Simply Worth It: Physician Negotiations with Dr. Linda Street

Contrary to what new grads are told constantly, it's never too early in your career to want a contract that reflects your value and actually advocate for it.

You don't have to be an attending to make a list of must-haves, evaluate employers on a deeper level and start having these conversations early.

In today's episode, I'm joined by a doctor who has done a beautiful job of setting herself up to success while she was a third-year resident.

How do we overcome the limiting belief that residents can't advocate for a great contract that ticks as many boxes as possible for them?

In this episode, Ob-Gyn Resident, author, speaker and mentor, Dr. Tawana Coates shares how she approached her contract negotiations, and we talk about how she's paving the way for fellow residents to get the package they want.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- The one prevailing mindset that holds residents back

How do we overcome the limiting belief that new grads have nothing to offer and shouldn't advocate for themselves the same way their 30-year experienced counterparts do?

- Why advocating for ourselves is so critical

How can we use the negotiation process to make medicine better for patients and every single physician?

- What negotiations reveal about potential employers

The negotiating process is very telling of how the other party would show up as an employer. What are some of the indicators that an organization will always treat us with respect?

Guest Bio

Tawana Coates MD, MPH, is the current chief OBGYN resident at the University of Louisville in Louisville, KY. She is from Kansas City, Kansas, where she completed all of her education, including Bachelor in Science, after double majoring in biology and mathematics while also receiving a minor in chemistry. Tawana also attended the University of Kansas School of Medicine where she completed the 5 year MD/MPH program.Dr. Coates interests include advocating for women's rights, reducing black maternal mortality, family planning, teen pregnancy, and qualitative research to name just a few. During her free time, she loves dancing and watching Chiefs football games with her 10-year-old daughter and husband.

Follow & connect with Tawana at @drmedschool.

Mentorship is one of the biggest drivers of job satisfaction for female physicians.

What can we do if there aren't any formal mentorship opportunities with our employers, or if their programs are more lip service than reality?

The good news is, powerhouse physicians are around us, and many of them are readily available to start mentoring us.

Where can we find them and how do we make the ask?

In this episode, I talk about finding mentors in our immediate and extended networks.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- How to tap into a wider network to find your mentor

What are some of the places you can run into potential mentors both in real life and virtually?

- Why more prominent people might not have the capacity for mentorship

How do we find a mentor who actually has the time, energy and desire to be part of our career trajectory?

- The best environments to talk to a potential mentor

Once we've identified the right mentor, how do we actually approach them and make the ask?

The beginning of a new year always brings up resolutions and goals we want to accomplish, but what happens when the same resolution keeps rearing its head every single January?

Well in my case, that persistent resolution is not overworking - something that should be easy with the contract I negotiated for myself, but it's not. I still find myself feeling overwhelmed and overworked. The truth is: there's a lot more to my overworking than my circumstances, it has a lot to do with my brain and the beliefs it's clinging onto.

So how do we uncover why we struggle to accomplish what we want? Why are our thoughts so vital to what our results end up becoming?

In this episode, I'm going to share how to finally overcome a persistent New Year's resolution through the lens of the mental model I'm personally working through.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- The root of all our unchanged behaviors

Why do we cling onto beliefs that lead to us thinking that overworking is okay?

- Why our thoughts are so vital to our ability to change something permanently

Our brains will always figure out a way to create the reality it thinks should happen. How do we find out what drives our brains to keep us overworking?

- A mental model for creating new neural pathways

How am I working on deeply examining my own overworking habit over the next few months?

In the last episode, we established that the conversations we have can either create connection or completely shut it down. That difference ultimately comes down to the words we use, and the kinds of chemicals they shoot off in our brains.

Some words and conversations can trigger our fight or flight response, while others trigger happy neurochemical space where transformation is possible.

How do we learn to choose our words more wisely in negotiations?

In today's episode, Ali Novitsky and I continue our discussion on conversations and how we can improve them.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- How to take the cortisol out of our conversations

What are the limiting beliefs we have about ourselves and the judgmental beliefs we harbor about others that hamper positive, transformational conversations?

- Why it's okay to change our minds

What we wanted yesterday doesn't have to be what we want today. How do we create a space for open-mindedness for ourselves and others?

- The chemical impact of words

Why do some words and sentences immediately put us into defense-mode and what should we say instead?

Guest Bio

Ali Novitsky is a certified life coach, fitness enthusiast, podcast host and founder of Life Coaching For Women Physicians. Board-certified in Obesity Medicine, her program focuses on overcoming the challenges that physicians face and transforming their thoughts so that they can become the fittest version of themselves in Mind and Body.

For more information visit https://www.lifecoachingforwomenphysicians.com.

Human beings have conversations all day long, but there's a big difference between conversations that move relationships forward and conversations that go poorly.

In order to take our interactions to the next level, and truly advocate for ourselves, we have to be aware of the different levels of conversations that exist - starting with how we talk to ourselves.

How do we create conversations that usher in connection and curiosity?

In this episode, I'm joined by my good friend, physician, life and fitness coach, Ali Novitsky. In the first of a two-part series, we're going to talk about how to have more amazing conversations, even with ourselves!

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- Why some conversations make an impact and others don't

What are the different types of conversations we can have, and what purpose does each level serve?

- How to create a safe space in our conversations

The best conversations come from being on the same level as other people. Is there a tactic we can use to achieve this?

- How to make our self-talk a lot more transformational

Our self-talk is just as important as our conversations with others. How can we use open-ended questions and creativity to really dig deep? Guest Bio

Ali Novitsky is a certified life coach, fitness enthusiast, podcast host and founder of Life Coaching For Women Physicians. Board-certified in Obesity Medicine, her program focuses on overcoming the challenges that physicians face and transforming their thoughts so that they can become the fittest version of themselves in Mind and Body.

For more information visit https://www.lifecoachingforwomenphysicians.com.

At the negotiation table, good communication skills are an absolute must. We have to find ways to align with the other side, understand their perspective and create a high-trust environment.

What if I told you that these skills are just as necessary at the family gatherings we're going to be having over the next few weeks?

Holidays can be joyful and fun, but being around family can also be stressful. We still need to communicate intelligently, and avoid adding fuel to the fire in highly charged conversations.

What are 3 communication skills that will serve us in every area of our lives? How do we set aside our own agenda, and break down barriers through the conversations we have?

In this episode, I talk about the communication skills we all need to nurture, and why the holidays are a great time to practice them!

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- The power of intelligent communication

How do we listen on a deeper level so we can pick up on useful cues and pieces of information that move the conversation forward?

- What we often get wrong about conversations

What is the main purpose of a conversation, and how do we steer our conversations in a positive direction?

- How to create connection with the people we talk to

Why is it so easy to respond to people from the default setting of our own agendas, and what can we do instead?

Many people believe that clinical medicine is a straight and narrow road with no wiggle room or options - once you pick a model, you're stuck with it forever.

The path of patient care isn't rigid at all...there are a few ways for us to treat patients without being pigeonholed into one way to practice.

What are the different models for working and earning money? If we crave a little more freedom and flexibility, what's the best path?

In today's episode, I talk about the different models clinical physicians can choose, and why knowing all the options gives you an advantage at the negotiating table.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- The pros and cons of practicing medicine under a corporate employer

Is autonomy possible in the corporate medicine model, or do we give up flexibility for stability?

- Why private practice can be a great fit

There's a lot less red tape when you're running your own practice, but what are the risks of running your own business?

- How to get more out of your career through locums

Why are locums so great for people who want more flexibility in their employment?

Change is a natural progression of our lives and careers - even as physicians. We won't remain the same people we were when we started practicing medicine, and that's a good thing!

Shifting our jobs to something that aligns with who we truly are should be celebrated, and we should always be able to advocate for the changes we want. Whether we're taking on a new role, changing practices, or modifying our schedules, pursuing something different is a sign of growth, not a setback.

How do we advocate for ourselves at these transition moments? Why do we need to celebrate career shifts instead of judging them?

In this episode, we're going to talk about inevitable career transitions and how to negotiate when they come up.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- Why we need to embrace alternative paths

In medicine, it's so easy to celebrate one path over another. How can we learn to embrace people choosing what aligns with them, even if it's not the "normal" journey?

- The truth about transitions

As we go through these transition periods, there's often a bit of uncertainty in the mix. Can we make the change feel less terrifying?

- How to escape the pressure to follow the crowd

Not everyone is built to be a clinician forever, and that's okay. Why do we need to stop obsessing over how our careers are perceived, and start focusing on what works for us?

In the context of business, operating leverage dictates the health and value of a company. As physicians, we can use this concept to evaluate what we get out of our jobs, and make sure it's giving us more than it takes from us.

If our jobs deplete us so much that we end up running on empty, it's time to dig into the operating leverage of daily work, and consider some micro-negotiations that can make it better.

How do we calculate our own operating leverage? If our job is taking more than it's giving us, what changes can we make? In this episode, I talk about how we can get the operating leverage equation to work in our favor.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- The ideal work environment for physicians

What factors make a job somewhere we can actually thrive, not just break even in terms of our energy?

- Signs that our jobs are draining our energy in an unhealthy way

How can we accurately pinpoint those bane-of-existence tasks that deplete our energy?

- How to change your mindset about a draining task

If a task at work is depleting more energy than we'd like and we can't opt out of it, how do we shift our mindset?

85 - 90% of adults function in emotional childhood. We outsource our happiness to others. We blame, rage, lash out and generally avoid taking full responsibility for how we think and feel. It's what we've been taught our entire lives - but unfortunately what we've been taught significantly disempowers us.

The truth is, to have the lives we want, we have to move into emotional adulthood, but how do we change the way we've functioned for so long?

In today's episode, we have a special guest taking over the Simply Worth It podcast. OBGYN and life coach, Krista Olsen shares the power of emotional adulthood and how to achieve it.

Three Things You'll Learn In This Episode

- Emotional childhood vs. emotional adulthood

Emotional childhood is like putting your emotions on a silver platter and giving them to someone else. How do we stop letting others have so much power over us?

- The two questions to constantly ask yourself

Who do you want to be and how do you want to act in this world?

- Why emotional childhood takes away our power

What goes wrong when we blame everything, from our jobs to our relationships, for our lousy outcomes?

Guest Bio

Krista Olsen is a board-certified OB-GYN, partner with OB-gyn Specialists based in Edina, Minnesota. She became certified as a weight loss and life coach in 2019, and began True Life, MD in 2020. She lives in Minnesota with her husband, 2 kids, ages 4 and 5 and Goldendoodle, Cedar.

For more information about Krista's life coaching, head to https://www.truelifemd.com.