Renewal

North Shore, Kauai, Hawaii - 2021

 A Personal Tool to Create a New Lifestyle

One fine morning with coffee in hand, you still savor that last sip of your custom brew.  You feel peaceful. Then a fleeting thought stirs up an awareness that you are thinking more and more about your future End of Career and your new life. You smile and feel warmer inside…and then you feel a twinge of angst.

You may feel mixed emotions: joy and apprehension. They swirl around your mind stirred up much like the sweetener you blended into your coffee.

You wonder whether this is a common experience, how successful people deal with it and perhaps when you should begin to resolve what seems like an emerging dilemma. 

You sense that you must do something. 

A Fictional Character that Reflects a Real Person 

The following is the common story of Alex, a fictional character like many accomplished individuals from all walks of life that I am familiar with.

Alex is at that time...

Preliminary Action Steps Necessary to Create a Smooth Transition

The End of Career will require your careful attention to a variety of tasks in order to achieve a smooth Transition. There are five factors that commonly get in the way of achieving that: 

• Lack of awareness of the magnitude of the process.
• The difficulty of knowing when to begin to prepare. 
• What matters must be addressed.
• The order in which tasks should be completed.
• The lack of a structured Transition Plan.

The approach to addressing these concerns can be customized for the various practice settings: physicians in solo or group practice and those who are otherwise employed.

The Process of Transition

There is a certain matter that becomes an increasing preoccupation as the questions related to the End of Career Transition increase in number and complexity. It is an awareness that your Transition in not an event. It is a process, a rather complex and lengthy one. 

It is an undertaking that involves...

Transition Toward Renewal

Sierra Nevada - 2019

When to Begin, What to Do

As you approach your End of Career Transition, you will likely have numerous thoughts and feelings. They will probably range from joyful anticipation to concern and persistent preoccupation about how to properly prepare.

Training and Experience: Yours and Mine

As a physician, I can appreciate the feeling of satisfaction that results from extensive training that truly prepares us to practice our profession. The years of daily experiences prepares us with scientific knowledge as we apply it with a healthy dose of sound, clinical judgement.

But now, as you approach an event we all experience…whether as a physician or other professional, you will find that the kind of preparation that you are familiar with and value, has not been readily available.

The Unexpected and the Unknown

That was what I faced when my Plastic Surgery career ended unexpectedly years ago. It happened as a result of unexpected health...

Immersed in Nature

Henry’s Fork, Snake River. Idaho - 2021

Nature Nurtures Our Natural State of Tranquility, Creativity and Well-being

The natural state of Nature, with uncommon exception, is tranquility. The kind of tranquility that invites and allows you to be easily connected with yourself, especially when you are alone. 

How often do you have that experience?

In the course of your daily life, it may be uncommon as it is for many. Yet, uncommon does not mean unnecessary. It is an essential experience of our very nature throughout our lives.

Some might think that it requires a far away place, a grand location that is not conveniently accessible. While such places are dear to our dreams and hopefully provide meaningful memories, they are not essential to achieve what Nature can offer you. 

The reality is that what is really beneficial to you is no further than your balcony, backyard or nearby park. 

To Live the Moment

It is my experience and that of others with...

Flowing Through the Palette of Life

Yellowstone River and Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park - 2004

To Know How is the Key to Decide Where

There are many questions related to the End of Career Transition that most of us and probably you as well, will need to answer.

Beyond matters related to your practice or business, there are core questions that will determine the nature and quality of your life. They are very personal and are essential for you to answer.

One of those, is Where to live. Most individuals initially and instinctively seek to answer that particular question. It is at the core of the visions they create as they fashion their post career lifestyle.

That is quite natural. However, by focusing narrowly on the Where, you are unlikely to answer it in a way that will optimally fulfill your vision and aspiration.

There is yet another question that is best to explore and answer first.  By doing so, you will more clearly be able to describe not only...

Rising to the Occassion

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park - 2004

Character, Purpose and Leadership

Summary:

Great, existential challenges have a remarkable way of evoking different reactions from individuals with diverse personalities.

 Usually, it is that caliber of character that motivates such leaders to serve not themselves, but the best interests of others.

 You can choose to lead and become a leader.

 I believe that leadership skills are acquired through a developmental process that may occur through deliberate education, experiencing life’s challenges or frequently both.

 Whether you are an experienced leader or new to the role, leadership originates and endures from the fountain of your character.

 Look and you will find the leader within you that responds with purposeful action.

PS: Would you like to learn more from me about how to develop your personal and professional leadership skills? To help you, I provide consulting and coaching...

Flowing True to Course

Madison River and Range, Yellowstone National Park - 2010

Your Potential and Life’s Panorama

Summary:

When considering the matter of actualizing your potential, the focus is often on What you have accomplished…a promotion, a career or a title. 

These are laudable goals that are based on your personal qualities, character and effort. 

Nevertheless, these goals can be described as external in nature.

There is, however, a more expansive, beneficial perspective that describes the actualization of your potential. 

It is about how you apply them as you pursue various goals. It is about how your personal qualities influence the achievement of the goals you set for yourself. 

Listen to get a different perspective that will benefit you now and at your End of Career.

PS: By the way, do you want to learn more from me about how to get the most out of your life now and begin to prepare for your End of Career Transition as well as the...

Solitude Without Loneliness

Idaho - 2005

Essential Elements of Well-Being

Summary:

• One of the great challenges of life as we know it, is to succeed at experiencing a measure of tranquility that is essential to promote peace of mind, creativity, well-being and be productive.
• An important element is equanimity. It is more than tranquility, yet it depends on it. It is a quality, a personal trait that requires a state of tranquility.
• It requires your deliberate, purposeful effort to achieve and nurture it.
• The path to creating tranquility and equanimity as a way of life is to be convicted of its importance to you and being committed to achieve it.

PS: By the way, do you want to learn more from me about how to get the most out of your life now and begin to prepare for your End of Career Transition as well as the next great phase of your life? I would like to help you. I provide consulting and coaching services that are tailored to your specific needs. Click here to...

This painting by John Trumbull (1756-1843), depicts the moment when the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Second Continental Congress on June 28, 1776.

 The Seldom Declared History of its Writing

The summer of 1776 was a time of escalating conflict with England.  It was a dangerous time for the American colonies and in particular, its leaders.  Military and political uncertainties abounded.

The conflict between the American colonists and British soldiers that began in April, 1775 had grown into the Revolutionary War during the summer of 1776.

In the meantime, there had developed a significant movement in favor of Independence from England.  Delegates to the Continental Congress were faced with the necessity to vote on this critical issue.

In order to do so, the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia for the purpose of voting on the question of independence. To accomplish that, there was a parliamentary and...

Evergreens and Aspens, Stability Amidst Change 

Sierra Nevada - 2019

An Unspoken but Common Challenge to Your End of Career

Summary:

The anticipation and actual experience of the end of your career is a major life Transition. It will present you with unfamiliar challenges in addition to financial concerns.

Some of the concerns will be obvious to you, others are not. Yet, they are profound, common and often unspoken. These are some of the less evident, but important ones:

• Not knowing how to go about the process of Transition. 
• Not clearly distinguishing Who you are as an individual vs. What your title has been…your sense of identity and how this is relates to your Transition.
• Not knowing What you will do in the future that fulfills your purpose and desires in a balanced manner.
• Not having the confidence that after the end of your career you will continue to feel relevant.

In this audio I discuss these and, specifically, why the topic of relevance is important to...