Summit Session: TEDx Speaker Capt. Ariva on Doctors Changing Lanes? How Do You Decide?

Capt.Arivananthan Muniandy (Capt.Ariva) ’s passion was astronomy and this invariably led to a career in sailing.? He became a ship captain of mostly cargo ships carrying coal, iron ore etc. It was a job he loved and it came with a good salary but then he transitioned…

For the past 14 years, he has been a Design Thinking Professional working with companies to design products, processes and services. Captain Ariva? is also a trainer and a Leadership and Innovation coach.?

A certified Design Thinking Professional from the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT), he has been awarded the Perdana Award under the Industry Excellence Category for designing and conducting an innovative training methodology using Simulation Based Learning.? He’s also been a Tedx Speaker where he delivered an energetic and inspiring speech on “Dare to Decide”.

He has trained more than 60,000 people of all ages and nationalities in more than 200 large and small organizations including Bank Negara Malaysia, Petronas, Maybank, Samsung and more.

In his Summit talk, Capt. Ariva exemplified to doctors on surviving the career transitioning journey and reaching their career of choice. He describes that experience as akin to a ship traversing the open seas faced with many adversities yet reaching the destination port. He is well qualified to speak on this topic having been a ship captain for over 13 years making over 300 voyages in the open seas!

You Are What You Are and Where You Are Because of Your Decisions

Capt. Ariva noted that many doctors were pushed into the medical profession by parental pressure, still others had a glorified vision of the medical profession through TV shows until they set foot in the hospital system. There were? also others who had such a heart for making a difference and helping mankind. Whatever the motivation, doctors who are seeking a career change can realize that dream by making a decision to set that dream in motion.??

If You Have a Clear Dream of the Future, You Will Have the Power of Deciding in the Present

Many doctors cannot decide on a career that’s right for them mainly because they don’t have a clear picture of the future. Here’s where acquisition of information on career opportunities for doctors becomes important.?

Capt. Ariva shared an anecdote of his life experience: When he saw the woman of his dreams during a friend’s wedding, he immediately had a clear picture of his future with this person. He acquired information about her, met up with her for coffee and two weeks later, proposed to her. They have been happily married for 19 years and blessed with two children. The power of a clear vision of the future will help a doctor decide what to do today. He quipped that “Clarity fuels creativity”.? He acknowledged that the problem doctors have is a lack of clarity about their future.

If doctors can identify their “ ikigai” - a Japanese word for “reason for being’ or “purpose”, or “passion” then they can identify a career that’s right for them. “When doctors have too many interests, they need to explore to discover what they are truly passionate about, get their feet wet, listen to experienced people and inundate themselves with the ideas out there”, he added. This way they will be led to what’s right for them.?

The Two Battles Doctors Face in Switching Careers

After discovering their Ikigai, a doctor will be confronted with these two opponents:

1. The Negative Voice Within

There is a “reptilian” brain in all of us that makes us fearful and doubtful about big decisions such as changing careers. This negative voice tells a doctor that being a physician is an excellent profession so don’t leave it. It causes a doctor to second-guess his/her decision to switch lanes. It makes a doctor feel guilty because parents have spent a lot of money to help him/her become a doctor. As a ship captain who made a career transition, Capt. Ariva had the same struggles.? He was earning a high salary so why throw away this boon? The best way to manage this negative voice is to mute it as a doctor plots the path for his/her career transition.

2. The Problem of "Sniop" - the Susceptibility to the Negative Voices of Others

Sniop was a term popularized by well known motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar.? If we keep hearing the negative voices of the naysayers around us long enough, we will believe what they say and give up on our dreams.

A Career Transitioning Goal is Akin to a Ship on the Open Seas Reaching its Destination Despite the Harsh Weather it Faces Along? the Journey?

-Standing at the mast, all a ship captain sees is the open sea with no port in sight. ? ? Likewise a doctor beginning his/her career transitioning journey would not be able to see an end in sight and wonder if they will find a suitable career.

-During this period of uncertainty, doctors must strengthen their resolve and hope to be able to get through the journey.

-The uncertainty is also overcome by plotting the waypoints (milestones) ?to that destination. This is done by breaking that journey into little milestones of achievement.? Like a ship that’s headed to the intended destination, a doctor will realize that the steps he/she has? taken are? milestones? toward his/her desired career.

-While rewarding oneself with a pat on the back for the milestones achieved in the career transitioning journey, doctors must also not become too fixated with their waypoints (milestones). This happens when doctors over analyze the transitioning process. By over analyzing, doctors continue to keep their anchors down and remain at the berth. “Don’t hesitate. Pick up the anchor. When you pick up the anchor, you can sail out of the port. When? you pick up the anchor, you move up!” exclaimed Capt. Ariva.

-In sailing out, a ship is bound to experience the harsh elements in the open seas. Almost immediately, the negative voice? in a doctor will make him/her? feel condemned for moving out. “Mute that voice and keep going full throttle through the bad weather in your career transitioning journey,” said Capt. Ariva.

- In facing harsh weather at sea, everything on board the ship must be tightened or you risk losing them. “Likewise in a career transitioning journey, doctors must tighten their finances, emotions, and the negative voices of people around them when faced with adversities. Focus on the destination, keep networking, talk to Medic Footprints Malaysia and focus on the career goals. Go through the adversities that will come one after the other and do not be deterred by them” he said.

-After the bad weather at sea, a ship encounters amazing scenes of sunrises and sunsets. “Likewise doctors will experience amazing life experiences after the adversities faced in their career transitioning experience. And you WILL arrive at your destination just as a ship arrives at its destination port. “The key is to pick up your anchor and start the journey!” said Capt. Arriva.?

#MakingDecisions #StayingTheCourse??