Keys to Your Success - The Importance of Focus

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,860 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills 2 00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:11,260 to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 3 00:00:11,260 --> 00:00:17,340 As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients. 4 00:00:17,340 --> 00:00:22,380 When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find 5 00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:27,780 that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research 6 00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:29,180 program. 7 00:00:29,180 --> 00:00:35,480 Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit. 8 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:40,580 However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs. 9 00:00:40,580 --> 00:00:46,200 For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians 10 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:51,800 the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 11 00:00:51,800 --> 00:01:01,220 Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene. 12 00:01:01,220 --> 00:01:03,580 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast. 13 00:01:03,580 --> 00:01:08,020 I'm your host, Toyosi Onwuemene, and it is an absolute pleasure to be talking with you 14 00:01:08,020 --> 00:01:09,020 today. 15 00:01:09,020 --> 00:01:12,340 I am talking today about focus. 16 00:01:12,340 --> 00:01:18,940 Thank you for listening to the five keys that are important for your success in 2024 and 17 00:01:18,940 --> 00:01:22,700 clearly beyond 2024, depending on when you're listening to this. 18 00:01:22,700 --> 00:01:28,220 I have been talking about different keys for success, including taking control of your 19 00:01:28,220 --> 00:01:33,100 thoughts, taking control of your decisions, and also taking control of your actions. 20 00:01:33,100 --> 00:01:40,860 Today, I'm speaking specifically about focus, and I want to just celebrate clinicians everywhere 21 00:01:40,860 --> 00:01:45,180 because the fact that you're a clinician is a sign that you know how to focus. 22 00:01:45,180 --> 00:01:50,260 If you've come through medical school and residency and even fellowship, you know how 23 00:01:50,260 --> 00:01:56,900 to focus or you're able to get resources to help you focus, so you're able to do that. 24 00:01:56,900 --> 00:02:03,540 But one thing that's interesting for me when I became a new faculty member and I made the 25 00:02:03,540 --> 00:02:09,580 transition from being a fellow to being a faculty, one of the challenges I had was, 26 00:02:09,580 --> 00:02:13,700 well, what do I focus on? 27 00:02:13,700 --> 00:02:19,620 Because as a fellow, as a resident, I had many things to do, but the goals are pretty 28 00:02:19,620 --> 00:02:20,620 clear. 29 00:02:20,620 --> 00:02:25,020 These are the metrics of success for the program, and I accomplish all these competencies, I'm 30 00:02:25,020 --> 00:02:26,020 done. 31 00:02:26,020 --> 00:02:27,620 I graduate, I get the certificate. 32 00:02:27,620 --> 00:02:31,780 But then as a faculty member, it becomes a lot more challenging because, yeah, there 33 00:02:31,780 --> 00:02:37,340 are all these criteria for promotion and tenure, but what am I supposed to be doing in my day 34 00:02:37,340 --> 00:02:38,340 to day? 35 00:02:38,340 --> 00:02:40,180 The clinic feels overwhelming. 36 00:02:40,180 --> 00:02:43,940 Our responsibilities are so many, and they overflow. 37 00:02:43,940 --> 00:02:47,020 How can I focus on my research? 38 00:02:47,020 --> 00:02:48,400 How can I do that? 39 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:53,180 How can I move forward the things I want to move forward and also be a great doctor and 40 00:02:53,180 --> 00:02:57,820 also be a great educator and administer the things that I've been called to be an administrator 41 00:02:57,820 --> 00:02:58,820 over? 42 00:02:58,820 --> 00:03:03,300 So there are a lot of things pulling us in different directions, pulling our attention 43 00:03:03,300 --> 00:03:07,740 in different directions, and the challenge we experience, and I think is a growing problem 44 00:03:07,740 --> 00:03:12,820 for us, especially in this age of technology, is that our attention is pulled in so many 45 00:03:12,820 --> 00:03:14,180 directions. 46 00:03:14,180 --> 00:03:20,700 Our attention is a commodity that people are buying and selling, and if we are to take 47 00:03:20,700 --> 00:03:25,660 control of our experience, especially as we lead research programs, we really do need 48 00:03:25,660 --> 00:03:28,260 to take control of our attention. 49 00:03:28,260 --> 00:03:30,780 We need to focus on what is important. 50 00:03:30,780 --> 00:03:35,540 There are so many trivial things, there are so many things to do, but how do we focus 51 00:03:35,540 --> 00:03:36,540 on what's important? 52 00:03:36,540 --> 00:03:38,780 And that's what I'm going to be talking about today. 53 00:03:38,780 --> 00:03:45,700 Okay, so I'm sharing with you five things to consider as you expand your focus so that 54 00:03:45,700 --> 00:03:50,980 or intensify, I should say, your focus as you lead your research program. 55 00:03:50,980 --> 00:03:56,700 So the very, very first thing is to focus on what matters. 56 00:03:56,700 --> 00:03:57,700 Focus on what matters. 57 00:03:57,700 --> 00:04:02,500 Now, the challenge of focusing on what matters is that sometimes it feels like everything 58 00:04:02,500 --> 00:04:08,220 matters, especially when people are yelling about it or they're calling you so many times 59 00:04:08,220 --> 00:04:11,940 or they keep paging you over and over again. 60 00:04:11,940 --> 00:04:18,500 The challenge is to focus on what matters, but how do you determine what matters? 61 00:04:18,500 --> 00:04:21,820 Because it feels like everything matters. 62 00:04:21,820 --> 00:04:25,660 So I'm going to pause and say that everything does not matter. 63 00:04:25,660 --> 00:04:30,940 At least everything does not matter equally, and there are some things that matter more 64 00:04:30,940 --> 00:04:32,580 than others. 65 00:04:32,580 --> 00:04:36,020 There are some things that matter more than others. 66 00:04:36,020 --> 00:04:43,300 For example, when I was a faculty member about a year or two into my faculty career, I came 67 00:04:43,300 --> 00:04:48,340 home one day and my husband had just brought the children home. 68 00:04:48,340 --> 00:04:53,660 And my daughter initially had been talking and all of a sudden she went silent and she 69 00:04:53,660 --> 00:04:56,060 was just staring blankly. 70 00:04:56,060 --> 00:05:03,340 And then she started to have a grand mal seizure and she proceeded to become unresponsive. 71 00:05:03,340 --> 00:05:05,620 I had just come home from clinic that day. 72 00:05:05,620 --> 00:05:08,220 It was a long day and I had a lot of notes to do. 73 00:05:08,220 --> 00:05:12,460 And I will tell you that we rushed like crazy. 74 00:05:12,460 --> 00:05:13,460 We didn't even wait for the ambulance. 75 00:05:13,460 --> 00:05:18,540 We were in the car, drove to the hospital because I knew exactly how fast and we drove 76 00:05:18,540 --> 00:05:19,540 fast. 77 00:05:19,540 --> 00:05:22,540 And we spent time in the ICU. 78 00:05:22,540 --> 00:05:27,740 We spent time in the hospital and we went home. 79 00:05:27,740 --> 00:05:32,980 And not at one point during that did I turn around and say, oh, wait a minute, I've got 80 00:05:32,980 --> 00:05:33,980 notes to complete. 81 00:05:33,980 --> 00:05:34,980 Oh, wait a minute. 82 00:05:34,980 --> 00:05:40,580 What were the results of those labs? 83 00:05:40,580 --> 00:05:42,860 Because in that moment she was the one who mattered most. 84 00:05:42,860 --> 00:05:49,740 My family, being there for my family and being able to move forward in spite of the crisis 85 00:05:49,740 --> 00:05:50,740 was important. 86 00:05:50,740 --> 00:05:52,660 Just so you know, she's fine. 87 00:05:52,660 --> 00:05:56,700 But it was an important reminder to me in that moment of what mattered. 88 00:05:56,700 --> 00:06:01,340 I couldn't even think about my clinic for three, four days until when she was home and 89 00:06:01,340 --> 00:06:03,620 doing so much better. 90 00:06:03,620 --> 00:06:05,260 So we focused on what matters. 91 00:06:05,260 --> 00:06:08,340 Now that being said, is family all that matters? 92 00:06:08,340 --> 00:06:09,340 No. 93 00:06:09,340 --> 00:06:11,540 We're clearly in academia. 94 00:06:11,540 --> 00:06:14,900 We're clearly in clinical research. 95 00:06:14,900 --> 00:06:18,300 We're clearly researchers for a reason. 96 00:06:18,300 --> 00:06:23,940 We are going to continue to move work forward even though we're people who have families 97 00:06:23,940 --> 00:06:25,820 and we love and care for our families. 98 00:06:25,820 --> 00:06:32,420 But what we don't want to do is to neglect the things that matter for things that matter 99 00:06:32,420 --> 00:06:33,420 less. 100 00:06:33,420 --> 00:06:39,260 And so, yes, we want to make sure that we focus on nurturing our relationships so that 101 00:06:39,260 --> 00:06:46,060 we can continue to enjoy the careers that we're building because no one ever said, hey, 102 00:06:46,060 --> 00:06:51,460 I got all these awards and research and I'm so excited even though it cost me my family, 103 00:06:51,460 --> 00:06:56,420 my relationship with my children, my relationship with my parents, my relationship with my spouse 104 00:06:56,420 --> 00:06:58,100 or significant other. 105 00:06:58,100 --> 00:07:02,980 No one ever celebrates all their accomplishments above their families. 106 00:07:02,980 --> 00:07:06,580 And so that's one of the things that's important is to focus on what matters. 107 00:07:06,580 --> 00:07:08,820 And how do you focus on what matters? 108 00:07:08,820 --> 00:07:15,740 You make sure that you are healthy and well so that you can be there to nurture your relationships, 109 00:07:15,740 --> 00:07:20,340 relationships take energy, relationships take time and investment. 110 00:07:20,340 --> 00:07:25,300 And that is why it's important for us, especially because we're clinicians, to make sure that 111 00:07:25,300 --> 00:07:30,820 we tame our clinical workload so that it gives us time and space to do all the other things 112 00:07:30,820 --> 00:07:35,740 that we need to do, including taking care of our families, taking care of our health, 113 00:07:35,740 --> 00:07:38,780 taking care of our mental and emotional well-being. 114 00:07:38,780 --> 00:07:41,300 These are the things that matter. 115 00:07:41,300 --> 00:07:43,620 Focus on what matters. 116 00:07:43,620 --> 00:07:44,900 Define what that means. 117 00:07:44,900 --> 00:07:50,260 Define the hierarchy because you're always juggling these things, but define the hierarchy. 118 00:07:50,260 --> 00:07:52,980 What takes the highest priority? 119 00:07:52,980 --> 00:07:57,360 So number one is focus on what matters. 120 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:04,140 Number two is focus on the most important asset that you have in your academic career. 121 00:08:04,140 --> 00:08:10,420 Yes, you want to focus on the most important asset you have in your academic career and 122 00:08:10,420 --> 00:08:12,700 that asset is you. 123 00:08:12,700 --> 00:08:16,700 Yes, you are the asset. 124 00:08:16,700 --> 00:08:20,420 You are not just an asset, you are the asset. 125 00:08:20,420 --> 00:08:23,080 Without you, your career crumbles. 126 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:25,500 Without you, your life is ended. 127 00:08:25,500 --> 00:08:28,460 Without you, nothing else matters. 128 00:08:28,460 --> 00:08:35,960 And here's the thing, the institution will continue long after you're done at the institution 129 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:38,420 or maybe in this life. 130 00:08:38,420 --> 00:08:41,460 You are the asset that you are building. 131 00:08:41,460 --> 00:08:46,900 One of the important criteria as you're moving forward in building your research program 132 00:08:46,900 --> 00:08:50,780 is to make sure you are building the asset. 133 00:08:50,780 --> 00:08:53,500 Focus on building the asset that is you. 134 00:08:53,500 --> 00:08:55,700 How do you build this asset? 135 00:08:55,700 --> 00:09:02,260 Well, you build this asset by expanding like you're crazy. 136 00:09:02,260 --> 00:09:05,500 You pour in information in there that enhances you. 137 00:09:05,500 --> 00:09:08,040 You attend career development workshops. 138 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:10,500 You go to anything that enhances you. 139 00:09:10,500 --> 00:09:17,140 You read, you study, you show up for programs, you join communities that enhance you. 140 00:09:17,140 --> 00:09:21,500 You exercise, you eat well, you sleep well. 141 00:09:21,500 --> 00:09:24,860 Wow, that sounds like a full-time job, doesn't it? 142 00:09:24,860 --> 00:09:26,380 And it is. 143 00:09:26,380 --> 00:09:34,980 The reason you need to focus on you as the, not a, but the, or not and, but the asset 144 00:09:34,980 --> 00:09:41,380 is because when you appreciate, when you appreciate in value as an asset, everything around you 145 00:09:41,380 --> 00:09:42,740 appreciates. 146 00:09:42,740 --> 00:09:47,860 The work you do appreciates, your capital, your network, it appreciates. 147 00:09:47,860 --> 00:09:50,140 Financially you appreciate. 148 00:09:50,140 --> 00:09:55,420 Everything appreciates the moment you, the asset, appreciates. 149 00:09:55,420 --> 00:10:02,140 And so what you don't want to do is sacrifice the asset on account of anything else. 150 00:10:02,140 --> 00:10:07,420 I think there's an analogy in Stephen Covey's book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful 151 00:10:07,420 --> 00:10:12,700 People about having the goose that produces the golden egg. 152 00:10:12,700 --> 00:10:18,700 And actually he alludes to the story about the goose that lays the golden eggs, you know? 153 00:10:18,700 --> 00:10:23,300 And if you remember the story, the farmer had a goose that laid golden eggs and they 154 00:10:23,300 --> 00:10:27,820 would have to wait because the goose only laid one egg a day. 155 00:10:27,820 --> 00:10:30,340 And finally they came up with this brilliant idea. 156 00:10:30,340 --> 00:10:34,220 What if we kill the goose, take all the eggs out of the goose and we can have all the gold 157 00:10:34,220 --> 00:10:38,220 at once? 158 00:10:38,220 --> 00:10:43,680 And so they killed the producer of the gold and they were left with no gold. 159 00:10:43,680 --> 00:10:47,380 You are the producer of gold in your research program. 160 00:10:47,380 --> 00:10:48,380 It's you. 161 00:10:48,380 --> 00:10:50,900 You make everything happen. 162 00:10:50,900 --> 00:10:59,460 And therefore you want to focus on maximizing the value of the greatest asset you have in 163 00:10:59,460 --> 00:11:04,260 your career and in your life. 164 00:11:04,260 --> 00:11:09,140 Focus on the most important asset and that is you. 165 00:11:09,140 --> 00:11:10,580 All right. 166 00:11:10,580 --> 00:11:16,420 Number three is to focus on the vital few. 167 00:11:16,420 --> 00:11:22,700 And we talked about this in I think the decision making episode where we talked about the fact 168 00:11:22,700 --> 00:11:28,180 that wow, there are many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, 169 00:11:28,180 --> 00:11:32,340 many things you could do, but not all of them are important. 170 00:11:32,340 --> 00:11:35,540 And in fact, most of them do not move you forward. 171 00:11:35,540 --> 00:11:40,700 And so the principle of the vital few, I got really from actually a couple of books. 172 00:11:40,700 --> 00:11:46,140 So essentialism by George McKeon and also the Pareto principle. 173 00:11:46,140 --> 00:11:51,220 And actually that's kind of highlighted in the 80-20 rule by Richard Koch. 174 00:11:51,220 --> 00:11:54,740 I think that's his name and I'll confirm it in the show notes. 175 00:11:54,740 --> 00:12:00,580 But yes, there are very few things that move the needle in your life. 176 00:12:00,580 --> 00:12:05,340 You may not know what they are until you do the analysis, until you study and then you 177 00:12:05,340 --> 00:12:06,980 figure out, oh, wait a minute. 178 00:12:06,980 --> 00:12:10,180 Oh, you look at the data and you're like, what? 179 00:12:10,180 --> 00:12:16,380 Last year I spent a lot of time on four research projects, but only this one research project 180 00:12:16,380 --> 00:12:22,900 yielded two manuscripts, three abstract presentations, and an opportunity to go and talk. 181 00:12:22,900 --> 00:12:27,060 And all your projects yield big returns. 182 00:12:27,060 --> 00:12:29,340 And you're like, well, I got to keep working on them equally. 183 00:12:29,340 --> 00:12:31,020 No, you do not. 184 00:12:31,020 --> 00:12:35,420 The one that gives you the biggest bang for your buck, that is what we're talking about 185 00:12:35,420 --> 00:12:36,820 as the vital few. 186 00:12:36,820 --> 00:12:40,780 And so you want to focus on the things that move you forward. 187 00:12:40,780 --> 00:12:45,500 And if you're a clinician transitioning to build a research program, one of the things 188 00:12:45,500 --> 00:12:53,860 that's most important is really growing your ability to write, to present, and to really 189 00:12:53,860 --> 00:13:01,260 declare your work to funders, to people who will read your work, to the lay public, to 190 00:13:01,260 --> 00:13:03,940 your scientific community. 191 00:13:03,940 --> 00:13:05,540 That's one of the most important things you do. 192 00:13:05,540 --> 00:13:08,580 You're a writer, a scientific communicator. 193 00:13:08,580 --> 00:13:14,420 And so that is one of the things that gives you big bangs for your buck. 194 00:13:14,420 --> 00:13:16,420 You become a great science communicator. 195 00:13:16,420 --> 00:13:17,420 You become a good writer. 196 00:13:17,420 --> 00:13:21,740 You're able to communicate with funding agencies, and they will give you money so that your 197 00:13:21,740 --> 00:13:23,660 program continues to run. 198 00:13:23,660 --> 00:13:27,740 You're able to communicate with the lay public. 199 00:13:27,740 --> 00:13:32,820 And you might find some philanthropic donations to move your program forward. 200 00:13:32,820 --> 00:13:38,020 You're able to communicate well with the science community, with the scientific community, 201 00:13:38,020 --> 00:13:40,020 and you get invited to give talks. 202 00:13:40,020 --> 00:13:44,180 And you are able to present your work at meetings. 203 00:13:44,180 --> 00:13:50,860 And so being a science communicator, focusing on communicating your science regularly and 204 00:13:50,860 --> 00:13:56,580 intentionally is one of the highest yield things that you do as a clinician scientist, 205 00:13:56,580 --> 00:13:58,460 as a clinician researcher. 206 00:13:58,460 --> 00:14:04,540 And so you never want your ability to grow and thrive as a science communicator to suffer 207 00:14:04,540 --> 00:14:10,500 at the hands of things that other people could do for you or at the hands of things that 208 00:14:10,500 --> 00:14:12,660 you could be replaced in doing. 209 00:14:12,660 --> 00:14:14,300 I know ELOG patients. 210 00:14:14,300 --> 00:14:16,780 We love to take care of patients. 211 00:14:16,780 --> 00:14:21,620 And many of the patient care things we provide can be provided by people who have not been 212 00:14:21,620 --> 00:14:25,860 at school for as long as we have, or who have not done that kind of training for as long 213 00:14:25,860 --> 00:14:27,580 as we've done training. 214 00:14:27,580 --> 00:14:31,620 And so it's important to make sure that while we continue to move our clinical programs 215 00:14:31,620 --> 00:14:38,160 forward, we don't let our research, our scholarly communication suffer at the hands of something 216 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,980 in which ultimately we could be expendable in. 217 00:14:41,980 --> 00:14:46,180 When you think about it as a clinician researcher, you're moving forward a program of study. 218 00:14:46,180 --> 00:14:47,900 Remember, I said you are the asset. 219 00:14:47,900 --> 00:14:50,980 If you don't do this program of study, somebody else might not do it. 220 00:14:50,980 --> 00:14:55,300 I mean, if you say work in diabetes, there will always be a researcher working in diabetes, 221 00:14:55,300 --> 00:14:59,460 but the specific angle that you bring to diabetes research is not something that anybody else 222 00:14:59,460 --> 00:15:04,900 can easily reproduce, especially if it's your baby, the thing you're most excited about. 223 00:15:04,900 --> 00:15:09,540 Therefore, there are very few things that move you forward in the direction of being 224 00:15:09,540 --> 00:15:15,820 the expert in this specific space, and that's what you want to focus on. 225 00:15:15,820 --> 00:15:17,340 And there will be many opportunities. 226 00:15:17,340 --> 00:15:21,260 People will come, they'll say, oh my goodness, come be part of this and come do that. 227 00:15:21,260 --> 00:15:27,820 There'll be so, so, so, so, so, so many, but not all of them will move you forward in the 228 00:15:27,820 --> 00:15:29,940 way that is meaningful to you. 229 00:15:29,940 --> 00:15:32,740 You want to focus on the things that move you forward. 230 00:15:32,740 --> 00:15:36,140 Okay, that was number three, focusing on the vital view. 231 00:15:36,140 --> 00:15:37,140 All right. 232 00:15:37,140 --> 00:15:44,620 The next thing you want to do is to focus on eliminating things that derail you. 233 00:15:44,620 --> 00:15:53,820 Energy wasters, time drainers, all the things that just make you, okay, it's energy, energy 234 00:15:53,820 --> 00:15:58,620 drainers, and time wasters. 235 00:15:58,620 --> 00:15:59,620 Yes. 236 00:15:59,620 --> 00:16:00,900 You want to get rid of all that. 237 00:16:00,900 --> 00:16:03,020 And what do I mean? 238 00:16:03,020 --> 00:16:05,740 Sometimes your colleagues that write you emails, I make you so mad. 239 00:16:05,740 --> 00:16:06,740 Oh my goodness. 240 00:16:06,740 --> 00:16:08,340 I read one of those yesterday. 241 00:16:08,340 --> 00:16:12,100 And the challenge with these things is that they take up so much time and energy because 242 00:16:12,100 --> 00:16:13,480 you're so mad. 243 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:18,100 You want to compose the perfect email just to show them that you know, and you take a 244 00:16:18,100 --> 00:16:20,060 lot of time to do that. 245 00:16:20,060 --> 00:16:22,140 What you're not doing is doing your writing. 246 00:16:22,140 --> 00:16:27,340 And when you finally satisfy yourself, that you have sent the perfect comeback, you can't 247 00:16:27,340 --> 00:16:31,140 even stop thinking about how it's landing and whether it's doing the right amount of 248 00:16:31,140 --> 00:16:33,140 damage that you hoped. 249 00:16:33,140 --> 00:16:35,740 And then at the end of the day, you're kind of drained. 250 00:16:35,740 --> 00:16:38,580 You have no energy to move your work forward. 251 00:16:38,580 --> 00:16:39,580 Wow. 252 00:16:39,580 --> 00:16:45,300 And was it worth the hours that you spent trying to school that person and you didn't 253 00:16:45,300 --> 00:16:46,300 get to move forward? 254 00:16:46,300 --> 00:16:50,860 And so if you're going to succeed in your research programs, you're going to succeed 255 00:16:50,860 --> 00:16:56,900 in moving forward, one of the things you will do is to not let things bother you. 256 00:16:56,900 --> 00:17:01,740 You're going to ask yourself, is this absolutely critical to my forward motion? 257 00:17:01,740 --> 00:17:05,540 And if the answer is no, you move forward. 258 00:17:05,540 --> 00:17:09,660 The reason this is important is because there will always be challenges in academia. 259 00:17:09,660 --> 00:17:12,500 Wow, the system is slow as molasses. 260 00:17:12,500 --> 00:17:13,500 There are always challenges. 261 00:17:13,500 --> 00:17:15,500 There are always people complaining. 262 00:17:15,500 --> 00:17:19,020 There's always a problem to be solved. 263 00:17:19,020 --> 00:17:23,620 And one of the things you don't do is to set yourself to try to move a pillar that keeps 264 00:17:23,620 --> 00:17:25,660 a building standing. 265 00:17:25,660 --> 00:17:29,260 Academic medicine is the way it is because it works for academic medicine. 266 00:17:29,260 --> 00:17:33,360 It doesn't work for many individual faculty, but it works for systems. 267 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:34,960 It works for institutions. 268 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:37,780 If it didn't, those systems would not exist. 269 00:17:37,780 --> 00:17:42,020 And so sometimes we push ourselves against things that we think we can change. 270 00:17:42,020 --> 00:17:45,100 And what we're not recognizing is that they're pillars. 271 00:17:45,100 --> 00:17:49,300 And while we're pushing these big pillars that are actually immovable, what we're not 272 00:17:49,300 --> 00:17:55,320 doing is moving forward our scholarship that actually can make transformation possible 273 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:58,100 in a way that can be subversive. 274 00:17:58,100 --> 00:18:00,540 And so there are different ways to transform the system. 275 00:18:00,540 --> 00:18:03,300 And I'm not asking you not to transform the system. 276 00:18:03,300 --> 00:18:07,460 What I'm saying is that you've got to recognize your role. 277 00:18:07,460 --> 00:18:08,460 What is your role? 278 00:18:08,460 --> 00:18:10,380 What is the thing that you can do? 279 00:18:10,380 --> 00:18:14,140 And only you can do it. 280 00:18:14,140 --> 00:18:18,660 And I want to argue that if you're a clinician moving forward a research program, trying 281 00:18:18,660 --> 00:18:24,540 to make big waves and moving about from person of influence to person of influence to try 282 00:18:24,540 --> 00:18:30,280 to push change is maybe not the first path that you tread before you've really fully 283 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:35,340 established yourself as a scholar. 284 00:18:35,340 --> 00:18:40,220 Because the way academic institutions are established, scholarship is really, really 285 00:18:40,220 --> 00:18:42,020 honored. 286 00:18:42,020 --> 00:18:48,360 And many times people who don't have as much scholarship can still contribute significantly 287 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:51,040 and scholarship continues to be honored. 288 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:54,220 And so it's important to recognize what is my role? 289 00:18:54,220 --> 00:18:55,220 What is my skill? 290 00:18:55,220 --> 00:18:59,660 What are the things I bring that nobody else can bring and focus on expanding those things? 291 00:18:59,660 --> 00:19:02,020 Because nobody can take those away from you. 292 00:19:02,020 --> 00:19:06,340 Positions come and go, especially depending on the political climate. 293 00:19:06,340 --> 00:19:10,060 And so while you continue to do administrative roles, you want to make sure you have a body 294 00:19:10,060 --> 00:19:14,980 of scholarship that will go with you wherever you are. 295 00:19:14,980 --> 00:19:20,220 And so you want to focus on eliminating things that waste your time so that you can enhance 296 00:19:20,220 --> 00:19:22,860 the things that matter. 297 00:19:22,860 --> 00:19:29,060 The fifth thing is to focus like someone who is incapable of doing anything else. 298 00:19:29,060 --> 00:19:30,060 Yep. 299 00:19:30,060 --> 00:19:38,060 Now you choose your area of focus and you want to just be, what's the word there is 300 00:19:38,060 --> 00:19:44,180 a term for where you feign ineptitude to some extent. 301 00:19:44,180 --> 00:19:47,780 It's like, oh, we need somebody who can help us move the table. 302 00:19:47,780 --> 00:19:48,900 Oh, you can move the table. 303 00:19:48,900 --> 00:19:50,700 I see your arms are very strong. 304 00:19:50,700 --> 00:19:52,860 That's not why you're here. 305 00:19:52,860 --> 00:19:55,340 And so you're like, oh, I would love to help you move the table. 306 00:19:55,340 --> 00:19:56,340 I'm not very good at those things. 307 00:19:56,340 --> 00:20:01,620 I mean, I'm not asking you to lie, I'm just saying that that's not what you're supposed 308 00:20:01,620 --> 00:20:03,140 to focus on. 309 00:20:03,140 --> 00:20:06,420 And I know I'm using an example of moving the table, but maybe I use another example 310 00:20:06,420 --> 00:20:08,620 of planning the holiday party. 311 00:20:08,620 --> 00:20:13,100 I mean, it's so awesome that there's a holiday party and it's so awesome that you're so good 312 00:20:13,100 --> 00:20:17,600 at organizing that someone feels like you're the one to do the holiday party organizing. 313 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:20,940 But the time that you're spending during the holiday party organizing is time that you're 314 00:20:20,940 --> 00:20:24,660 not spending moving your own program of study forward. 315 00:20:24,660 --> 00:20:30,580 And the truth is, if for whatever reason you kind of drop dead out of exhaustion and you're 316 00:20:30,580 --> 00:20:36,820 carried emergently away to the hospital, somehow the holiday program still gets done. 317 00:20:36,820 --> 00:20:41,460 But what doesn't get done, what doesn't get done is your research because you're the champion 318 00:20:41,460 --> 00:20:43,380 of your research program. 319 00:20:43,380 --> 00:20:49,860 So if you are going to succeed in moving forward to your program of scholarship, you're going 320 00:20:49,860 --> 00:20:55,260 to feign ineptitude and things that are not your primary concern. 321 00:20:55,260 --> 00:20:59,220 If you look around and there are four or five, six other people who can do exactly what's 322 00:20:59,220 --> 00:21:01,460 being requested, don't volunteer. 323 00:21:01,460 --> 00:21:04,340 Wait, wait and see who else volunteers. 324 00:21:04,340 --> 00:21:08,260 Don't be the first to jump in to do the thing that other people can do for you. 325 00:21:08,260 --> 00:21:15,980 I have to tell you that one of the inefficiencies of academic medical centers is that many times 326 00:21:15,980 --> 00:21:20,900 physicians are asked to do things that are really clerical because people are trying 327 00:21:20,900 --> 00:21:22,300 to save time and money. 328 00:21:22,300 --> 00:21:28,700 But the reality is that as clinicians, you bring high value in your scholarship to academic 329 00:21:28,700 --> 00:21:29,860 institutions. 330 00:21:29,860 --> 00:21:34,260 Your scholarship helps make the academic institution academic. 331 00:21:34,260 --> 00:21:41,600 And so don't accept a situation where someone says, well, I just want to save money by asking 332 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:47,900 you, a highly valued clinician who can generate revenue as a clinician and a highly valued 333 00:21:47,900 --> 00:21:53,340 creator of scholarship to come do something clerical that I could pay somebody minimum 334 00:21:53,340 --> 00:21:55,380 wage to accomplish. 335 00:21:55,380 --> 00:21:58,500 And so this is the challenge of academic medical centers. 336 00:21:58,500 --> 00:22:00,220 They continue to do that. 337 00:22:00,220 --> 00:22:02,540 And by they, I'm not talking a specific person. 338 00:22:02,540 --> 00:22:05,060 It's just the way the system works. 339 00:22:05,060 --> 00:22:10,780 And what you're going to do because you recognize the value of your program of scholarship is 340 00:22:10,780 --> 00:22:17,900 to not allow those things to cloud your experience, is to not allow those things to prevent you 341 00:22:17,900 --> 00:22:19,700 from moving forward. 342 00:22:19,700 --> 00:22:24,800 What that means is you're going to guard your program of scholarship jealously against these 343 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,200 things that encroach and that don't have to encroach. 344 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:34,140 And here's the thing, the moment they can't find you because you are so focused and you're 345 00:22:34,140 --> 00:22:38,500 feigning ineptitude about all these clerical things that you really shouldn't be doing. 346 00:22:38,500 --> 00:22:44,460 Wow, all of a sudden funding arises to be able to fund a clerical position to do that 347 00:22:44,460 --> 00:22:45,460 work. 348 00:22:45,460 --> 00:22:50,100 But the fact that you keep volunteering keeps them from finding anybody. 349 00:22:50,100 --> 00:22:54,260 How convenient. 350 00:22:54,260 --> 00:22:59,100 I don't mean to sound cynical, but I do want to share is if you will not move your program 351 00:22:59,100 --> 00:23:02,180 of study forward, nobody will do it for you. 352 00:23:02,180 --> 00:23:06,380 But people will come every day to pull you from your program of study, not because they're 353 00:23:06,380 --> 00:23:10,340 trying to derail you, but just because people are people. 354 00:23:10,340 --> 00:23:14,580 And we're just wanting to look for someone who can help us. 355 00:23:14,580 --> 00:23:18,900 We're not really asking, is this the highest qualified person for this role? 356 00:23:18,900 --> 00:23:20,860 Is this the person who actually should be doing this? 357 00:23:20,860 --> 00:23:23,340 Is there somebody else who should be doing it? 358 00:23:23,340 --> 00:23:27,820 We don't ask those questions because it's more convenient, it's easiest to ask that 359 00:23:27,820 --> 00:23:30,380 nice doctor who always says yes. 360 00:23:30,380 --> 00:23:36,300 So you're going to focus on the things that you are supposed to be doing, feign ineptitude, 361 00:23:36,300 --> 00:23:39,820 about everything else. 362 00:23:39,820 --> 00:23:40,820 Okay. 363 00:23:40,820 --> 00:23:43,820 Those are the five points I'm giving you for your focus this year. 364 00:23:43,820 --> 00:23:46,740 One is to focus on what matters. 365 00:23:46,740 --> 00:23:51,340 Number two is to focus on the most important asset, that's you. 366 00:23:51,340 --> 00:23:53,820 Number three is to focus on the vital few. 367 00:23:53,820 --> 00:23:58,820 Number four is to focus on eliminating time wasters and energy drainers. 368 00:23:58,820 --> 00:24:04,220 Number five is to focus like someone who doesn't know how to do anything else, feigning ineptitude. 369 00:24:04,220 --> 00:24:05,220 All right. 370 00:24:05,220 --> 00:24:06,820 That's it for today. 371 00:24:06,820 --> 00:24:12,740 You know somebody who wants to coach with me, maybe you, maybe somebody else, please 372 00:24:12,740 --> 00:24:18,700 send me a DM or sign up for a coaching consult call and the link will be provided in the 373 00:24:18,700 --> 00:24:19,700 show notes. 374 00:24:19,700 --> 00:24:21,620 It's been a pleasure talking with you today. 375 00:24:21,620 --> 00:24:22,620 Thank you for listening. 376 00:24:22,620 --> 00:24:32,340 I look forward to talking with you again the next time. 377 00:24:32,340 --> 00:24:37,660 Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic 378 00:24:37,660 --> 00:24:43,140 clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they 379 00:24:43,140 --> 00:24:44,460 have a mentor. 380 00:24:44,460 --> 00:24:50,580 If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself. 381 00:24:50,580 --> 00:24:52,300 Someone else needs to hear it. 382 00:24:52,300 --> 00:24:56,380 So take a minute right now and share it. 383 00:24:56,380 --> 00:25:01,820 As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation 384 00:25:01,820 --> 00:25:07,780 of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.