Doctor, You Should Write A Book...Or Should You?

As a physician, there are many good reasons to write a book that draws upon your expertise. 

For example, physician authors I've had the pleasure of working with have:

- Developed their keynote speaking opportunities

- Secured large increases in research funding for their projects

- Grown their practices (even when that may not have been their goal!)

- Shifted their one-on-one practice to one that is based on offering courses, teleseminars, information products or other models that have given them more freedom in how they use their time

- Landed on national TV and become sought after for their expertise--both by media and conference planners.

And much more.

But should you really write a book? Not necessarily. Only if you can answer "yes" to the following 5 questions:

• You have a new perspective, fresh voice, something new to offer, proven system, compelling success stories or address an audience that has not been served well by other books.
• You're committed to put time aside consistently to get the writing done.
• You're interested in writing--even if you don't think you're a great writer, you don't dread it!
• You're willing to learn something about the industry and get input from experts (more on this in a moment)
• You're willing to actually promote the book--whether through a blog, online course, speaking or some other venue--and you'll need to start building your following before the book is even published--often before you even get a book deal.

If you do decide to write a book, where do you start? My top recommendation is the CME publishing course through Harvard Medical School. There, you'll get a sense of the specifics required--from how to write a book proposal to how to write for a trade audience  to how to develop your following. You'll also have the opportunity to meet top agents and publishers looking for books on health-related subjects. As faculty these folks are not just there to hear your pitch but also to help you formulate your book concept. You'll also meet course director, Julie Silver, MD, as well as professionals who can help you get the pieces that may be missing in your background--whether it's help with learning to write better and editing your manuscript, formulating the book concept or developing an online following.

If you're even thinking of writing a book, I highly recommend this immersion into the book writing and publishing world, March 14-16 in Boston, MA. See you there?

I Have Fallen In Love With Patient Care Again

What I love to do is encourage patients to get more involved in their medical care and their well-being by easy to use methods that have great impact.

Yes, it's true. I have for a long time loved the practice of medicine. A few years into practice, I realized the importance of my role as a primary care and the tremendous impact I have on my patients. I started practice post-residency with one of the hardest group of patients (in my opinion) working for the country health department. I knew that if I survived beyond my first year at the health department, I could pretty much make it anywhere, so I set my mind to make a difference and stick to principles of healing, health and well-being all the while, also practicing the art of medicine. Some days were a big challenge but it was a great experience. In fact, things went so well -- I lasted 6 years there making a huge impact on the lives of the patients I served and they in the same way, making an impact on me.

From there, I went into private practice which was also a great learning experience. Only thing, though, was I felt that I was on a hamster's wheel, expending so much energy into providing care for my patients but not seeing the corresponding on my investment because of decreased re-imbursements, malpractice insurances, taxes and overhead and the typical other things that needed to be paid. I knew after few years of doing this that if I continued things this way, the joy of medicine will be snuffed and sucked right out of me. So I had 2 options. One was re-evaluate if I wanted to continue with the profession or choose some other nonclinical path....(but I really liked patient care), OR create a way in which come decreased re-imbursement or overhead or salaried position or whatever, I was financially to do what I really loved. 

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Physician Self-Leadership

The most challenging one to manage is you.

Self-leadership isn’t a concept most physicians think about very often.  Yet leadership capability relates as much to how we lead ourselves as how we lead others.  Some of the greatest barriers we face along the path to "making things happen" lie within us.

Most physician leaders can trace their greatest obstacles to something personal—a fear, insecurity, or self-imposed limitation.  As we consider past conflicts that really drained our energy—such as a partnership that didn’t work out or a team that fizzled under our watch—we must challenge ourselves to acknowledge our role in the failure.  Our flawed judgment is often the root cause.

As you lead others—in clinical practice or in a non-clinical role—you may very well be your greatest liability.  Self-leadership is about awareness, tolerance, and not letting your own natural tendencies limit your potential.

Find a Path to Self-Awareness

The forces of organization, community, and leadership capability often evade us because our tendencies—to generate more ideas, to isolate ourselves, and so on—get in the way.  Our best hope for staying on track is to notice when we drift off course and to figure out why—to be self-aware.  Self-awareness is a critical skill in leadership, but it is deeply personal.  It is not about our actions but about the emotions that trigger our actions.

With increased self-awareness, we become better students of ourselves.  When we make mistakes, we are able to identify what we could have done better more readily.  When we receive feedback from others, it becomes more actionable as we come to understand its correlation with our emotions.  The path to self-awareness never ends, but we must cross it nonetheless.

Learn From Your Mistakes and Failures

Most of us have a hard time with failure because we feel not only the professional loss but also the personal hurt when our ideas fail to gain traction.  But this tendency poses a problem for us as we commit ourselves to act without conviction.  Projects that encounter or end with failure have great value—but only if we can recognize it and reap the benefits.

When we experience failures, we must remain open to the lessons that can be learned.   Grasping the realizations that come with failure is a crucial part of the learning process.

When something goes wrong, there are three questions we should seek to answer: What external conditions may explain the failure, what internal factors may have compromised our judgment, and are there any “gems” in the unintended outcome?

Avoid the Trap of the Visionary’s Ego

During my time in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries, I had the opportunity to participate in a lot of meetings in the executive suite during both the expansion and bursting of the bubble that followed it.  I always found it interesting how every challenge was presented as an unusual one-off.  The business leaders would nod their heads in affirmation.  “This is an unusual time," someone else would say. 

Despite history, the tendency to think that a given opportunity or challenge is a one-off still persists.  Some call this tendency “visionary’s ego,” when a leader’s default thinking is that he or she is the exception to the rule.  As physicians, we may be susceptible to bouts of this form of narcissism.  While our tendency is to approach every situation with a fresh set of eyes, we should also accept a grounding realization: not much is entirely new—and yes, we can learn from the past.

Challenge yourself to have some perspective.  Don’t get caught up in the novelty of what you are doing that you lose touch with what’s been done before.  As you encounter negotiations in healthcare organizations, collaborations with partners, or unique decisions or investment opportunities in your business, ground yourself with the fact that the situation you face isn’t as isolated and unique as you might think.  Previous knowledge is yours for the taking, often risk-free and time-tested.  Today never feels like it will be history, but it will.  And more than likely than not, you will look back and realize that you should have known. 

Challenge Conventional Wisdom

As you harness the lessons from the past, you must also question them.  Of course, nobody should disregard good advice and fall victim to visionary’s narcissism.  But as physicians, we cannot become imprisoned by the status quo.  We need to reconcile our tendency to seek the advice of experts with out desire to do things differently—and perhaps better.  We should be wary that “best practices”—the tried and true ways of doing things—often become conventional wisdom—and conventional wisdom is often wrong.     

Consider Yourself an Entrepreneur

Whether you work for a large corporation or on your own, when it comes to leading ideas, ultimately you are an entrepreneur.  Entrepreneurs are not the ones with the best ideas, says Andrew Weinreich, a trailblazing entrepreneur, “They’re just the ones willing to jump off a cliff without the answers." 

Some feel the hardest part of pursuing a new venture is pulling the trigger—being mentally into it or not.  So, when you come across ideas worthy of your time and energy, it is important to know which assurances you need—and which you don’t—before you decide to take the plunge.  You will never have all the answers, but you need to feel that the risk of giving it a go is less than the risk of not trying.  You don’t need to see the finish line, but you do need enough momentum to stay afloat.  What matters most is your ability to keep moving your idea or venture forward, day by day.   

Be Willing to Change Your Mindset

Physician leaders who have done extraordinary things often talk about times when they made decisions that were unpopular—but necessary for their success.  Perhaps it was leaving clinical practice to pursue their passion—or quitting a well-paying job to start a company.  Maybe it was saying no to an opportunity that seemed golden to others.  Because of their decisions, their paths were unconventional.  But in the midst of discouragement from their families and friends, they persisted and gained confidence from being challenged. 

Just remember that the uncharted path is the only road to something new.  As pressures mount, you need to stay the course and consider the doubts of others as an indication of your progress.  

Keep an Eye on the Clock

In hindsight, it’s easy to talk about assuming a different mindset and defying the status quo.  But it is very difficult to take the leap.  Many of us postpone our dream pursuits for a whole host of reasons.  We’re waiting for the right time—but are not sure when that time will come.  We may have good reasons for not doing something, but we pay a price for postponing action.

Consider keeping an eye on what you’ve done with your time.  Think about the last time you sat through a dull meeting.  Recall how you tuned out the conversation but became aware of the time you had lost.  During that time, were you taking any risks to develop other opportunities or move a new venture forward? Were you marketing yourself for an opportunity to get closer to your true passion—or develop a new area of expertise?  Were you expanding your network and connecting with the opportunities around you? Depending on your point of view, this could be either a painful reminder of wasted time and lost opportunity—or a motivational reminder to use every minute to pursue your dreams in the next chapter of your life.  

How To Start Your Own Internet Business For The Risk-Averse Physician Entrepreneur

In a recent issue of Medical Economics, I was astonished when I read the title of the cover "Passion Powers Success". To my amazement, the topic was discussing Physician Entrepreneurship, and the importance of running your own business.

For years, physician entrepreneurship was often considered "taboo". Just recently, I was approached to speak at a physician conference.  However once I had mentioned the title 'Becoming Your Own Boss"- they asked if we could change the topic to something else.

"We don't want to train doctors that way" - says a nameless physician spokesman, as if somehow my speech will cause an exodus of doctors leaving the field and cause mass destruction to our healthcare system.

Is the phrase “physician entrepreneur” an oxymoron?

Becoming an entrepreneur, does not necessarily means quitting your day job.  What it does give you is more choices of what you want to do in your life.  I know many entrepreneurs who still maintain a partial or even full practice, yet are enriched with the challenges and rewards that being one brings.

Now being an entrepreneur is obviously not without its risks. If you have ever watched the ABC Show “Shark Tank”, you will see evidence of everyday inventors who have spent their life savings on creating products, and later finding out the hard way that no one else would want to buy it.

Some think being an entrepreneur requires you to buy a business or franchise.  One couple I have been consulting with recently took over a jewelry business.  They rent store space, hired employees and pay massive overhead.  They take turns working at a store for 12 hours a day, including weekends, while still working their current job. Although they are now making a profit, they have in a sense “bought a second job”.

Many of the above examples, could have been solved by testing out ideas and products using the internet first.  The internet is the greatest level playing field we could every have.  It allows you to reach people in a cost-effective manner in almost any demographic, occupation, or niche market.  My client could have created a website selling jewelry, hired a virtual assistant to run and take orders, and avoid the extra financial costs of running a “brick and mortar” store.

And if you feel you do not have the technical knowhow in building a website, sometimes you don’t even need one! I recently had a great conversation with a radiologist who I helped get his first ebook onto Amazon.  In a short time period, he averages about 10 sales a day, and gets a nice check each month. The best part is he only had to create it once, but it is on a topic that is “evergreen”, content that will always be relevant,  where we both expect sales to continue for years to come.  He already has plans of creating five related books in this field by the end of the year now and building a nice nest egg for him and his family.

Becoming an entrepreneur opens you up to more business models and different ways of thinking. As doctors, generally we only make more money by seeing more patients.  However through the internet, you have the ability to create and launch products such as ebooks, apps, information products, newsletters, subscription sites, and home study online courses where it is created once and get paid on a regular basis. If the only way you are generating revenue is by seeing more patients, it is time to open and consider different avenues of revenue.

Tebowing Your Message: Applying the Principles of Tebowmania to Your Endeavors

Well, the Broncos' season is over, but not before Tim Tebowmania reached a fever pitch.  I knew it was nearing insanity when both my wife and mother-- neither of whom had ever watched an NFL game on their own before-- each independently told me they were planning on spending their Saturday night watching the game.  Needless to say, I was amazed.

It seems like everyone has an opinion on Tim Tebow.  Some people love him, others hate him.  The one thing that's agreed upon, however, is that everyone is talking about him.

What I find most remarkable is not that a young football player has taken the country by storm, but how he's done it and how clear has been his message.

Ask anyone-- and I mean anyone-- what they think about when they think of Tim Tebow and I bet you get a handful of answers, but they're all centered around Tebow's faith, his values, and his clean-cut image.

Now, you might think Tebow is an idiot, or you disagree with his message, or you think he's an overhyped player, but the key is that you're thinking about him and you know what he stands for.

Stop and think about that for a minute: When you think about Tim Tebow, you don't first think about football, you think about his message.

And I find that fascinating.

Whether you agree with Te

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Stop Asking Permission

Here's to the crazy ones.

When we talk to our physician readers at conferences or during coaching sessions, several themes keep coming up again and again: Doctors think they don’t have enough time, enough money or both.

When we coach them, we usually ask them “What could be a way out?”. Very often the response is – silence. Physicians are very often unispired when it comes to creative solutions to their own job frustrations.

Why is this so? We think that it’s the physician-mindset which is the problem. We, as physicians, have a permission-based approach to work. All our lives, we had to get permission for doing stuff: we had to get permission to attend a good high-school, a good college, a good medical school etc. After graduating from medical school, we had the permission to practice medicine as a resident, after the board exam we got another permission, then we go into a sub-specialty and we get yet another……you probably guess it: permission.

So whenever we ask our readers, friends and clients: “…you have passion xyz, why don’t you just try to make it a side-busienss?”, we usually hear: “because I was not trained to do that.” Which basically means: “nobody gave me permission.” Do you think Steve Jobs would have come up with the Apple empire if he had a physician-mindset? Do you think that Mahatma Gandhi was trained to be the leader of a peaceful revolution? Do you think that Richard Branson got permission from anyone to start his multimillion empire? The answer is of course – “No”. And why “No”? Because most of them were the first ones to do the shitake they were doing. There just was no one around to teach that stuff.

So what do these successful people have in common?

1. They had an idea
2. The courage to start
3. The self-discipline to follow-through
4. The abilities of an autodidact

You passed all those difficult hurdles, you went through medical school and you probably are used to busy and exhausting work of a healthcare setting. So it is very likely that you have the stamina to follow through. We also assume, you are a quick and autonomous learner. Moreover, as we know from our talks with many of you, you might even have an idea. It is cristal clear, what’s holding most of you back from just f*n doing it is: FEAR. You don’t yet have the courage to start. And we will change that.

Break Your Ideas In Half

This video is right on target with it's message about cutting all of your ideas in half and structuring your business to excel at the basics.

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