5 Reasons why doctors feel trapped in their careers (& ways to overcome them)...

There’s a bit of a taboo about leaving medicine.

This became very apparent to me even whilst I was studying at University. I would attend careers fairs with other students asking: “Why are you here?”

I would occasionally see a familiar medical face but on the whole it wasn’t something that I couldn’t talk to my medical peers about...

I felt like a traitor.

This feeling only got worse once started working life as a doctor. The more time I spent working, the more things didn’t feel quite right.

I started to feel trapped in my medical career.

I didn’t know what to do initially.

I would keep my thoughts & feelings to myself whilst I explored my options. I did eventually come to the decision to go part-time but I still didn’t find this decision easy, despite knowing deep down it was the right decision for me.

I was left with this constant internal conflict until...

I realised there were a lot of invisible forces keeping me attached to this career path I had started. I decided I needed to find ways to overcome them.

Let me outline what these forces are and what I did to try to break free!

1. Tall Poppy Effect

This refers to a social phenomenon where individuals who stand out are criticised, resented or undermined by others. This applies to any context but for doctors it can discourage them from showcasing any achievements, innovative ideas or pursuing career development (including career changes). As a “tall poppy” we worry we’re going to be figuratively chopped down which could manifest literally as us being isolated from our peers, subjected to unnecessary scrutiny or worse fired from our roles. It’s important to realise that this can be a huge barrier to personal growth. As an introvert at heart, I hate standing out from the crowd. I would shy away from people asking me about my career options or quickly dismiss questions. I realised this wasn’t helping me to process my decisions or progress with them... The minute I started to talk about my thoughts, the more it started to help me. Try not to shy away from being a “tall poppy”.

2. The Tribe

As humans our tribal instinct is innate to us all... This definitely applies to medical professionals where we work in an environment known for its strong sense of community. We study together, graduate together, apply for jobs together & work together. It’s like we’ve all got on the same train and we are continuing our journey together in parallel with one another... The fear of stepping off this train, outside the established norms or challenging the status quo within the medical community, can make it difficult for us to explore new approaches or consider alternative career paths (even if we feel the path we’re on isn’t the right one for us). We need to make sure we’re not letting the tribe that surrounds us stop us from finding a different tribe which better suits us. You need to remember that those closest to us (those who actually matter) will support us regardless of which tribe we’re choosing to belong to.

3. Fear of Failure

As Doctors we are often perfectionists. We put pressure on ourselves to excel & achieve our goals. This drives us to continue to work hard towards our medical careers, as quitting would feel like failing. Similarly, as doctors we’ve arguably succeed by society’s expectations. Our role is respected, provides us with purpose & status. The idea of changing careers puts this societal ‘success’ at risk. Lastly, there are risks in making career changes. We fear making mistakes or facing professional set backs. I think this is largely due to the huge sunk-cost we have already made... The sacrifices, time & energy. What if our alternative choice of career isn’t better? We need to make sure our fears don’t prevent us from taking risks, pursuing new opportunities or trying to achieve success which is true to ourselves. There are ways to do this... For example, going part-time helped me to reduce my risks as it gave me time to explore alternative careers & come to an informed decision.

4. Resistance to Change

As humans, we hate change.... This can stop doctors who know their career isn’t right for them from making any changes. We might not even realise we’re making subconscious decisions which are preventing us from taking steps to change career. For example, it might just be saying there isn’t time to research other job opportunities. Similarly, those around us will resist change too. It might be that they will (subconsciously or consciously) also create barriers which prevent us from taking necessary steps to adapt our career. It’s not easy to overcome this, as it’s natural to fear the unknown. However, it is possible to acknowledge resistance to change and outline actionable steps/tasks to help you start moving in the right direction. You really won’t go anywhere unless you try. Personally, I also try to overcome my resistance to change by interpreting any of my fears of the unknown as excitement for future possibilities. They are essentially the same emotion!

5. The (Unknown) Alternative

There will be lots of you reading this who are more than happy to face all of the challenges I’ve described which leaves one last thing stopping you... You just don’t know what to do as an alternative. I’m a strong believer that “the world is our oyster” especially as medics with many transferrable skills. The problem with this? We are blinded with choice which means we don’t make one. At the same time, we’ve become so consumed by medicine that we don’t know what we like or are truly passionate about. My advice? You need to explore, try different things & reflect on what you’ve enjoyed previously. It’s readily accepted that most people will have multiple different careers throughout their life-time & we need to realise this will likely apply to ourselves too... As I’ve mentioned in the points above, you don’t have to take risks to explore alternatives if you don’t want to. This is something that can be done in parallel with your existing medical career.

There’s a quote from the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown which says “If you don't prioritise your life, someone else will.”

This quote really resonates with me.

We’ve only got one life, don’t let others live it for you...

We need to make sure we’re spending our days doing things that energise us, we find fulfilling & align with our values.

I realised I would only be setting myself up for a life of regret if I didn’t at least try to accomplish those things for myself.

I found that understanding the reasons I felt trapped in my medical career was the first step to helping me break free & make decisions about my career which truly aligned with me.

Did you find this post helpful? Let me know in the comments if any of this resonates with you.

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