First Things First

Your End of Career Transition involves a multitude of matters that require thoughtful, timely planning in order to experience a smooth and successful outcome. They include personal, professional and practice preparations…in that order. 

This article focuses on the critical first steps you should take prior to seeking a buyer of your practice. This applies to solo and group practices.

It will be useful for you to review previous articles that discuss personal and professional readiness in greater detail.

Early Considerations

It is helpful  to be aware that preparing your practice is a tedious and often lengthy process. It is often overlooked that the time and effort that must be applied to this endeavor is superimposed on everyone’s existing workload. For these reasons, it is necessary to evaluate your staff’s and your own responsibilities as well as the time available to fulfill them. This will help you determine whether changes are...

Your Sky as Canvas – 2021

USA

The Practice of Equanimity

It is commonly familiar that it is in those quiet moments when our mind is free to wander, that we are the most creative.

For me, it is commonly during morning coffee or perhaps fly fishing on a beautiful river for trout or salmon.

I usually make no effort to think about anything in particular. And yet, the more my mind wanders, the more meaningful are the insights, ideas and innovations that emerge.

I believe that this simple discipline can be beneficial as you plan your career transition. 

It is then that you will have a window of opportunity prior to embarking on the next great phase of your life. This is the time for you to create plenty of time and space to comfortably design your roadmap. The map that will take you in the direction that you want your life to go…with confidence.

The best time to study a map is before you begin your journey.

The Illusion of Endless Time

When the time comes, you will...

Strength Amidst Stillness – 2022

Mt. Moran and The Teton Range

Grand Teton national Park, WY

How Your Clarity and Conviction Sustain Your Purpose

It is common in our culture for individuals to think of and describe themselves by what they do…their title, profession, vocation, etc. You may often witness this in social settings when someone introduces you to another person. Commonly, they may ask you: “What do you do for a living? or what kind of work do you do?” Seldom does someone ask you to tell them about yourself.

Why is that? There are cultural and personal reasons for this. 

As to the cultural, we are taught to identify ourselves with a “What?” This begins early in life as when uncle Joe visits the family at a special occasion and with a kind smile asks Sammy or Susie: “What are you going to be when you grow up?” There are many variations of this that are experienced during formative years…and often beyond that.

...

Ospreys, Stillness and Flight – 2013

Florida

The Right Decisions Support Freedom

Your career transition 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 I know.

 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...

Pondering, Planning and Preparedness

A common life experience is the feeling of uncertainty that arises from an inevitable, yet unfamiliar change. The kind that looms large in your horizon and accompanied by significant challenges. 

There are some challenges that minimize your feeling of uncertainty by virtue of education, training and devoted effort to a particular achievement. Most often, your education and training occurs relatively early in life, prior to launching your career. Then there are some events for which it is usually very difficult to prepare far in advance.

(With the recognition that there are a variety of practice settings, the model described here is that of a solo practitioner, as there are many elements of that which apply to other types of practices.)

Timely Training

A prominent example is your career transition. My experience as a consultant/coach on this and related maters is that there are some physicians who begin to prepare in a timely manner. On the...

Silver Creek – 2006

Idaho

Plan Now, Prosper Later

Your career transition is one of those major life events for which it is critical to prepare well in advance. 

Early on, you will recognize that the magnitude and scope of the challenge is significant. As a result, you will realize that to achieve a successful transition you will need to devote focused effort over a significant period  of time. These inevitable, initial questions will arise: 

• How do I begin? 
• What should I do? 
• In what order should I do it?

I am confident that you have learned long ago that great achievements require great preparation.

The First Step of the Path 

To begin, there are three major concerns for which preparation is essential.

The first of these is to prepare yourself, personally, to enter the next great phase of your life. As you do so, it is important to keep in mind that your spouse and in unique ways, your family, are also going through a transition.

The second...

Stability and Change – 2021

 North Shore, Kauai

 Your Transition Is a Stimulus for Personal Development and Fulfillment

Change and transition are words that are often used interchangeably. However, these two words have different meanings and what they describe have distinctly different purposes.

Lessons Learned on My Life’s Journey

My personal experience with change and transition illustrates this point. 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 am cured, renewed and fulfilled in my new career. 

My transition was not an event that occurred 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...

Sunset Begets Sunrise – 2009

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Timing: First Things First

Your End of Career Transition involves a multitude of matters that require thoughtful, timely planning in order to experience a smooth and successful outcome. They include personal, professional and practice preparations…in that order. This article addresses the solo practitioner practice model. Knowledge of preparation for this type of scenario has the broadest usefulness to other practice types.

As you read this, please review references to previous articles that discuss these topics in greater detail.

Unfamiliar Realities

There are two major realities that you should be aware of and consider as you plan and prepare.

The first is to acknowledge that your End of Career Transition is a process, not an event. It begins as a very personal experience when you find yourself thinking about it more often than usual. As time wears on, a myriad of questions will probably preoccupy you....

Mt. Moran and Jenny Lake - 2022

The Teton Range

Grand Teton national Park, WY

One fine morning with coffee in hand, you still savor that last sip of your custom brew.  You feel peaceful. Then a fleeting thought stirs up an awareness that you are thinking more and more about your future career transition and your new lifestyle. You smile and feel warmer inside…and then you feel a twinge of angst.

These are mixed emotions: joy and apprehension. They swirl around your mind stirred up much like the sweetener you blended into your coffee.

You wonder whether this is a common experience, how successful people deal with it and perhaps when you should begin to resolve this emerging dilemma. 

You sense that you must do something. 

A Fictional Character that Reflects a Real Person 

The following is the gist of the story of Alex, a fictional character like many accomplished physicians I am familiar with.

Alex is at that time of his (or her) career when he sees his end...

Grizzly Situational Awareness - 2011

Brooks River

Katmai National Park, AK 

Practical Considerations

When the time comes that you begin to seriously consider ending your career, you will find yourself thinking about a variety of personal and professional concerns as well as matters related to your practice.

The myriad of issues that you will have to address will vary significantly according to your type of practice. Nevertheless, across the spectrum of practice types, there are some common matters, duties, and tasks that must be accomplished. 

In order to do so, you will need more than just knowledge about the known and unknown you will encounter throughout this process. You will need and greatly benefit from applying a method for planning and executing a successful end of career transition.

My  Insights Into the Model

In this article, I discuss a triad of plans that comprise my methodology with an emphasis on the sequence in which the various tasks are best...