You Don't Know What You Don't Know - Or, We All Have Blind Spots

[Iwokeup]

So it's kind of embarrassing to talk about this but I've recently come to realize that I've had a HUGE mental block holding me back from achieving better success over the past year.

What was that block? That my mental self image was PRIMARILY that of a physician, and NOT an entrepreneur. Despite going to the Meetup in March, in my day-to-day life I apparently acted as a physician who is doing this business thing on the side that would "someday" free me from my job.

Part of the problem is that I've been working at TON at a job that is all consuming, trying to make enough money so that I can take time off later. And because I like the feeling that the big paycheck gave me.

But the tradeoff was that spending 184 (filled with death, near death, stress, impossible situations, etc) hours a month being a ER doctor meant that I was in the mindset of BEING a physician. Also, I spent a lot of time AROUND doctors and nurses (super Slowlane) and I guess that it's true: you ARE influenced by the FIVE people that you spend the most time around.

As a result, I realized last week that I hadn't been fully present mentally for the business, which I believe has slowed the progress down.

For a while I've blamed external factors (employees, work schedule, etc) but it was only last week that I realized that I was the roadblock.

Since the realization, I've turned things around: I've been FAR more productive and able to get things and people where I'd like them to be. I also re-started my Miracle Mornings have enjoyed it immensely.


Bottom Line: If you're not making progress in your business, look to yourself first.

Hope that this helps someone.

 

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[Andy Black]

+1 on this. I still think of myself as a contractor.



I love @Stubbers signature:

 

[Iwokeup]

Thanks, @Andy Black. I've been doing a lot of soul searching since I started back working. Decided also that I need to get even more serious than I have been about being a winner.

Am selling the Xbox One, starting cross fit by Tuesday. Have already gone ultra low carb, and just in general decided to get obsessed

 

[Vidar]

Oh man @Iwokeup! You're an ER Doc and working on a biz? That's awesome!!

There's a few Doc's I work with in the OR that are serious Entrepreneurs aside from their surgical practices. One has, I think 3 businesses ventures that are all quite successful... I'm pretty sure he does surgery just for fun now

So it CAN be done! You all just work so dang hard at the hospital, I don't know how you do it.

I totally get you about getting wrapped up in the job and the Slowlane mindset though. I've finally come to the conclusion that they (other staff) don't want out of their predicament so I just let them rant about the hospital system screwing them out of their retirements (which totally happens all the time, btw) and keep plotting my way out of the Slowlane, looking for issues that could potentially become business ideas as I go. There's no end to the complaining, it seems ;D

Anyway, good on ya for getting yourself out of that rut!! Keep fighting the good fight.

 

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[Iwokeup]

Oh man @Iwokeup! You're an ER Doc and working on a biz? That's awesome!!

There's a few Doc's I work with in the OR that are serious Entrepreneurs aside from their surgical practices. One has, I think 3 businesses ventures that are all quite successful... I'm pretty sure he does surgery just for fun now

So it CAN be done! You all just work so dang hard at the hospital, I don't know how you do it.

I totally get you about getting wrapped up in the job and the Slowlane mindset though. I've finally come to the conclusion that they (other staff) don't want out of their predicament so I just let them rant about the hospital system screwing them out of their retirements (which totally happens all the time, btw) and keep plotting my way out of the Slowlane, looking for issues that could potentially become business ideas as I go. There's no end to the complaining, it seems ;D

Anyway, good on ya for getting yourself out of that rut!! Keep fighting the good fight.

Ah, yeah. Thanks for the kind words.

That one surgeon seems like quite the busy man!

It's funny (or unsurprising) how toxic the hospital mentality is: you're surrounded by tragedy and (occasional) happiness so it's no wonder that this mindset begins to seep into everything.

How do you keep your mind away from that?

 

[theag]

my mental self image was PRIMARILY that of a physician, and NOT an entrepreneur

Ha, thats funny, I'm the exact opposite.

I think of myself as an entrepreneur (and tell everybody that asks what I do for a living that I am an entrepreneur), despite having a fulltime job.

Fake it till you make, I guess. Will quit the job soon though as my daily business profits are almost equal to my monthly salary already, at least then I wont be lying to people anymore

 

[Vidar]

Ah, yeah. Thanks for the kind words.

That one surgeon seems like quite the busy man!

It's funny (or unsurprising) how toxic the hospital mentality is: you're surrounded by tragedy and (occasional) happiness so it's no wonder that this mindset begins to seep into everything.

How do you keep your mind away from that?

Hey, no worries!

Yeah, totally get ya. I've found that the most toxic people to be around are the ones that get their self esteem from work. You know the ones Their life revolves around what is going on at work, which nurse is getting what shift, who's getting to work with the "best" Doc's that day, etc... So I've taken to keeping them at arm's length to protect my happy bubble of non-drama.

I used to do a LOT of Neuro, which was cool at first, the crashing crani's blowing through the backdoor was quite the adrenaline rush! But I got comfortable working in there and started thinking about things besides "which instrument is next" and "how not to piss of this surgeon" and started asking how this or that crani was doing from last week, you know, the usual chit chat.

Quite a few didn't survive, and if they did survive, they weren't themselves any longer. That seriously got me down. There were the miracles of course, but it just didn't seem like they happened often enough. But after a while, I made up my mind to just focus on the pt we had right then, do my absolute best to help take care of them, then move on to the next one and do my best for them.

I mean, that's all we really can do, isn't it?

"If you don't laugh, you'll end up crying and crying doesn't help anyone." Learned that nugget from an old school nurse who was trying to buck me up after a particularly horrible case. It's my OR mantra!

I also leave work at work now. I used to be roommates with one of the Circulators I worked with and we would sit and taaaaalk for hours and hours after work and it felt like I'd never left work, rehashing the whole day over and over again... and then rinse, and repeat the next day. It was absolutely draining! I mean, it was nice to have someone who totally understood what I was talking about (which you probably are all too familiar with as well) but seriously, keeping that snarky, jaded OR mindset going 24/7 was just too much.

So I leave my OR attitude where it belongs now and I'm a much happier person because of it, and I think the people around me are too. Honestly, you have to put on a weird kind of persona to deal with (and protect yourself from) a lot of what we deal with, and it's usually inappropriate for the outside world

(sorry to be so long winded!!)

 

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[Iwokeup]

Hey, no worries!

Yeah, totally get ya. I've found that the most toxic people to be around are the ones that get their self esteem from work. You know the ones Their life revolves around what is going on at work, which nurse is getting what shift, who's getting to work with the "best" Doc's that day, etc... So I've taken to keeping them at arm's length to protect my happy bubble of non-drama.

I used to do a LOT of Neuro, which was cool at first, the crashing crani's blowing through the backdoor was quite the adrenaline rush! But I got comfortable working in there and started thinking about things besides "which instrument is next" and "how not to piss of this surgeon" and started asking how this or that crani was doing from last week, you know, the usual chit chat.

Quite a few didn't survive, and if they did survive, they weren't themselves any longer. That seriously got me down. There were the miracles of course, but it just didn't seem like they happened often enough. But after a while, I made up my mind to just focus on the pt we had right then, do my absolute best to help take care of them, then move on to the next one and do my best for them.

I mean, that's all we really can do, isn't it?

"If you don't laugh, you'll end up crying and crying doesn't help anyone." Learned that nugget from an old school nurse who was trying to buck me up after a particularly horrible case. It's my OR mantra!

I also leave work at work now. I used to be roommates with one of the Circulators I worked with and we would sit and taaaaalk for hours and hours after work and it felt like I'd never left work, rehashing the whole day over and over again... and then rinse, and repeat the next day. It was absolutely draining! I mean, it was nice to have someone who totally understood what I was talking about (which you probably are all too familiar with as well) but seriously, keeping that snarky, jaded OR mindset going 24/7 was just too much.

So I leave my OR attitude where it belongs now and I'm a much happier person because of it, and I think the people around me are too. Honestly, you have to put on a weird kind of persona to deal with (and protect yourself from) a lot of what we deal with, and it's usually inappropriate for the outside world

(sorry to be so long winded!!)

All that I can say is....YEP.