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 classic succession or outright sale? 
• Do you
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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 your career to this very special time of your life.

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 to begin to prepare. This change...

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 of a transition:...

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 fulfillment.

Retirement closes doors; tra...

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 may find yourse...

Red Fox Ready for the Opportune - 2013

Grand Teton National Park, WY

The Path Begins With Proactive Planning

When you first start thinking about your End of Career, the initial focus may be naturally on the projected end date. You will then probably contemplate what your life thereafter will be like. Questions will emerge, such as: What will I do? Where will I live?, etc.

Physicians, as well as people from many walks of life, will ponder these questions for a while and find that the answers do not come easily.

The Elusive When

Of the many questions, this the hardest one to develop a clear answer.

Why is that?

Initially, it may seem that, in terms of general planning, it should be pretty straightforward to think of a projected date. However, once you begin to look into what's involved, you’ll discover that your End of Career is a process, not an event…and you will realize that it takes much longer than you thought.

It’s an undertaking that’s unfamiliar with many twists and turn...

Magical Reality - 2021

Sierra Nevada, NV

Language Influences Your Perspective

The end of your career is one of the most significant events of your life. It’s a time when you may feel joy, pride, excitement, grief, regret, uncertainty, and other feelings that are unique to you.

You may be looking forward to this new phase of your life with stressful uncertainty or joyful  anticipation…or perhaps both.  For many, it’s also a time when you may experience a sense of loss of what you are leaving behind. 

An optimistic view is that this is a moment of your life that presents you with the opportunity for ongoing personal achievement that’s manifested as renewal and fulfillment.

Life Lessons

I have experienced some of those feelings and more. 

My life experience includes three lessons and observations.

One, is my own End of Career transition. It was difficult and painful. But it provided me the challenge to grow, evolve and succeed again on my terms in the service of others.

The sour...

A Path Amidst Obstacles - 2016

Sierra Nevada, NV 

 When to Create Your Strategy and How to Execute the Tactics

Your future End of Career is an event about which it is 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.

But how do you know when is the right time to start planning, let alone what the end date will be?

As you try to answer that question, it becomes apparent that it is very difficult to determine when to begin to prepare when the necessary scope and duration of preparation is unknown.

The reality is that because this is a such a personal and professional matter, with so many different facets, it is impossible to predict how much work and time it will take. You can only anticipate so much…and there will probably be more to do than you thought necessary. 

The best way to know is to engage the challenge by beginning to pl...

What Would Happen if You Couldn’t Practice Anymore?

My Story

I was 59 years old and thought I had many more years of Plastic Surgery practice ahead of me. I purchased the standalone office building of my dreams and undertook a major renovation, including a surgical facility. 

I knew I needed to plan for my succession soon, including recruiting. This was the plan, although my own end of career seemed distant…or so I thought.

I resolved to do so soon, but never got the chance. Some months after the grand opening of my office and I was settled in, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. It was a big surprise as I had been diligent about physical exams, screenings and my health in general. That and other medical problems ended my plastic surgery career.

I am well, thankful and happy that for a number of years I have been cured of colon cancer. My days of practicing medicine are over, but I dedicated my life to making sure that physicians, who spend their lives taking care of others, are pr...