Lessons from David Attenborough

Have you seen David Attenborough’s new film A Life on Our Planet? 

I found myself watching it the other day and it is truly a beautiful piece of filmmaking. The film charts this remarkable man’s 93 years on the planet and he talks about what he’s seen and what’s changed over the years.

He also identified the problems he sees that’s affecting the planet today. And after that, he mentioned some case studies highlighting the things that people are doing really well for the planet.

After shining a light on what we could do, he then outlined the path he believes that we need to take to save our planet.

Once I finished the film, it occurred to me that what he talked about related to general practice in ways that most people won’t see.

In the medical sector, we’ve seen a lot of environmental changes that affect the way that we work. 

To start with, we have a federal government that keeps making things difficult for general practice with a constant rejigging of rules.

We’ve also got corporate entities that undermine general practice and force all sorts of obligations on us. And we even have state governments coming after general practices for payroll tax.

My point here is that those in the medical sector face environmental challenges, just like the planet does. And in many cases, those challenges arise through no fault of your own.

The question is… what can you do about them?

This is where the lesson from David Attenborough comes in.

In the wake of the challenges that the planet faces, Attenborough outlined a plan of action. And using examples from others, he figured out what we may need to do to save the planet.

You need to do the same for your practice.

Take note of the environmental challenges that you’re facing and figure out how you can adapt to them. If you can, follow the example of other practices that have already made the necessary changes.

Create your plan of action so that you have greater certainty and a course to follow, even as things change around you.