Career check-up
A “job for life” is disappearing from the medical
profession, almost 10 years after it disappeared from other
To make sure your career is in a healthy state, here are 3 questions every doctor should consider, no matter what their age or stage:
What do you really want to do?
This is a difficult question to answer, often buried under parent/family needs, service/practice needs, financial needs, etc. Often what we want to do is unclear when we are younger; in order to think more straight, try answering this question: “what do I want to be doing in 5-10 years’ time?”, and then work back logically: how can you get there, and what do you want/need to replace your current working practice with, in order to get there?
What can you do?
This depends (a) on what is out there, and (b) what skills & experience you have. What are you especially good at? Begin by asking people you trust “what do you think I am especially good at?”
What are you going to do?
Career management is about being active, not just making big decisions only then not to follow them up. Going after what we want as a career takes more courage than some of us have. It is always easier to carry on in the “comfort zone”; once you take the right action, however, you will be surprised by the lasting energy and motivation that comes from being in the right job.
Conclusion
It’s worth giving our careers a health check every now and then, because if we don’t know where we’re going we are likely to end up somewhere else-maybe even where we don’t really want to go. When you think about your career, think CALM: Career & Life Management, for these two always go together, and what influences the former inevitably influences the latter too.
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