Why you should say "yes"

0:00 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients. When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research program. Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit. However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs.

0:40 For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene. Welcome to today's podcast episode. I'm your host Toyosi Onwuemene, and it is such a privilege to be talking to you today on the Clinician Researcher podcast. Welcome. Today, I am continuing this series this week of no and yes. I started out the day before with why you should say no.

1:20 And then yesterday, I talked about how to say no. So why to say no, how to say no. And today, I'm talking to you about why you should say yes. And I hear you saying, what? You said I should say no, and now you're asking me to say yes? Oh, yes, yes. I definitely am asking you to say yes. Today, I'm asking you to say yes. And let's talk about it. So one of the things I talked about, one of the things I talked about that I think is important that we revisit every time is that whenever you say yes, you're also saying no. Because you're a finite person, you've got a specific number of hours in a day, and your day is probably already committed.

2:04 And the moment you say yes to something, what it has to do in order for you to make that yes happen is to display something else. You've got to say no to something else. And so if you're already scheduled to be somewhere at 6.30 PM, and an urgent, very critical, nobody can miss it departmental meeting gets called at 6.30, in order for you to make the departmental meeting, you have to say no to the prior engagement. And so in saying yes to one, you say no to the other. And the challenge for us in academic medicine is that the yes feels pretty easy right this moment. Because more hidden are the things that we're saying no to. And for people who successfully say no, it's because they understand what the yeses are, that they are not willing to say no to by saying yes to something new.

2:54 And so no and yes always get together. They are two sides of the same coin. No and yes always get together. They are two sides of the same coin. Which is why whenever I ask you to say no, what I'm really asking you to do is say yes and vice versa. Because you say no to one thing, you're saying yes to another. And if you say yes to something, you're saying no to the other. And so today I'm here to really talk about why we should say yes. Why we should say yes. So it's funny sometimes and you may have experienced this. You'll go to a place and you'll hear someone like me say, always say no, say no, say no, say no. And to be honest, most of the time if you're in doubt, best to say no.

3:38 If you are in doubt, just say no. If you're saying no out of fear, that's another thing. And we'll talk a little bit about that today. But if you are like, I'm not sure what to say, say no. And the reason you want to say no is you want to take time to say yes. So many times when we say yes, we feel like, well, there's no good reason to say no. But really what we should do is flip it. Is flip it. Is to say, why should I say yes? And we're like, is this opportunity so important that I should say yes to it? And so we're going to talk about clarifying our yes and why we say yes. OK. We can talk about five reasons today for which you should say yes.

4:20 Five reasons why you should say yes. OK. So we're clinician scientists, right? That's my audience here. And perhaps you're listening or not a clinician scientist. There is a thing that is really important to you to advance. The thing that if you don't do, nobody else will do. It's not to say that the problem won't be solved, but your flavor, your solution, the unique perspective you bring to that solution will not move forward except you move it forward. Let's for example, say Steve Jobs was like, you know what? I don't really want to do this Apple computers thing. I don't even know where it's going to go. I'm not going to do it. Where would the world be today? The world would be without Steve Jobs and Apple. Now, would the world advance?

5:00 It totally would. Somebody else at some point would have discovered some of the things that he did. In fact, there have been computer companies around for a long time, right? If there was no Apple, they would still probably be a Microsoft. There probably would still be a Lenovo. And so there are all these companies that would still exist kind of providing the same service. But what would be missing is the unique flavor that someone like Steve Jobs brought. Right. He was able to create a company that was unique because of the kind of person that he was. It's the same thing about your research. Okay, you may be working in diabetes research and to be honest, there were a lot of researchers in that space, but what you bring to the table is not replaceable.

5:43 It's just not because it's you and the questions that you have are different from the questions other people have. The things that you feel like are most important are different from what other people feel are important. The reasons you come to your science are different from other people as well. And so what I'm talking about saying yes to first and foremost is the work that you can do to move your ideas, your impact forward. Because when we really stop to think about it, this is really about impact. This is really about contribution. This is really about a sense of purpose.

6:24 That's what this is about. We're not just doing research to say, I did research. We're not doing research to say, okay, will you promote me now? And if you're doing that, I'm just going to invite you to please reconsider. Don't do, I mean, I want to just say, I have to go back now and tell you and remind you how hard it has been to be in medicine. It's been fun. It's been awesome. I've been with patients, but it can be super hard. And if you were looking for easier things to do in life, you could totally go do that. And so you've done a lot of hard things in medicine and it's time to do things that give you a sense of energy and purpose and help you feel like you're contributing.

7:07 And so for how hard we work, for the things that we do, it is really important that you do the things that really serve you, that really help you move forward. And yes, I know that in life we may never be able to completely get rid of the things we do out of obligation, but I'm going to say the further you are from your training, the fewer things you should be doing out of a sense of obligation. So the work you do is really because you've come to have impact. It's really because you want to make a difference. For that reason, that work is important. If you do not come to it, if you don't move the work forward, it likely will not move forward in the way that you're going to move it forward.

7:47 It will not have the kind of impact that you would have brought to it. For that reason, you should say yes. The thing you should absolutely always say yes to is your scientific career. Because as a clinician scientist, you are always on the verge of breakthrough. And it doesn't ever feel like breakthrough because you know that then there's a next breakthrough, there's a next breakthrough after that. And sometimes the breakthroughs look like one grant to the next grant to the next grant. It's like one rejected manuscript to the next rejection to the next rejection. It doesn't feel like a breakthrough. You're always on the verge of the breakthrough because small increments lead you closer to where you want to be.

8:31 And sometimes we criticize scientists who are like, oh, this is incremental. In reality, all of life is incremental. Even when you're taking giant steps, you can only take a small step and then the next step and then the next step. And wow, a couple of steps later, it is a giant step. But it always starts small. So I want to say the very, very, very first thing you want to say yes to is your work, your work, not somebody else's work. And this is where it can be challenging when we have research mentors and we're helping and moving their work forward. Ultimately, our goal is to come into our own. And so your mentor's work cannot take precedence over your work if you're clear about what your work is.

9:16 And yes, it may be that for a season, your work and your mentor's work overlap until you separate and become who you are. But ultimately, your purpose is to stand as your own independent scientist. And so advancing the knowledge from the perspective that you bring is so key. It is the one thing you should always say yes to. Okay, that's number one. Number two is you should say yes to improving patient outcomes. I want to say that again. You should say yes to improving patient outcomes. And sometimes you do it through your work, through your research. Many of us do it through our research. Like our research is really founded on improving patients' lives, improving patient care.

10:03 And your improving patient outcomes could be your clinical work. And so as a clinician scientist, you probably are still seeing patients in one shape or another, and advancing patient care is important. So you should say yes to improving patient outcomes. But here's the thing you should not say yes to, busy work that looks like patient care. So let's take a step back and recognize that to care for a patient well, a lot is needed. Time is needed to spend on the phone with insurance companies. Time is needed to follow up lab results. Time is needed to call patients. And sometimes you play phone tag. And those are all important things. However, not all those important things need to be done by you.

10:48 Not all those important things need to be done by you. And here's the challenge. The more you do these important things that are not supposed to be done by you, the less you can do the important things that only you can do. And so I want you to say yes to improving patient outcomes, but no to the things that actually diminish your ability to do that. And you may be asking, yeah, how do I do that? That's super hard. And I don't have all the answers. I'm not really here to tell you I have all the answers. I'm still figuring it out myself. But how do you shrink all the busy work that masquerades as patient care so that you can really do the work of advancing patient outcomes?

11:30 And so say yes to patient outcomes. And because you're going to improve patient outcomes by saying yes to improving them, what are you going to drop so you can do that well? For example, if you in a half day of clinic are able to see, let's say, 10 patients, returns, mix of returns and news, whatever, you're able to see 10 patients. That's your highest priority. And the things that lead you away from caring for those 10 patients, not as important. And here invariably is what happens. You get three phone calls of someone who's waiting on lab orders to be released and know it has to be done now because the patient is waiting.

12:15 And oh, did you hear that that critical lab result just got called in, but they didn't give you a phone number. So now you have to play page or phone tag. All those things are distractions from your ability to move patient care forward. And I want you to think critically about how you make them smaller for you so that you can do the real work of seeing patients, of enhancing patient outcomes, especially through your research as a clinician scientist. And even when you're in the clinic, making sure that you have the resources that you need to support these important things that need to happen, but may not need to be done by you.

13:00 OK. So that's number two. Number three is to say yes to your career growth and development. If it moves you forward, if it helps you learn a new technique, a new way of thinking, a new way of being, a new way of doing, say yes to it. If it comes to career growth and development, you definitely say yes. You make space so that you can grow. Because here's the thing. You've heard that quote, and I think it came from Abraham Lincoln, but maybe it came from someone else before him. It says, if you ask me to chop down a tree, I'm going to first of all spend like most of the time sharpening the axe before I cut the tree. Career growth and development, professional development opportunities, that's you sharpening the axe.

13:46 That's you saying I'm about to get better because the moment I get better, everything gets better. You always say yes to career growth and development. Always say yes. Now, there are three offerings all happening at the same time, which are going to stretch you to the max. Well, yes, you say yes, but not all at the same time. You choose the one that makes the most sense for you right now, and you say yes to the other ones at a later time. So yes, it is possible that some people overwhelm themselves with so many career growth and professional development opportunities. I may be one of those people secretly in hiding, but they are important because they help you grow and because they do, you say yes to them and you find a way to make it work because the moment you sharpen your focus, the moment you learn to manage time better, the moment you learn to prioritize what is most important, your life changes and the lives of everybody around you changes as well.

14:45 And so yes, yes, yes, yes to career growth and development. Okay, number four. Number four is saying yes to new relationships. Saying yes to new relationships. There is a famous quote, and I don't know who said it. If I find it, I will put it in the show notes. But there's a famous quote about the three things that are so important in life are the people you meet, the places you go and the books you read. And at the end of the day, I would say that it's really just one thing that's most important. It's the people you meet, right? You may meet people in person or you may go to places where other people like you have solved problems in a different way.

15:28 We all have similar problems, but when we travel to different places, we see how other people have solved them. So it's still the common denominator, still people. And then when you read books, it is people who've put these books together. Therefore, the common denominator again is people. People will change your life. People will take you to the next level. People will enhance your research. Collaborations are amazing when they're with the right people. And so meeting people, enhancing your relationships is something you should totally say yes to. And here's the thing. You always want to say yes to these network opportunities, networking opportunities that happen outside your institution.

16:16 I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being friends with the people at your institution or establishing collaborations within your institution. There's so many amazing collaborations to be had at your own institution. However, there's a bigger bang for your buck when you go outside. The reason being is that the people in your institution think a certain way. It's like the fish in the water. You're like, wait, what water? Right? You're surrounded by water. And so you don't think much of the water. And that's the same thing with your institutional culture. There's a way you all think that's very, very similar. And so if you're going to have the kind of collaborative relationship that transforms your thinking, you go to a place where the culture is different.

16:59 And that is why meeting people and say, I tried not to say the networking word that makes everybody so worried and anxious and afraid. It really is just about relationships. It really is. And how do you build relationships? You don't always have to go to conferences and look for people's cards to be handed out to you when you volunteer to be on committees or you whatever opportunity you have to connect with people, take it. And don't think about it as, oh, gosh, I've got to network because the energy that that brings is no good for relationships. I mean, really, you meet someone who's like, oh, my goodness, I have to talk to you. And tell me how far that relationship is going to go.

17:40 Tell me how far that relationship is going to go. Right. Ultimately, you do want to connect with people, whatever you want to call it to make it feel more palatable. You should. But meeting people is so important. OK. So always say yes to new relationships because what they do is they expand your horizons. They make you a better person. All right. Number five is saying yes to the future. Saying yes to you, your future, your legacy. It's saying yes to that. It's saying yes to yourself 40 years from now. And you look back and say, I made these choices.

18:21 I am grateful for the choices I made. And the reason we want to make sure that we're clearly saying yes to our future self is because many of the relationships we neglect today are critical to that future self. And so on the path to research success, on the path to academic success, what we never want to do is to neglect the relationships that are so easy to take for granted. We don't want to neglect the relationships with our bodies because our bodies 40 years from now are going to be looking at us saying, this is what you did. This is how you did. We're experiencing this together.

19:02 40 years from now, your children are going to say, I don't remember. I just don't remember you at home ever. 40 years from now, maybe they're going to be grandchildren who say, I don't really know grandpa because my dad doesn't really get along well with grandpa. Right? What you want to do is look to the future and say yes to your legacy. And these are the things that are so important to consider as we are considering our careers is to be so clear about what this yes is so that we're not confused when other nos come in to try to steal it from us. So just to summarize, number one is to say yes to your work, your work of advancing scientific knowledge, the work that's you, that's uniquely you.

19:48 Say yes to improving patient outcomes. Say yes to helping the patient, but don't accept the yes of the stuff that's busy work that's not directly related to patient care. Say yes, but see who else can help you say yes to those other things that are not exclusively the things that you can do. Say yes to your career growth and development. That's number three, because as you transform, all your life transforms alongside it. Number four is to say yes to new relationships because networking is so important because it expands your horizons and it's important to make sure you're doing it outside of your institution. And number five is saying yes to the future, saying yes to the legacy that you're going to leave behind.

20:34 And it's going to be a healthy legacy. It's going to be healthy in terms of your finances. I didn't even talk about that. It's going to be healthy in terms of your personal relationships right now that are easy to take for granted. And it's also going to be healthy in terms of your relationship to your body. All right. Somebody else needs to hear this podcast episode and you should share it with them. And if you are looking for a coach who can help you navigate as you build your career and as a clinician scientist, I would love to work with you. You should send me a DM. Better still, leave a voicemail on our podcast website, clinicianresearcherpodcast.com.

21:17 Share something insightful that comes to you at the end of listening to this episode so that I can incorporate it into a future episode. All right. It's been a pleasure talking with you today. I look forward to speaking with you again the next time. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast where academic clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself.

21:57 Someone else needs to hear it. So take a minute right now and share it. As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.