should get this degree before I make this move because you know.

that will be right. Like I just have so much to learn. I think I'll be more comfortable applying if I had these letters behind my name. I'll be more prepared post, post about this episode so that she will reconsider and start taking some action. All right, and I'll see you on the next episode of Stethoscopes and Strollers