The Teton Range – 2010

Grand Teton National Park, WY

 Sometimes the Obstacles Are Not Financial

Professionals as well as business leaders commonly spend their careers mastering their craft, making critical decisions, and leading their enterprises successfully. Yet, when it comes to stepping away from their daily role, they may find themselves at an unfamiliar impasse. The concept of "retirement" seems foreign—an ending rather than a transition. The latter is a more accurate term that describes what it is: a process that has the explicit purpose of you experiencing fulfillment in the next great phase of your life.

While some embrace this change with eagerness, others find themselves hesitant, burdened by lingering impediments. These varied obstacles may be professional, psychological, financial, business-related as well as others. They can stall even the most well-planned transitions. By recognizing and addressing these challenges, you can move beyond reluctance and embrace your ant...

Waves of Snow – 2010

Bridger – Teton National Forest, WY 

The Influence of Language on 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 that presents you with the opportunity for ongoing personal evolution manifested as renewal and fulfillment.

Life Lessons

I have experienced some of those feelings and more, including these lessons and observations:

• One, is my own end of career transition. It was difficult and painful. But it provided me the challenge to evolve and succeed again on my terms, in the service of others.
• The source of my second les
...

 Emerald Bay, Fannette Island – 2010

Lake Tahoe, CA

 An Approach for Evaluating Your Readiness

At some point in time, you’ll begin to consider a transition from your career. The first step is often to review your retirement plan and consult with your financial advisor.  

Next, you and perhaps your spouse will schedule a meeting with your advisor. Your goal is to assess your financial readiness for the transition.

Questions and Reflection

During the meeting, your advisor will ask how you visualize your future lifestyle. You discuss your preliminary ideas, and he suggests that you take some time to develop a more detailed plan. Together, you’ll map out how you envision your ideal lifestyle post-career, including a projection of associated costs. 

The meeting concludes with a commitment to refining your ideas.

A Deeper Dive into Planning

Now, the real work begins. You each set aside quiet time for reflection and planning. Afterward, you compare your notes and combine your ideas. ...

Accents of Autumn – 2013

Carson Canyon, CA

Your Career Transition Is a Stimulus for Personal Development

Change and transition are words that are sometimes used interchangeably. However, these two words have different meanings and what they describe have distinctly different purposes, especially with regard to the transition from your career.

Lessons I Learned on My 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 an unexpected change that ended my Plastic Surgery career and triggered my transition. Thankfully, years later I am cured, renewed and fulfilled in my new career. 

The end of my career was precipitated by an unexpected change. The subsequent transition was not an event. Rather it was a process that involved sustained, focused and deliberate effort over a period of time.  That effort was directed at a particular envisioned outcome...

Buffalo River – 2013

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Steps and Stages

The transition from your career is a process that is usually lengthy. When it is well-planned, it is typically executed in sequential phases that are comprised of tasks that build upon the previous ones. The most challenging of these phases is usually the first. This is when you come to terms with the fact that your transition from practice is in your foreseeable future. It is natural for reactions to vary widely from joy of anticipation to apprehension and perhaps some stress. The experience is commonly a blend of both.

Regardless of how you perceive this phase of your life, you will probably experience a sense of loss that is accompanied by excitement about great anticipations. It is beneficial to think of this process as what it really is: a transition, rather than a “retirement.” The term transition emphasizes its purpose: to experience renewal and fulfillment, a form of positive transformation.

 Retirement cl...

Autumn Splendor – 2010

Arizona

The Lifelong Value of Trusted Advisors

When individulas think about their personal and professional successes, it is natural to think that they are largely the result of their own effort. Upon further reflection, they usually recognize how they also benefited from those who cared about them and provided wisdom and guidance.

Personal guides that probably influenced your life are personified by parents, family, friends, teachers, consultants, coaches, professors and mentors.

Gratitude for my Giants

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

At some point in time, our formal training came to an end.  Yet the pursuit of excellence requires that personal and professional development continue throughout life. 

Your Ongoing Development

Madison River and Range – 2009

Montana

Professional Matters 

The transition from our careers is a new challenge we all face. It affects physicians in common and unique ways. This includes major concerns such as personal, professional and medical practice matters.

This article provides an overview of major professional considerations. A previous article discusses the rationale and benefits of undertaking proactive, preparation. More to the point, it includes the question of when and how to begin. I encourage you to review it as it presents the foundation for this and subsequent articles that I’m confident you will find very helpful. 

The Path to Preparedness

There is a very close association between your personal and professional concerns that you must identify and consider as you begin to prepare. There may be some overlap, but when you consider this closely, it will become apparent that there are substantial differences. It is important to resolve questions that will arise so th...

Flying in Freedom - 2021

Rough-legged Hawk

Idaho

The Right Decisions Manifest Freedom

Perhaps you are at a point in your career that you can envision the transition to the next great phase of your life.

Your ideas and aspirations are becoming more clear. 

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

You have some concerns, yet your smile reflects joy of anticipation. 

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

You feel the conviction deeply that you have earned the life that your aspire to live.

Well earned, well deserved!

A New Dawn for You

This is your time for dreaming, planning, executing and experiencing the emerging reality of it all. Amidst the excitement, it is also the time to apply the skills and wisdom you have developed over the course of your career to this very special time of your life.

You will probably experience a variety of profound feeli...

Gallatin River – 2004

Montana

Path and Phases

The transition from your career is a process that is usually lengthy. When it is well-planned, it is typically executed in sequential phases that are comprised of tasks that build upon the previous ones.

The most challenging of these phases is usually the first. This is when you come to terms with the fact that your transition from practice is in your foreseeable future. It is natural for reactions to vary widely from joy of anticipation to apprehension and perhaps some stress. The experience is commonly a blend of both.

Regardless of how you perceive this phase of your life, you will probably experience a sense of loss that is accompanied by excitement about great anticipations. It is beneficial to think of this process as what it really is: a transition, rather than a “retirement.” The term transition emphasizes its purpose: to experience renewal and fulfillment, a form of positive transformation.

 Retirement closes doors; transitio...

Luminous Path – 2022

Grand Teton National Park, WY

A Path Amidst Obstacles

You may be at a time in your life that you find yourself having recurrent thoughts about your future transition from practice. They will probably range from specific ideas to some that are still vague. You may consider this for awhile and perhaps come to realize that a very long time has gone by without a clear idea of what to do, how or when. Yet, the challenge remains.

You are not alone in this experience. It’s common.

At some point, there will arise from within you a powerful desire to act, to move forward and do what needs to be done to prepare yourself and your practice. Hopefully, it’s not too late to achieve your desired optimal outcome.

What to Do When

Over time, you will be able to reach some conclusions, such as when you want to stop practicing, what do to do afterwards, what to do about your practice and much more. 

You’ll probably realize that the answers are often tentative because there’s m...