Grumpiness Part 2: Overcoming a Major Career Transition Hurdle
Overcoming Your Grumpiness
One of the biggest hurdles to successfully transitioning to a new physician career is the physician’s negative attitude. It is common, of course, to be burned out and grumpy. Enormous responsibility, long hours, demanding patients, decreasing reimbursement, increasing paperwork – there are more and more reasons why doctors are unhappy, and deservedly so. However, the difference between physicians who quickly find a new, more rewarding career and the ones who stay in their current situation is the ability to find happiness RIGHT NOW – not waiting for it to happen when a new career arrives.
Why is it so important to create happiness Right Now, at the start of a career search? Transitioning to a new career requires extra work and time. If you are grouchy, you will not devote the needed time to this venture because you will be too tired and unmotivated. You will procrastinate. You will complain. You will rehash all the reasons why you hate medicine. You will find excuses why you can’t find a new job. You will convince yourself it is easier to stay where you are and forget your dreams. Instead of wasting time and energy stuck in a cycle of negativity, this brain power should be redirected to taking productive steps to a new career.
Finding a new career for a physician also requires creativity, passion, and excitement. Negative doctors find boring, monotonous and uninspiring new careers or no new careers at all. Positive doctors find or create unique careers that pay well, offer plenty of time off for other interests, and renew that sense of purpose and fulfillment that is lost in traditional practice. Grumpy Doctors = Unhappy Careers. Happy Doctors = Exciting Careers. If you don’t believe me, review your quantum physics and The Law of Attraction: Like attracts Like.
How is it even possible to find happiness Right Now, in the midst of severe physician burn-out? It’s easy: Identify irritations and eliminate them. I challenged you in your last assignment to find a solution to 1 thing which makes you grumpy in order to find more joy in each day. Here are results from your fellow doctors. Everyone asked to remain anonymous – I guess we don’t want to admit to the extent of our foul moods! Some of these made me laugh, thus increasing MY happiness!
|
WORK ANNOYANCE |
SOLUTION |
| Clinic staff talking to me as soon as I leave a patient room, interrupting my dictation/concentration/charting. This is valuable time for me to gather my thoughts and catch my breath. | It was hard, but I told staff they could only talk to me between patients for emergencies; all other issues wait until designated times. I set 10:15AM, 11:55AM, and 3:15PM as Q&A times. |
| Pile of papers on office desk. I didn’t realize it before, but every time I saw the pile I felt guilt for not getting everything done and anger for never having enough time to catch up. | I set aside an entire afternoon to de-clutter and organize my desk. I spend less time finding things now. Seeing a clean desk is like a weight lifted off my shoulders. |
| Constantly interrupted for phone messages. | Both staff and patients now know I answer phone messages at 11:30 and 4:30 unless an emergency. All messages go into a pile until then. |
| Faxes for medication refills. | Seems like I was giving the same answers on many faxes, so I ordered rubber stamps with some common responses. Huge time-saver. |
| Patients with more than 10 medications (sometimes in bags that aren’t exactly clean). | My staff now lines up all medications by category for me on the counter before I enter room, so I can quickly scan. |
| Patients telling me about a medicine they heard of on T.V. | I interrupt to tell patients I don’t have a T.V. and redirect the conversation. I do have a T.V., of course, but this answer saves me so much time. |
| Patients complaining about how long they had to wait to see me. | I tell them it is because I went out for donuts and coffee. They aren’t sure if I am kidding or serious. I get a chuckle out of the responses. |
| No time for anything but work. Exhausted. | Decided to work half days on Wednesdays. It’s not the most convenient for patients, and I’m taking a pay-cut, but I have finally realized I have to take care of me. |
Stay tuned for the next issue to read about irritations identified on the home front and those solutions.
Continue to identify even the smallest of things that irritate you and ban them from your life. I’ve seen this assignment push client after client forward in the career transition process. First, annoyances and sources of grumpiness are identified and banned. Happiness Increases each day. Hope Returns for a balanced, rewarding and FUN life. Creativity is Sparked and ideas for new careers begin to flow. Conviction sets in that says “Hey- I deserve better!” Devotion to the career transition is born. With this vigor and determination for the life you want, YOU WILL ALLOW NOTHING TO STOP YOU FROM GOING AFTER YOUR DREAM CAREER.
Physician heal yourself – find a cure for your grumpiness, Right Now!
– Dr. Julia
You can contact Dr. Julia Right Now regarding Physician Career Change, overcoming your Grumpiness, and learning the step-by-step process for creating a new, rewarding, and exciting non-clinical career for doctors: https://physiciancareeropportunities.com/contact-dr-julia-kinder
