Henry’s Lake - 2022

Idaho

Sometimes the Obstacles Are Not Financial

There are a myriad of major matters that are important to consider as you contemplate your career transition.

For many, the primary concern is whether or not they are financially ready.

Whether you are or not, there are other significant concerns that are important to think about and deal with.

There is More to Prepare for Than Financial Planning 

Sometimes there are certain obstacles to ending your career voluntarily that have virtually nothing to do with financial matters. 

Three common concerns often seem to take a backseat to financial matters.  They are critically important and should not be ignored. They are:

What will happen to my identity?

Will I be relevant anymore?

These are common concerns, and for some, a source of stress. This can cause you to hit the pause button, for the time being, on the whole idea of ending your career.

There is yet a third element in this triad of topics.

The...

Daring Dreams to Reality

The Teton Range and Jackson Lake

Grand Teton National Park, WY - 2022

How the Making of a Photographic Masterpiece Relates to the Creation of Your Future Lifestyle 

Grand art born of great, visionary artists often arises from a spontaneous idea, an image in the mind’s eye.  The evolution of an idea that culminates in a tangible work of art, whether a painting or a photograph of a spectacular landscape, requires a blending of grand vision and the execution of exceptional technique.

Similarly, in order to create a masterpiece that will be your new lifestyle, you must imagine a clear vision of your future before you begin to create it. The path to doing so is to prepare yourself by creating and executing a realistic post career lifestyle plan that will guide you to making your new life an exuberant reality.

I am, by nature a serious person, yet strive to not take myself too seriously.  Certainly, there are some things in life like faith,...

Enhanced Reflections - 2022

Swan Lake

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Advisors Are Important Contributors to Your Personal and Professional Success

When people think about their personal and professional success, it’s natural to think that it’s largely the result of their own effort. Upon further reflection, they usually recognize how they also benefited from those who cared about them and offered advice and mentorship.

Personal guides that probably influenced your life are personified by parents, family, friends, teachers, consultants, coaches, professors and mentors. Sometimes you may learn pearls of wisdom from those you barely know. There are times when your other best friend, a book, clarifies your thinking and may illuminate your life.

My Giants and Gratitude

I have benefitted immensely from all of the above, recognized early on their enormous value and thanked them accordingly. As time progressed, I felt gratitude even more deeply for those who cared and cheered me...

Sunlit Path - 2022

Grand Teton National Park, WY

 How to Make Solid Progress on Your Path

Your career transition is one of the most significant events of your lifetime that marks the beginning of the next phase of our life.

Most often, joy of anticipation is part of the experience but may be accompanied by some apprehension. Whether you are looking forward to it or not, the creation and execution of plans is essential to your success.

As you work to envision and create your new lifestyle, you’ll probably find that it’s well worth it.

Challenges and Opportunities

My personal experience, as well as consulting, has reaffirmed certain challenges that must be recognized and managed effectively through proactive, timely planning. This goes a long way to banish the stress of the unknown and help make the process a much more positive experience.

What are these challenges and related questions?

What Seem First Should Not Always Be

The first thing that most physicians...

The Teton Range - 2022

Grand Teton National Park

 When to Create Your Strategy and How to Execute the Tactics

Your future career transition is an event about which it’s natural to experience feelings of excitement as well as some concerns.

As the time nears, your concerns may become more prevalent. A major reason is the recognition that this is an unfamiliar process, yet you know it’s necessary to begin to plan.

But how do you know when is the right time to start planning, let alone what end date is possible? The reality is that it’s very difficult to determine when to begin to prepare when the necessary scope and duration of preparation is unknown.

In order to address that, it’s essential to consider significant personal, professional and practice matters. As you do so, it’s necessary to answer other preliminary questions to determine what it will take to prepare: 

• What is the nature of your career transition? 
• Are you planning a...

Freedom to Fly - 2012

Kenai Fjords National Park, AK

The Right Decisions Manifest Freedom

Your end of career is approaching. 

Your vision of this new phase of your life is becoming more clear. 

You’re growing more confident that the dreams born of your imagination will become a reality. 

Your smile reflects joy of anticipation. 

You take a deep, deep breath that parallels the satisfaction you feel for what you’ve accomplished in life.

You feel deeply the conviction that you have earned the life that your aspire to live…and it really feels awesome! 

Well earned, well deserved!

As I wrote these words, they seemed to flow easily. They describe my own life experience and that of others. 

A Time for You and New Feelings

This is your time for dreaming, planning, executing and experiencing the emerging reality of it all. Amidst the excitement, it’s also the time to apply the skills and wisdom you’ve developed over the course of...

Dahlia - 2020

Nevada

Choice vs. Necessity

You have been in solo practice for many years and the time is approaching when you will stop practicing. You remember, reflect and feel a sense of pride and achievement for what you have accomplished in the service of your patients. 

Those sentiments are probably accompanied by your awareness that you need to decide what to do about your practice. You wonder: Do I sell or close it? That core question is the basis for many others that you must address.

The question is straightforward, but the answer is not. For some of you, it’s a daunting obstacle. For others, it’s just another challenge. Why?

Much of the answer lies in the origin and nature of major transitions and how we manage them.

Developmental Transition 

Typically, there’s a change that occurs that triggers the beginning of your end of career transition. 

The first type occurs when you recognize that the time is close at hand and you’re motivated...

Late Winter Tetons Storm - May, 2010

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Change and Transition: How They Can Affect You

Change and transition are words that are often used interchangeably. However, they differ in meaning and how their occurrence can affect you.

My personal experience with change and transition illustrates this point.

My Journey’s Lessons

Years ago, I was diagnosed with colon cancer and then developed other medical problems. Together they created a change that ended my Plastic Surgery career and triggered my end of career transition. Thankfully, years later I’m cured, renewed and fulfilled in my new career. 

My successful transition did not occur spontaneously. It was the result of sustained, focused and deliberate effort over a period of time.  That effort was directed at a particular envisioned outcome: to experience renewal and fulfillment. The means for achieving that outcome was the the transition process itself.

This illustrates the very purpose...

Mt. Morrison and Convict Lake - 2019

Sierra Nevada, CA

Steps and Phases

The End of Career transition is a process that’s usually lengthy. It’s comprised of several phases that focus on tasks that should be accomplished in a particular sequence, so that each builds upon the previous one.

The most challenging of these phases, primarily for personal reasons, is usually the first. This is when you come to terms with the fact that your career will come to an end. For a variety of reasons, physicians’s reactions will vary widely from joy of anticipation to apprehension and stress.

Regardless of how you perceive this phase of your life, there’s an element of loss that you will probably feel and benefit by coming to terms with it. A very positive perspective is to think of this as what it really is: a transition, rather than a “retirement.” (See previous article on this topic.) The term transition emphasizes its purpose: to experience renewal and...

Aspiring Buds - 2023

Sierra Nevada, NV

 Equilibrium and Fulfillment

It’s a common life experience that sometimes you may have to forgo satisfying a desire in order to commit time, effort and perhaps financial resources to fulfill a necessity.

This is more frequent during your earlier years when life’s responsibilities required such choices. It often meant that wants or desires that you considered non-essential were put off. Perhaps they were never fulfilled, but hopefully, simply deferred and remembered in the well of your memory.

The desire to fulfill a myriad of responsibilities whether at home, work or community, springs forth from the nature of your character. Your cumulative experience and satisfaction derived from meeting your responsibilities further strengthens and develops it. Your focus on various achievements becomes a way of life.

Visions of Change

As you begin to envision life after the end of your career, your perspective about life will evolve. You...