Stability and Resilience
North Shore, Kauai - 2021
Your Transition Is a Stimulus for Personal Development and Fulfillment
Part Three of a Series...
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 in 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...
Rising Onward
The Teton Range, Grand Teton N. P. - 2021
The Path to Preparedness
Part two of a series…
The End of Career 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:
I am confident that you have learned long ago, as I have, 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,...
Sunset Begets Sunrise
Smoky Mountains N. P. - 2009
Pondering, Planning and Preparedness
Part one of a series…
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, 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 the end of your career. My experience as a consultant...
Path and Pinnacles
The Teton Range
Grand Teton National Park, WY - 2021
Considerations for the Solo Practitioner or Physician Otherwise Employed
When the time comes that you begin to seriously consider ending your medical career, you will find yourself thinking about a variety of personal and professional concerns as well as matters related to the business of your practice.
The myriad of concerns 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.
It is my personal experience and from consulting/coaching, that you will need more than just knowledge about the unknown you are about to embark upon. You will need and greatly benefit from applying a method for planning and executing a successful End of Career Transition.
Insights Into the Model
In this article, I discuss a triad of plans that comprise my...
Clear Path in Plain Sight
Carson Canyon, Sierra Nevada - 2013
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 comes closer, the concerns may become more prevalent. A major reason is the recognition that this is an event for which you did not learn about during college, professional school or even training beyond that. For most, it is something you begin to learn about when you think you need to.
But how do you know when the right time is early enough or perhaps too late?
As you try to answer that question, it becomes apparent that indeed, it is very difficult to determine when to begin to prepare when there is so much that is unfamiliar. It is virtually impossible to make an informed decision to begin to tackle those questions and challenges when the necessary scope and duration of preparation is unknown.
The reality is that because...
Transient Colors, Indelible Memory
Sierra Nevada - 2018
Sometimes the Obstacles Are Not Financial
There are several, major matters that are important to consider as you contemplate your End of Career Transition TM .
For many, a primary concern is whether or not they are financially ready.
Whether you are or not, there are other major matters that are important to think about and deal with.
There is More to Prepare for Than Financial Planning
There are often 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. I have previously written about two of these. I pose two of them in the form of a question I am often asked:
One article is written to suggest a way to develop clarity about your identity as it...
Tranquil Transitions
Makua Bay, Kauai, HI - 2021
Choose Your Language, Change Your Perspective
The end of your career is one of the most significant events of your life. It is a time when you may feel joy, pride, excitement, grief, regret, uncertainty, and other feelings that are unique to each individual.
You may be looking forward to this new phase of your life with stressful uncertainty or joyful anticipation. As it is for others, it is 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 is manifested as renewal and fulfillment.
My Life and Lessons
I have experienced some of those feelings and many 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...
Aspen Splendor
Bridger - Teton National Forest, Wyoming - 2013
Your Advisors Are an Important Element of Your Personal and Professional Success
When people think about their personal and professional success, it is natural to think that it is largely the result of their own effort. Upon further reflection, they usually recognize how they benefited from those that cared about their well-being, advised and mentored them.
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, illuminates your life.
My Giants and Gratitude
I have benefitted immensely from all of the above, initially during my lengthy, formal education. I recognized early on the enormous value they bestowed upon me and I thanked them accordingly. As time progressed, I felt gratitude even more deeply...
Transition in Balance
Sierra Nevada - 2019
The Need for Discernment and Balance to Achieve Personal Fulfillment
It is 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 those earlier years when life’s responsibilities required such choices. It often meant that wants or desires that were considered non-essential were put off. Perhaps they were never fulfilled, but hopefully, simply deferred and remembered in the well of your memory.
The fulfillment of myriad 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...
Waves and Light of Change
Gulf of Mexico, Florida - 2009
Your Freedoms, Your Choices…To Do or Not to Do
Your end of career is approaching.
Your vision of this new phase of your life is becoming ever more clear.
You are growing more confident that the dreams born of your imagination will become a reality.
Your smile reflects joyful anticipation.
You take a deep, deep breath that parallels the satisfaction you feel for what you have accomplished in life.
You feel deeply the conviction that you have earned the life that your aspire to live…and it really feels good!
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 have guided through this phase of their life’s journey.
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...
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How to Nourish Your Creativity, Create Your Vision and Optimize Your Potential