What is there in life after career? To be honest, this is one of the major issues that doctors and other health care professionals are facing today. Let's face it. Anybody who has been in a private practice or a healthcare career ten years or more especially will tell you, almost consistently, that their view of practice and their personal role in it has changed dramatically over what it once was even a few short years ago.
Some of this of course is just a shift in different attitudes as we age, but in my opinion some of this also is deeply rooted in the amount of challenges that we are faced with, with ever increasing frequency.
Not long ago, most health care professionals, chose one career pathway, and simply stayed on that very same path for forty years or more. Some just retired from work entirely.
And no doubt, some of you reading this right now have never even thought about retirement or a life after work or practice. Perhaps you are new to this, and the idea of doing something totally different with your life seems very distant, not necessarily a priority. But in reality, the vast majority of doctors and health care professionals are already in their 30s or older before they start becoming financially stable. Many of us, are now, or will be even older than 30 by the time we reach that same point due to rising prices of education. And let's not forget about the costs associated with starting a private practice. Next, for most of us the years spent from 30 to 45 or 50 are spent raising families, as well as paying down physical, emotional and financial debt that's left over from early in our careers.
Now, add to this the unforeseen circumstances such as those associated with work, a significant illness or disability of yourself, spouse or close family members, living the lifestyle you and your significant others imagined when you were younger, the natural physical and emotional changes of growing older, unforeseen divorce, and the ever evolving practice landscape... I call this collection of life circumstances health care professionals face simply, the "changes".
Well, I hope you see where I am going here. Are you going through the "changes"? For some reason, years have gone by since you graduated and life isn't quite what you had imagined it to be.
One of the major consequences of this, that I see every day in consulting, are people in their early 30s to mid 50s who have a very difficult time producing the fun and fulfillment in their practice, that not too long ago seemed natural and easy. Indeed, these are the major issues that led to the development of the Perfect Practice Platform.
This is also the reason why, for years, I have advocated that caregivers play hard and often, work and practice on their own terms, while at the same time finding out precisely what's right for them, RIGHT NOW. This includes professional practice structure, finances, lifestyle, and perhaps most especially professional and personal fulfillment.
Now, I can also tell you that those who study and implement the Platform concepts have accepted and dealt with the "changes" in a far more effective manner than those who resist, assume the world is still the same, or simply dig in their heels and refuse to believe that the playing field as well as the rule book is radically different than it was even a few short years ago. But there's way more to it.
For many of us who chose a health care pathway, our entire identities are wrapped up in our careers or private practice. This is a well-known fact. This is also why we're sometimes blind sighted by the future. There are certain personality profiles, and early life experiences that force us to become who and what we are as caregivers today. This is certainly not all bad. Unfortunately, those who fail to recognize this are also the same people that have a very difficult time dealing and adapting with the "changes". This is precisely one of the core issues, which our company, Perfect Practice Web, was founded upon.
There is also another very significant issue here. That is that most of us are living far more active lives and longer in years than our parents, and certainly our grandparents.
Howard Stone, the acclaimed author of "Too Young to Retire -101 Ways to Start the Rest of Your Life" correctly calls these the bonus years. For a lot of us, the bonus years could be as long as 30 to 40 years, maybe even longer! Unfortunately, a lot of health care professionals are amongst the worst in preparing for their bonus years. This quite frankly is due to the attitudes and perceptions about the "changes" we have just discussed.
With all this said, I have some practical suggestions.
1. Recognize that the pace of the "changes" you will deal with does not slowdown, and most likely will accelerate.
2. Do your best to develop a comprehensive game plan, on a continuous basis for the rest of your life, starting from where you are right now. Use the concepts and philosophies of "practicing on your own terms" as the facilitative tools they were designed to be. You can do this from any point in your career. Of course, the earlier you start, the better.
3. Identify your attitude and perception about money that may prevent you from building your wealth. Seriously, failure to thoroughly explore these issues is inviting certain disaster.
4. Acknowledge the value of interacting with other like-minded people such as our membership on a regular basis. Personal growth is often accelerated when you're fully absorbed in quiet reading and study, but especially while attending teleseminars like "Breakthrough Sessions" and most especially mastermind and live events.
5. Seriously consider working with people like myself and join various focus groups designed exclusively for health care professionals. By doing so, you are literally saving yourself from years of stress and thousands of dollars.
6. Enjoy the process of self-discovery and personal growth. Remember, you are part of one of the most gifted groups of human beings to ever walk the earth. Enjoy your patients. Love your families. But most importantly, plan now how you'll live your life to its fullest, no matter how old you are. Start now!
As Southwest Airlines is so often used as the "model" for new startups - even many which resemble it in little more than calling themselves low cost and charging low fares until they go bankrupt - this is a good place to address some of the fundamentals which made Southwest so different from its predecessors. Many of the features seem obvious today, especially with the benefit of hindsight and many variants on the theme. "Better quality + lesser price = value + spiritual attitude of our employees = unbeatable." Herb Kelleher on Southwest Airlines' success formula Perhaps what is most interesting about Southwest is that it was not really "discovered" as a desirable model in the US until after September 2001, when legacy carriers began to deal seriously with the prospect of long term lower yields which exceeded their entrenched costs. But Southwest too is evolving in ways which its originators would have found heretical in the early days. Now it is one of the largest airlines in the US and is increasingly coming up against imitators that are smart, aggressive and well funded. Southwest has had a dream run through a recent period of high fuel costs thanks to its hedging strategy. But those hedge positions are diminishing in scale and will by 2009 be over entirely. This situation coupled with the carrier's growth rate - it firmed up options for 79 B737s, adding them to existing orders and its current 452-strong fleet - puts the carrier in a dominant position it has not been accustomed to. Some of the key ingredients of the Southwest success (and yardsticks to measure how the model is changing): o Innovative labour agreements leading to high productivity. Productivity was traditionally higher than elsewhere, with pilots flying an average of 70-75 hours a month compared with 40-50 hours then or conventional operators. A landmark 1994 10-year agreement with pilots provided stock options in place of wage increases. Pilots taking up the offer benefited from the growth in share value. Each original pilot would now hold stock worth around USD1 million. Southwest also reinforced the loyalty of its pilots by maintaining schedules and not furloughing any of them following September 11 (unlike most other publicly-listed US carriers) o Minimal distribution costs. Southwest was one of the first to focus on reducing distribution costs, for example using reservation centres to avoid agency costs, and was an early uptaker of the internet as a direct selling option. o Operation of a uniform aircraft type. Southwest flies only a single type, B737 series aircraft equipped with GE engines. This reduces maintenance costs, allows for lower spare parts inventory and minimises training costs. o Emphasis on aircraft ownership. Southwest owned or holds on capital leases three quarters of its fleet, with the remainder on operating leases. While this imposes a burden in debt-related areas, it builds a saleable asset base for the airline and reduces the drain on its operating cash flow. o Use of a ticketless booking system. Southwest was one of the first operators to eliminate paper boarding passes, instead providing plastic, reusable passes to passengers. o Outsourcing benefits. Southwest was an early aggressive user of external contractors to provide component maintenance, engine support and management of office materials. These arrangements generated direct savings and ensured tight control over inventory (eg flight equipment expendable parts, materials and supplies). Southwest consolidated engine repair work for its B737-300s and -500s with GE Engines under a long-term contract which expires this year. GE is paid on a rate per flight hour basis under terms which substantially reduce maintenance overheads but maintain aircraft reliability. The airline also has outsourced the management of office and industrial product supplies, so that all materials are sourced through one supplier for delivery to all cities in the Southwest network. o No frills on-board service. Southwest pioneered the "no frills" single class service, serving only peanuts, snacks and beverages. o High aircraft utilisation. In a US environment which increasingly focussed on hub operations after deregulation, most airlines concentrated on hub connections rather than increasing utilisation. Southwest achieved an average of eight sectors a day per aircraft, and a daily utilisation rate of 11-12 hours, then about 3-4 hours more than its full service competitors. This was partly achieved through focus on high frequency, short-haul, point-to-point routes between high density destinations.
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