A letter from our Co-Editor-In-Chief, Dr. Archana Shrestha:
Dear Reader,
I was coaching a woman physician the other day who is wanting to make a transition in her medical career. One of the exercises that I had her do was a “No List” of things she doesn’t want to do anymore and a “Yes List” of what she does want more of in her life.
Included on her list were things like no more call, no more weekends, no more high-acuity patients. Yes to more vacation time and flexibility to be with her family. As she read me her lists she said, “When I made the lists I felt as though I’m asking for too much. Like nothing out there could exist that would meet my lists.”
Then as I coached her I told her, it’s important that she give herself permission to ask for what she wants in life. We women doctors have a hard time at that.
First as women, we often accept what is handed to us without questioning or negotiating. Second as doctors, we have been brought up in the medical community to believe there are just two ways of putting our medical degrees to use, namely working clinically as employed physicians or owning our own private practice.
Turns out as we spoke further that soon after she made her lists she heard from a telehealth company that wanted to hire her, and that this position met all her criteria of what she was looking for and would also meet her income goals.
Gaining clarity on what we do and don’t want puts things into motion and suddenly many times we start to find the exact opportunities we are looking for.
So Many Women Doctors Wanting to Pivot
Right now I’m hearing from so many women doctors wanting to transition or pivot in what they are doing especially now during this pandemic. And we here at Women in White Coats not only want to give you permission to find a way to put your medical degree to use in a way that works for you but also that works for your family.
Remember, you are the one who earned that degree and you are the one who paid for it or is paying for it. So don’t let other people or the medical establishment tell you what you should do with it. Whether it’s working clinically in a different setting or non-clinically, or simply cutting down your hours, we want to be a resource for you.
That’s why we put together our Women in White Coats Virtual Summit: Women Docs Thinking Outside the Box.
Our FREE online summit will take place from August 31 – September 4, 2020 and will feature 15+ interviews with some of the following guest experts, all women doctors thinking outside the box and living life on their own terms:
- Dr. Lisa Herbert on Physician Leadership for Women Doctors
- Dr. Stephanie Freeman on Getting Started in Locums
- Dr. Erica Howe on How to Become a Physician Speaker
- Dr. Letizia Alta on Real Estate Investing
- Dr. Bonnie Koo on Creating Financial Freedom
- Dr. Jyoti Patel on Concierge Practice and Med Spa
- Dr. Stefania Lima on Getting Started in Utilization Review
- Dr Romie Mushtaq on Becoming a Chief Wellness Officer
- Dr. Amna Hussain on How to Set Up a Direct Primary Care Practice
- Dr. Nilong Vyas on Sleep Medicine for Primary Care Doctors
- Dr. Amber Robins on Book Publishing and Medical Media Work
- Dr. Archana Shrestha on Becoming a Physician Coach
- And more…
You will hear from many other women doctors on other topics such as telemedicine, lifestyle medicine, course creation, and entrepreneurship.
The Summit is FREE. Simply click here to register and you will even receive three gifts from us just for registering.
Please do us a favor and share this articles with all your female physician friends. More women docs than you might even realize are looking to make a change but have no idea where to start and we want to be a resource for them.
Also, if you are wanting to make a career transition and need some coaching and clarity on what to do next, click here to learn more about our Career Transition Coaching for Women Doctors.
To uplifting one another!
Dr. Archana Shrestha
Co-Founder, Women in White Coats Blog
Archana Shrestha, MD is a life coach, speaker and physician in Chicago. She is coauthor of “The Chronicles of Women in White Coats” and Cofounder of the Women in White Coats blog. Learn more about her by going to MightyMomMD.com . She can be followed on Instagram @MightyMomMD
