How to take ownership of your career

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,860 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills 2 00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:11,260 to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 3 00:00:11,260 --> 00:00:17,340 As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients. 4 00:00:17,340 --> 00:00:22,380 When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find 5 00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:27,780 that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research 6 00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:29,200 program. 7 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:35,480 Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit. 8 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:40,580 However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs. 9 00:00:40,580 --> 00:00:46,200 For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians 10 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:51,800 the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 11 00:00:51,800 --> 00:01:01,060 Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene. 12 00:01:01,060 --> 00:01:05,140 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast. 13 00:01:05,140 --> 00:01:09,700 I'm your host Toyosi Onwuemene, and it is a pleasure to be talking with you today. 14 00:01:09,700 --> 00:01:18,420 Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode as I talk about how to advance 15 00:01:18,420 --> 00:01:19,420 your career. 16 00:01:19,420 --> 00:01:20,420 Yes. 17 00:01:20,420 --> 00:01:23,500 Today I'm talking about how to advance your career. 18 00:01:23,500 --> 00:01:29,120 And while it may seem intuitive and obvious to some, I think it's not always intuitive 19 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:31,580 and obvious to everybody. 20 00:01:31,580 --> 00:01:33,700 And for that reason, I do want to make it explicit. 21 00:01:33,700 --> 00:01:37,500 We want to make it explicit because I needed somebody to make it explicit for me when I 22 00:01:37,500 --> 00:01:38,500 first started. 23 00:01:38,500 --> 00:01:43,300 And to be honest, somebody did. 24 00:01:43,300 --> 00:01:51,660 But it is hard to fit career advancement as a faculty member into the framework we've 25 00:01:51,660 --> 00:01:56,740 built over the course of our medical education and training. 26 00:01:56,740 --> 00:02:01,300 So personally, I remember going to medical school. 27 00:02:01,300 --> 00:02:07,260 And medical school, I don't know about your experience, but for me was a slog. 28 00:02:07,260 --> 00:02:11,740 I finished, I mean, just like made it, barely made it through all the first year, and then 29 00:02:11,740 --> 00:02:15,380 it was time for second year, and then it was time for third year. 30 00:02:15,380 --> 00:02:18,940 And then, oh, fourth year was here and everything was over. 31 00:02:18,940 --> 00:02:22,880 And it just felt like every time you were learning something new and every time with 32 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:27,660 an overwhelming amount of knowledge, that you were just following the curriculum. 33 00:02:27,660 --> 00:02:29,860 I was just going through the motions. 34 00:02:29,860 --> 00:02:37,400 And as long as I was studying hard and passing my tests, I was going to make it through. 35 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,780 And then I got to residency and intern year was a fair. 36 00:02:40,780 --> 00:02:44,340 And it was just so intense and there was so much learning. 37 00:02:44,340 --> 00:02:46,620 And it literally took up most of my life. 38 00:02:46,620 --> 00:02:49,820 And then there was second year and then there was all this learning about how to be a senior 39 00:02:49,820 --> 00:02:52,720 resident and then there was third year. 40 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:53,720 And then it was over. 41 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:59,140 Anyway, so there's a pattern being established here. 42 00:02:59,140 --> 00:03:04,140 There's a pattern of, wow, so busy, I can barely look around and breathe. 43 00:03:04,140 --> 00:03:05,620 But there's this curriculum. 44 00:03:05,620 --> 00:03:09,220 And as long as I'm following the path and doing all the things and taking the test, 45 00:03:09,220 --> 00:03:10,760 I'm making it through. 46 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,900 So unthinkingly, I'm just working hard. 47 00:03:14,900 --> 00:03:16,500 I'm making it through. 48 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:19,580 And then of course, there was fellowship and there was more of the same. 49 00:03:19,580 --> 00:03:26,580 But then when I got to my faculty career, all of a sudden, there's all this responsibility. 50 00:03:26,580 --> 00:03:28,420 There's all this stuff to do. 51 00:03:28,420 --> 00:03:32,540 But now the end of the road is not so clear. 52 00:03:32,540 --> 00:03:34,260 It's like, so what are we heading for? 53 00:03:34,260 --> 00:03:35,500 Where are we going? 54 00:03:35,500 --> 00:03:38,080 At the end of this, what is the big prize? 55 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:40,080 Is there a certificate? 56 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:43,820 Is there an award? 57 00:03:43,820 --> 00:03:45,260 No. 58 00:03:45,260 --> 00:03:46,460 Is there more money? 59 00:03:46,460 --> 00:03:50,740 And sometimes the answer to that too is no. 60 00:03:50,740 --> 00:03:53,780 And so it feels nebulous. 61 00:03:53,780 --> 00:03:59,340 And so when a faculty member sat down with me and went through all the things it takes 62 00:03:59,340 --> 00:04:04,200 to succeed as a faculty member, I have to tell you that I didn't have any frame to hang 63 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:05,200 it in. 64 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:06,200 You know, you just get information. 65 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,200 You're like, oh, there's nowhere to put that, throwing that away. 66 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:15,660 Because when you think about the way we remember things, the way memory works is you take something 67 00:04:15,660 --> 00:04:19,660 new and you attach it to something that's a little bit similar. 68 00:04:19,660 --> 00:04:23,220 And there you are able to kind of solidify that memory. 69 00:04:23,220 --> 00:04:24,680 There's a more technical way to say that. 70 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:25,680 But you know what I mean. 71 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:30,680 It's just that one thing connects to another and then you're able to make sense of it. 72 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,940 And so if there's no clear connection, it's hard to make sense of it. 73 00:04:34,940 --> 00:04:37,940 And so I feel like all the advice I got, that's exactly what happened. 74 00:04:37,940 --> 00:04:39,600 I was like, oh, there's no way to put this. 75 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:40,860 Thank you and no thank you. 76 00:04:40,860 --> 00:04:43,300 Fortunately, I wrote a lot of it down. 77 00:04:43,300 --> 00:04:48,500 And so over the years, I've been able to go back and say, oh, that's what this person 78 00:04:48,500 --> 00:04:49,500 was saying. 79 00:04:49,500 --> 00:04:53,940 Oh, this is what it means to succeed as a faculty member. 80 00:04:53,940 --> 00:04:58,100 And I'll give you the Cliff Notes version first, and then I'll explain it in different 81 00:04:58,100 --> 00:04:59,160 terms. 82 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,940 Because I think there's a difference between all the steps and the motions you need to 83 00:05:02,940 --> 00:05:10,660 go through and the responsibility that you take, the ownership you take for your career. 84 00:05:10,660 --> 00:05:16,020 And that's why the title of this podcast episode is How to Take Ownership of Your Career. 85 00:05:16,020 --> 00:05:20,380 Because you can go through motions as we did in medical school and residency and probably 86 00:05:20,380 --> 00:05:22,740 for some of you fellowship. 87 00:05:22,740 --> 00:05:26,820 But going through motions does not equal success. 88 00:05:26,820 --> 00:05:32,600 It equals success in training, but it does not equal success as a faculty member. 89 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:37,580 Because to be a successful faculty member, you've got to define a direction for your 90 00:05:37,580 --> 00:05:40,580 career and then lead that direction. 91 00:05:40,580 --> 00:05:43,360 It's very different from all of the training. 92 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,660 And so when you first get started in your faculty career, it just doesn't feel like 93 00:05:46,660 --> 00:05:50,060 anything you've ever done before because it's not. 94 00:05:50,060 --> 00:05:53,980 And there's still a feeling of deficit because you're like, well, here I am trying to succeed 95 00:05:53,980 --> 00:05:57,460 as an academic and I don't even really know how. 96 00:05:57,460 --> 00:06:00,060 And oh, I'm looking around and is there a mentor who can guide me through? 97 00:06:00,060 --> 00:06:04,220 And if there's none, or if we perceive there to be none, then we feel lost. 98 00:06:04,220 --> 00:06:06,860 We feel like, well, I guess we just keep going through the motions. 99 00:06:06,860 --> 00:06:10,480 And unfortunately, going through the motions of your faculty career usually doesn't get 100 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:11,740 you to where you want to be. 101 00:06:11,740 --> 00:06:16,040 And that's why I want to talk about taking ownership of your career. 102 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:23,020 And today I think I have five things to talk about as far as taking ownership of your career. 103 00:06:23,020 --> 00:06:30,380 And the very, very first one, and I think is the most important one, is to first of 104 00:06:30,380 --> 00:06:33,380 all take responsibility. 105 00:06:33,380 --> 00:06:35,180 Yes. 106 00:06:35,180 --> 00:06:42,720 Number one way to advance your career is to take responsibility. 107 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,500 That means you say, I am in charge. 108 00:06:45,500 --> 00:06:49,020 You raise your hand and you say, it's me. 109 00:06:49,020 --> 00:06:53,200 I am the one responsible for my career advancement. 110 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:57,700 I would like to invite you, if you're willing, to just pause what you're doing right now 111 00:06:57,700 --> 00:06:59,580 and raise your right hand. 112 00:06:59,580 --> 00:07:02,020 If you're left handed, please let it be your left hand. 113 00:07:02,020 --> 00:07:04,060 And in fact, it doesn't matter which hand you choose. 114 00:07:04,060 --> 00:07:06,060 Just raise a hand, please. 115 00:07:06,060 --> 00:07:13,100 And say after me, I am responsible for my career advancement. 116 00:07:13,100 --> 00:07:15,220 I'd like to invite you to say it one more time. 117 00:07:15,220 --> 00:07:19,620 I am responsible for my career advancement. 118 00:07:19,620 --> 00:07:20,620 Okay. 119 00:07:20,620 --> 00:07:26,020 The reason I wanted you to say it with me is because it's true. 120 00:07:26,020 --> 00:07:31,460 And it's because sometimes you have to hear yourself say it to agree that it's true or 121 00:07:31,460 --> 00:07:34,940 to decide whether you believe it or not. 122 00:07:34,940 --> 00:07:39,900 And the reality of the statement you just made alongside me or you just repeated after 123 00:07:39,900 --> 00:07:43,180 me is that it's always been true. 124 00:07:43,180 --> 00:07:45,860 It's always been true. 125 00:07:45,860 --> 00:07:50,400 Who applied for you to get into medical school? 126 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,140 Who took the MCAT for you? 127 00:07:53,140 --> 00:07:57,220 Who went to all those interviews for you? 128 00:07:57,220 --> 00:07:59,580 Who applied to residency? 129 00:07:59,580 --> 00:08:02,260 Who went through all the residency interviews? 130 00:08:02,260 --> 00:08:05,500 Who went through intern year and survived? 131 00:08:05,500 --> 00:08:07,620 Who did residence? 132 00:08:07,620 --> 00:08:09,740 Who did their resident year? 133 00:08:09,740 --> 00:08:13,220 For us it was a junior assistant resident year and then it was a senior assistant resident 134 00:08:13,220 --> 00:08:14,220 year. 135 00:08:14,220 --> 00:08:15,540 It was a three-year program. 136 00:08:15,540 --> 00:08:17,620 For some of you, maybe it was four or five. 137 00:08:17,620 --> 00:08:18,620 Who did that for you? 138 00:08:18,620 --> 00:08:19,620 You did that yourself. 139 00:08:19,620 --> 00:08:21,100 And yes, there was a curriculum. 140 00:08:21,100 --> 00:08:24,540 And yes, there was a group of things you were going through, but you took ownership and 141 00:08:24,540 --> 00:08:25,540 you did it. 142 00:08:25,540 --> 00:08:26,540 You applied. 143 00:08:26,540 --> 00:08:28,040 You went for interviews. 144 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:29,580 You said all the right things. 145 00:08:29,580 --> 00:08:32,940 You researched all you were supposed to say and do. 146 00:08:32,940 --> 00:08:39,420 You have been in charge of your own career advancement from the very beginning. 147 00:08:39,420 --> 00:08:47,260 And so why do you get to your faculty career and suddenly hand that over to someone else? 148 00:08:47,260 --> 00:08:50,060 There's the sense that there's somebody else who knows better. 149 00:08:50,060 --> 00:08:52,460 There's somebody else who can tell me where to go. 150 00:08:52,460 --> 00:08:54,340 There's somebody else who's done it before. 151 00:08:54,340 --> 00:08:55,940 Therefore, they're responsible. 152 00:08:55,940 --> 00:08:59,660 But at the end of the day, it's really you. 153 00:08:59,660 --> 00:09:03,920 The reason it has to be you, the reason nobody can do it for you is because your life is 154 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:05,600 so amazingly unique. 155 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:10,620 It is so incredibly yours, so uniquely yours. 156 00:09:10,620 --> 00:09:12,980 Nobody has lived your life before. 157 00:09:12,980 --> 00:09:15,420 Nobody came from the same place that you came from. 158 00:09:15,420 --> 00:09:18,660 No one's passed through the same kind of challenges you've come through. 159 00:09:18,660 --> 00:09:22,140 No one has the same career as you. 160 00:09:22,140 --> 00:09:28,340 And yes, there's a general framework for how academic faculty careers can work. 161 00:09:28,340 --> 00:09:34,420 There's a general framework of what things are considered academic currency, so to speak, 162 00:09:34,420 --> 00:09:36,100 signing papers and submitting grants. 163 00:09:36,100 --> 00:09:43,260 Yes, there is that overarching window or overarching banner of what a faculty career should look 164 00:09:43,260 --> 00:09:44,340 like. 165 00:09:44,340 --> 00:09:50,000 But the individual issues, the specifics are really yours. 166 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,660 And so nobody can take ownership of it like you can. 167 00:09:53,660 --> 00:09:56,460 So don't abdicate responsibility. 168 00:09:56,460 --> 00:10:00,620 Take ownership and say, hey, I'm the one who's responsible for this career advancing. 169 00:10:00,620 --> 00:10:03,980 And no, it doesn't mean you disregard your mentors. 170 00:10:03,980 --> 00:10:06,140 It doesn't mean you stop looking for them. 171 00:10:06,140 --> 00:10:10,060 It doesn't mean you don't go get what you need. 172 00:10:10,060 --> 00:10:12,980 It doesn't mean you don't take advice from people. 173 00:10:12,980 --> 00:10:17,300 But it does mean you're not just accepting whatever you're told. 174 00:10:17,300 --> 00:10:20,660 You're synthesizing it in light of your career. 175 00:10:20,660 --> 00:10:25,660 And you're saying, okay, I get that these are all the metrics. 176 00:10:25,660 --> 00:10:29,380 How can I make it work in a way that's uniquely mine? 177 00:10:29,380 --> 00:10:33,540 Because sometimes what happens to us is that people say these are the metrics to succeed. 178 00:10:33,540 --> 00:10:34,540 Okay. 179 00:10:34,540 --> 00:10:38,900 And then they say, well, if you take this project and do this and apply for this grant 180 00:10:38,900 --> 00:10:41,860 funding and do this, you will succeed. 181 00:10:41,860 --> 00:10:43,140 And they're not wrong. 182 00:10:43,140 --> 00:10:50,460 If you follow verbatim everything your amazing mentor outlines for you to do exactly to a 183 00:10:50,460 --> 00:10:57,620 T, you probably will succeed because they're probably outlining for you the way they succeeded. 184 00:10:57,620 --> 00:11:01,820 And at the end of the day, succeeding in academic medicine really is about following a set of 185 00:11:01,820 --> 00:11:03,700 principles. 186 00:11:03,700 --> 00:11:07,740 But the set of principles could be skinned in different ways. 187 00:11:07,740 --> 00:11:10,420 And one person did it one way and another person did it the other way. 188 00:11:10,420 --> 00:11:12,860 And everybody swears by their method. 189 00:11:12,860 --> 00:11:15,620 The question is what works for you? 190 00:11:15,620 --> 00:11:20,680 I think about the fact that mentors can advise you whether or not they're in the same life 191 00:11:20,680 --> 00:11:22,660 situation as you. 192 00:11:22,660 --> 00:11:26,300 But the specifics of how it works out is yours. 193 00:11:26,300 --> 00:11:30,660 For example, one of my mentors doesn't have young children. 194 00:11:30,660 --> 00:11:34,220 Like, now that my children are older, I get it. 195 00:11:34,220 --> 00:11:39,180 There's an amnesia that happens once you pass the stage where your children are toddlers 196 00:11:39,180 --> 00:11:43,500 or even in the stage where they're not even sleep trained yet. 197 00:11:43,500 --> 00:11:45,020 There's an amnesia that happens. 198 00:11:45,020 --> 00:11:46,760 You totally forget that stage. 199 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:50,340 You forget that your mind was fuzzy and cloudy all the time. 200 00:11:50,340 --> 00:11:53,060 You forget that you barely knew left from right. 201 00:11:53,060 --> 00:11:54,660 You forget that you were tired. 202 00:11:54,660 --> 00:11:55,860 You just forget all of that. 203 00:11:55,860 --> 00:11:57,060 I've forgotten. 204 00:11:57,060 --> 00:11:59,340 Intentionally so. 205 00:11:59,340 --> 00:12:03,340 But the reality is if you're in the middle of it, it is your reality. 206 00:12:03,340 --> 00:12:04,540 You are living it. 207 00:12:04,540 --> 00:12:09,340 And so when someone tells you that this is the way I worked it out and I did this and 208 00:12:09,340 --> 00:12:15,060 I did that and then I didn't sleep for three weeks in a row and then I did this, it's great. 209 00:12:15,060 --> 00:12:19,660 What I want you to take from that is the principle that's underlying it. 210 00:12:19,660 --> 00:12:25,160 The fact that when you are committed to something, you do what it takes to succeed. 211 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,180 I get that. 212 00:12:27,180 --> 00:12:31,360 And then the question is how does it fit in the life that you're living right now? 213 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:35,740 Do you have the resources to do that kind of thing, to make that kind of commitment 214 00:12:35,740 --> 00:12:40,660 today or do you need to take it a little bit easier right now because the season of life 215 00:12:40,660 --> 00:12:43,940 you're in doesn't let you do that? 216 00:12:43,940 --> 00:12:48,620 That's something that only you can decide because I don't know about you, but in my 217 00:12:48,620 --> 00:12:50,820 mentoring conversations, we are not talking about my kids. 218 00:12:50,820 --> 00:12:53,060 We are not talking about how much they sleep. 219 00:12:53,060 --> 00:12:54,980 We're not talking about what stage of life they are. 220 00:12:54,980 --> 00:12:59,660 For the most part, they're kind of just not part of the conversation. 221 00:12:59,660 --> 00:13:01,160 And maybe it's not your kids. 222 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:07,780 Maybe it's a significant other and a big relationship problem that you are experiencing. 223 00:13:07,780 --> 00:13:12,500 That's not at the table, but that's really taking up a lot of space and energy in your 224 00:13:12,500 --> 00:13:13,500 life. 225 00:13:13,500 --> 00:13:15,460 And they're all important. 226 00:13:15,460 --> 00:13:17,100 All of it is important. 227 00:13:17,100 --> 00:13:22,300 The one person who has the vantage point and can actually synthesize all of it is you. 228 00:13:22,300 --> 00:13:27,760 And therefore, I tell you and you know that the one person who needs to take ownership 229 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,380 for the career is you. 230 00:13:30,380 --> 00:13:33,340 And I invite you to step up and take ownership. 231 00:13:33,340 --> 00:13:37,020 Again, it doesn't mean that you disdain the advice that you get. 232 00:13:37,020 --> 00:13:42,580 All the advice is important and asking for help is still important, but recognizing that 233 00:13:42,580 --> 00:13:47,260 really you're making the final decisions and that it's okay to live a career where you're 234 00:13:47,260 --> 00:13:52,060 not trying to make everybody else happy because making everybody else happy usually is not 235 00:13:52,060 --> 00:13:55,220 honoring yourself, not honoring your needs. 236 00:13:55,220 --> 00:13:58,940 It's not recognizing your needs and tailoring life to your needs. 237 00:13:58,940 --> 00:14:06,540 So, number one, and I spent a long time on that one, was take responsibility. 238 00:14:06,540 --> 00:14:09,340 The second thing is to look for your blind side. 239 00:14:09,340 --> 00:14:10,620 You got to look for your blind side. 240 00:14:10,620 --> 00:14:12,180 What does that mean? 241 00:14:12,180 --> 00:14:15,060 You know when you are driving a car, there's a blind spot. 242 00:14:15,060 --> 00:14:16,060 It's a blind spot. 243 00:14:16,060 --> 00:14:17,060 Not your blind spot. 244 00:14:17,060 --> 00:14:18,060 It's your blind spot. 245 00:14:18,060 --> 00:14:28,860 And you can't tell what's in that blind spot unless you angle your head to look around. 246 00:14:28,860 --> 00:14:31,180 The mirror is great. 247 00:14:31,180 --> 00:14:38,820 There's a particular part of your car and some cars driving in this zone, you can't 248 00:14:38,820 --> 00:14:40,500 see it. 249 00:14:40,500 --> 00:14:45,300 And so, the blind spots in your career are the things you don't yet know that you don't 250 00:14:45,300 --> 00:14:46,700 know. 251 00:14:46,700 --> 00:14:51,340 The transition from being a trainee to being a faculty member is a huge transition. 252 00:14:51,340 --> 00:14:53,100 It's really like nothing you've ever done before. 253 00:14:53,100 --> 00:14:55,940 And yeah, the clinical stuff, you've got that down. 254 00:14:55,940 --> 00:15:01,300 But all the other stuff, there's just no one's, you haven't done it before. 255 00:15:01,300 --> 00:15:03,800 And it's hard to know what you don't know. 256 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:07,340 Even if you have been so equipped and so prepared and you have mentors who have been telling 257 00:15:07,340 --> 00:15:10,980 you from the beginning, you didn't really have any place to hang it until you actually 258 00:15:10,980 --> 00:15:14,540 started walking the path as a faculty member. 259 00:15:14,540 --> 00:15:18,780 And even then, it just feels like one big ball of fuzz. 260 00:15:18,780 --> 00:15:24,140 It's hard to know exactly what you're supposed to do until you begin to do it. 261 00:15:24,140 --> 00:15:28,940 And so, there's so much that's out of your fear of knowledge. 262 00:15:28,940 --> 00:15:30,340 And so, you have blind spots. 263 00:15:30,340 --> 00:15:36,580 There are things you can't see that you should see because if you collide with them, they 264 00:15:36,580 --> 00:15:40,820 kind of will hurt you. 265 00:15:40,820 --> 00:15:43,100 There are things you don't yet know. 266 00:15:43,100 --> 00:15:44,620 And so, what do you do? 267 00:15:44,620 --> 00:15:47,500 How do you look out for your blind spots? 268 00:15:47,500 --> 00:15:51,300 Well, it's helpful if you have a specialized kind of mirror. 269 00:15:51,300 --> 00:15:54,500 Okay, now I'm talking about driving. 270 00:15:54,500 --> 00:15:59,260 But really, it's helpful to have somebody else help you, help you see what those blind 271 00:15:59,260 --> 00:16:01,000 spots could be. 272 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:06,240 It's helpful for you to have peers that you can ask questions of. 273 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:11,220 It's useful for you to have mentors that you can ask questions of. 274 00:16:11,220 --> 00:16:15,060 What's important is when you know that there are things you don't know, it changes the 275 00:16:15,060 --> 00:16:21,140 way you behave because it means you go out seeking to find those blind spots, making 276 00:16:21,140 --> 00:16:25,500 sure that they are not hidden from view. 277 00:16:25,500 --> 00:16:29,900 It's just coming into your career, knowing and understanding that there are things you 278 00:16:29,900 --> 00:16:35,860 do not know, and then taking the steps to go figure it out. 279 00:16:35,860 --> 00:16:40,780 But what you want to do is you want to make sure that you are acknowledging the fact that 280 00:16:40,780 --> 00:16:46,980 there are some things you do not yet know, and it's okay. 281 00:16:46,980 --> 00:16:53,420 The next step, once you've figured out your blind spots, not your blind sites, is to pursue 282 00:16:53,420 --> 00:16:54,420 knowledge. 283 00:16:54,420 --> 00:16:58,580 And if you're going to succeed in your faculty career, you're going to want to pursue knowledge 284 00:16:58,580 --> 00:16:59,580 desperately. 285 00:16:59,580 --> 00:17:04,060 Now, you're a physician, so pursuing knowledge is something you've done for years and years 286 00:17:04,060 --> 00:17:05,900 and years of your training. 287 00:17:05,900 --> 00:17:07,780 It's a different kind of training. 288 00:17:07,780 --> 00:17:10,480 It's a different kind of pursuit of knowledge now. 289 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,420 Now it's not the pursuit of knowledge of how do I take care of patients? 290 00:17:13,420 --> 00:17:14,420 What's the path of physiology? 291 00:17:14,420 --> 00:17:19,340 But you're going to continue to do that forever and ever as long as you take care of patients. 292 00:17:19,340 --> 00:17:20,380 Amen. 293 00:17:20,380 --> 00:17:26,300 But it's the knowledge of what does it mean to be recognized in your field? 294 00:17:26,300 --> 00:17:32,140 What does it mean to have a program of research that's highly regarded? 295 00:17:32,140 --> 00:17:35,420 What does it mean to be internationally renowned? 296 00:17:35,420 --> 00:17:38,340 What does all that stuff mean anyway? 297 00:17:38,340 --> 00:17:39,980 Pursue knowledge. 298 00:17:39,980 --> 00:17:43,340 And I want to invite you to not just pursue knowledge within your own sphere. 299 00:17:43,340 --> 00:17:49,380 And I think this is a mistake that I made that I do see other people making as well. 300 00:17:49,380 --> 00:17:53,580 This sense that everything begins and ends at their own institutions or within their 301 00:17:53,580 --> 00:17:56,340 own divisions or within their own mentoring networks. 302 00:17:56,340 --> 00:17:59,340 And the reality of this world is that it's huge. 303 00:17:59,340 --> 00:18:01,060 It is so huge. 304 00:18:01,060 --> 00:18:07,020 And sometimes knowledge gained from outside of your sphere, your immediate sphere, feels 305 00:18:07,020 --> 00:18:11,680 more valuable than knowledge gained from your immediate sphere. 306 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:12,680 Because I don't know what it is. 307 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:16,740 The moment someone comes from outside and tells us the same thing, it's like, oh, yeah, 308 00:18:16,740 --> 00:18:18,700 of course, this is true. 309 00:18:18,700 --> 00:18:22,140 Sometimes it's harder to believe from the people we already know. 310 00:18:22,140 --> 00:18:23,980 And so pursue knowledge. 311 00:18:23,980 --> 00:18:26,820 Pursue knowledge about how to grow as a faculty member. 312 00:18:26,820 --> 00:18:31,460 Pursue knowledge about how to succeed in publications. 313 00:18:31,460 --> 00:18:35,020 Pursue knowledge about how to succeed in grant writing. 314 00:18:35,020 --> 00:18:39,020 How to succeed in getting funded. 315 00:18:39,020 --> 00:18:40,020 It's knowledge. 316 00:18:40,020 --> 00:18:41,220 It can all be learned. 317 00:18:41,220 --> 00:18:45,940 Sometimes I hear people say things like, oh, you know, no one's succeeding anymore and 318 00:18:45,940 --> 00:18:46,940 it's not true. 319 00:18:46,940 --> 00:18:49,940 There are people succeeding all the time. 320 00:18:49,940 --> 00:18:51,860 There are a lot of people talking about not succeeding. 321 00:18:51,860 --> 00:18:53,860 And then there are people who are not talking. 322 00:18:53,860 --> 00:18:55,520 They're just doing it. 323 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,460 What you want to do is leave all the people who are talking about it and not doing it 324 00:18:58,460 --> 00:19:00,780 and find the people who are doing it. 325 00:19:00,780 --> 00:19:05,860 And I tell you that the reason you don't see them or hear them is because they're just 326 00:19:05,860 --> 00:19:07,100 too busy doing it. 327 00:19:07,100 --> 00:19:12,180 They're just too busy applying principles and succeeding based on those principles. 328 00:19:12,180 --> 00:19:16,860 I'm not saying that, oh, the economy is not hard or that grant funding is not difficult. 329 00:19:16,860 --> 00:19:18,460 I'm not saying all of that is not true. 330 00:19:18,460 --> 00:19:22,500 I'm just saying that there are people who spend time talking about it all the time and 331 00:19:22,500 --> 00:19:23,980 there are people who don't talk about it. 332 00:19:23,980 --> 00:19:27,820 They just get going and get to like working at it. 333 00:19:27,820 --> 00:19:35,700 And at the end of the day, the principle, the principle of pursuing and persevering 334 00:19:35,700 --> 00:19:38,860 always work. 335 00:19:38,860 --> 00:19:44,900 And so pursue knowledge, pursue knowledge like crazy because the knowledge you get is 336 00:19:44,900 --> 00:19:49,180 a knowledge that transforms your career. 337 00:19:49,180 --> 00:19:52,700 Number four, don't just pursue knowledge. 338 00:19:52,700 --> 00:19:55,780 Oh, my goodness. 339 00:19:55,780 --> 00:19:57,540 We've been pursuing knowledge for years. 340 00:19:57,540 --> 00:20:01,740 Some of us a decade or more, but take action. 341 00:20:01,740 --> 00:20:07,020 You're going to learn things that you have not done before. 342 00:20:07,020 --> 00:20:10,660 And you can stop and say, ah, that doesn't sound like it's ever going to work. 343 00:20:10,660 --> 00:20:14,760 Or you can take action and test for yourself whether it's going to work. 344 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:18,040 You can say, you know what, I submitted one grant four years ago. 345 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:19,160 That thing doesn't work. 346 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:25,660 Or you can say, how about I do it again and this time use this strategy or this time take 347 00:20:25,660 --> 00:20:31,620 the feedback I was given and do it this way or this time go and establish a feedback loop 348 00:20:31,620 --> 00:20:34,100 and do it that way. 349 00:20:34,100 --> 00:20:41,340 You could just take the knowledge and just be full of knowledge or you could take the 350 00:20:41,340 --> 00:20:44,340 knowledge and take action. 351 00:20:44,340 --> 00:20:45,940 Because I don't know about you. 352 00:20:45,940 --> 00:20:51,100 I had, you know, the experience I had in residency sometimes was, oh, if I could go back and 353 00:20:51,100 --> 00:20:58,100 do med school over, all that information would now stick because now I've been using it. 354 00:20:58,100 --> 00:21:01,060 So now it makes sense to me. 355 00:21:01,060 --> 00:21:04,100 And I feel like I would go back and I would learn it so much better. 356 00:21:04,100 --> 00:21:06,740 And it's the same thing. 357 00:21:06,740 --> 00:21:12,540 Experiential action is so much better than experiential knowledge. 358 00:21:12,540 --> 00:21:13,540 Yes. 359 00:21:13,540 --> 00:21:20,220 Like, knowledge as you work is so much better than knowledge as you, you know, that you 360 00:21:20,220 --> 00:21:23,900 just imbibe and you're not really doing anything with. 361 00:21:23,900 --> 00:21:26,980 And so don't just pursue knowledge. 362 00:21:26,980 --> 00:21:29,660 Don't just get knowledge from everywhere. 363 00:21:29,660 --> 00:21:32,460 But take action. 364 00:21:32,460 --> 00:21:37,500 The last thing I want to say and what number am I at now? 365 00:21:37,500 --> 00:21:38,620 Take responsibility. 366 00:21:38,620 --> 00:21:39,980 Look for your blind spots. 367 00:21:39,980 --> 00:21:41,180 Pursue knowledge. 368 00:21:41,180 --> 00:21:42,180 Take action. 369 00:21:42,180 --> 00:21:43,180 Aha. 370 00:21:43,180 --> 00:21:45,220 Number five, get connected. 371 00:21:45,220 --> 00:21:46,660 Okay. 372 00:21:46,660 --> 00:21:48,500 Someone's got this information. 373 00:21:48,500 --> 00:21:52,020 You could spend a lot of time looking it up or you could connect to the person who already 374 00:21:52,020 --> 00:21:53,540 knows it. 375 00:21:53,540 --> 00:21:56,140 And for many of you, that's your mentor. 376 00:21:56,140 --> 00:21:57,140 Great. 377 00:21:57,140 --> 00:21:58,340 It's a peer mentor. 378 00:21:58,340 --> 00:21:59,340 Awesome. 379 00:21:59,340 --> 00:22:03,860 Or it's somebody who's just, you know, putting out that information like me. 380 00:22:03,860 --> 00:22:09,700 There's a lot of treasure in this podcast platform, if I may say so myself. 381 00:22:09,700 --> 00:22:11,860 But I'm not the only one, right? 382 00:22:11,860 --> 00:22:16,740 I'm not the only one putting out information about how to succeed as a faculty member. 383 00:22:16,740 --> 00:22:19,740 So many other people are doing that. 384 00:22:19,740 --> 00:22:23,840 And so go get the information. 385 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,260 Get connected to someone who can show you how to do it. 386 00:22:26,260 --> 00:22:27,260 Don't wait. 387 00:22:27,260 --> 00:22:28,820 Don't wait for the information to come to you. 388 00:22:28,820 --> 00:22:30,700 Don't say, well, my mentor didn't tell me. 389 00:22:30,700 --> 00:22:33,900 Don't say, well, it's not something anybody talks about at my institution. 390 00:22:33,900 --> 00:22:35,980 Don't say nobody will pay for me to do that. 391 00:22:35,980 --> 00:22:37,460 Please do not do that. 392 00:22:37,460 --> 00:22:38,860 This is your career. 393 00:22:38,860 --> 00:22:41,860 Remember at the beginning of this episode, you raised your hand with me and you said, 394 00:22:41,860 --> 00:22:42,860 I take responsibility. 395 00:22:42,860 --> 00:22:45,420 I take responsibility for my career. 396 00:22:45,420 --> 00:22:46,980 Remember that? 397 00:22:46,980 --> 00:22:48,980 Because it's true. 398 00:22:48,980 --> 00:22:53,580 If you don't succeed, your mentor will be sad, or at least a little bit. 399 00:22:53,580 --> 00:22:54,580 And then they'll move on. 400 00:22:54,580 --> 00:22:57,620 They'll keep living their lives because they were before you came along. 401 00:22:57,620 --> 00:23:02,460 But if you don't succeed, you get stuck with the bill, right? 402 00:23:02,460 --> 00:23:05,980 If your career doesn't go the way you want it to, if your career is crazy, if it's not 403 00:23:05,980 --> 00:23:08,180 the career you want, you get stuck. 404 00:23:08,180 --> 00:23:11,780 You get stuck with the bill at the end. 405 00:23:11,780 --> 00:23:16,300 And so I want to encourage you to connect to people who will accelerate you, people 406 00:23:16,300 --> 00:23:19,540 who will advance you, people who will help you be everything you can be. 407 00:23:19,540 --> 00:23:24,180 And I want to invite you, I want to invite you to think today of all the things we talked 408 00:23:24,180 --> 00:23:25,180 about. 409 00:23:25,180 --> 00:23:26,180 So we talked about five things. 410 00:23:26,180 --> 00:23:28,100 We talked about taking responsibility. 411 00:23:28,100 --> 00:23:32,380 Remember we raised our hands together and we said, I take responsibility for my career. 412 00:23:32,380 --> 00:23:36,060 And then number two, we talked about looking for the blind spots, the things you don't 413 00:23:36,060 --> 00:23:37,300 know that you don't know. 414 00:23:37,300 --> 00:23:41,980 We talked about pursuing knowledge inside your institution, outside your institution. 415 00:23:41,980 --> 00:23:45,300 We talked about the importance of not just having the knowledge, but actually taking 416 00:23:45,300 --> 00:23:46,300 the action. 417 00:23:46,300 --> 00:23:49,380 And then we talked about the importance of getting connected. 418 00:23:49,380 --> 00:23:57,620 I invite you to just take one of those things and use it. 419 00:23:57,620 --> 00:24:02,300 I invite you to just take one of those things and just do it this week. 420 00:24:02,300 --> 00:24:06,180 Take responsibility, maybe take action, maybe pursue knowledge. 421 00:24:06,180 --> 00:24:07,820 Just one thing, just one thing this week. 422 00:24:07,820 --> 00:24:08,820 Don't do too much. 423 00:24:08,820 --> 00:24:10,340 One thing. 424 00:24:10,340 --> 00:24:12,220 And then I want you to come tell me about it. 425 00:24:12,220 --> 00:24:15,700 Come tell me about what you did and how it helped you advance your career. 426 00:24:15,700 --> 00:24:20,180 Or even if it hasn't yet advanced your career, it hasn't obviously advanced your career, 427 00:24:20,180 --> 00:24:24,860 tell me about how it helped you feel confident, feel more confident that you were heading 428 00:24:24,860 --> 00:24:26,820 in the right direction. 429 00:24:26,820 --> 00:24:31,740 Because the moment you decide that you're in charge of this career, you show up differently. 430 00:24:31,740 --> 00:24:32,740 Yeah. 431 00:24:32,740 --> 00:24:35,260 All right. 432 00:24:35,260 --> 00:24:38,940 I want to thank you for taking the time to listen today. 433 00:24:38,940 --> 00:24:45,860 I look forward to the next time that we can talk about how you can advance your own career 434 00:24:45,860 --> 00:24:48,860 and maybe advance the career of other people around you as well. 435 00:24:48,860 --> 00:24:49,860 All right. 436 00:24:49,860 --> 00:24:50,860 Thanks for listening. 437 00:24:50,860 --> 00:25:00,860 I look forward to talking with you again the next time. 438 00:25:00,860 --> 00:25:06,220 Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic 439 00:25:06,220 --> 00:25:11,660 clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they 440 00:25:11,660 --> 00:25:13,020 have a mentor. 441 00:25:13,020 --> 00:25:18,980 If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself. 442 00:25:18,980 --> 00:25:20,860 Someone else needs to hear it. 443 00:25:20,860 --> 00:25:24,900 So take a minute right now and share it. 444 00:25:24,900 --> 00:25:30,380 As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation 445 00:25:30,380 --> 00:25:36,340 of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.