In this episode, Dr. Cari Wise shares twelve tips to inspire and empower listeners in their careers and personal lives.
Key points include focusing on effort over perfection, understanding that patient outcomes and client decisions are beyond a veterinarian’s control, and the importance of aligning work with personal values. She advises against overworking, excessive venting, and relying on historical statistics for future predictions.
Dr. Wise also emphasizes concise documentation, viewing job loss as growth, normalizing anxiety, finding joy despite financial burdens, and controlling perspectives to improve wellbeing. She concludes by encouraging listeners to share the podcast and join the Vet Life Academy for further support.
Key takeaways:
- Effort Over Perfection: Focus on effort rather than perfection in veterinary practice, accepting that not all outcomes will meet expectations.
- Patient Outcomes: Understand that patient outcomes are largely beyond the veterinarian’s control due to individual patient physiology.
- Client Decisions: Recognize that veterinarians cannot control client decisions regarding treatment recommendations and that these decisions do not reflect on the veterinarian’s worth.
- Aligning with Values: Leave jobs that conflict with personal morals, ethics, or values to maintain mental health and job satisfaction.
- Work-Life Balance: Avoid staying late or arriving early to finish tasks, and prioritize a healthy work-life balance.
- Limit Negative Conversations: Excessive venting and commiseration can harm emotional wellbeing; limit time spent on negative discussions.
- Historical Statistics: Historical statistics on mental health risks do not dictate individual futures; focus on personal choices and potential.
- Documentation: Extensive medical records do not necessarily prevent board complaints; prioritize concise documentation and trust professional judgment.
- Job Loss: Being fired is not a source of shame but an opportunity for growth and reflection.
- Anxiety: Feelings of anxiety related to cases or client interactions are normal; recognizing this can help alleviate pressure.
- Financial Contentment: Paying off student loans does not guarantee happiness; finding joy regardless of financial circumstances is crucial.
- Perspective on Emotions: Emotional experiences are shaped by personal perspectives; controlling one’s perspective can improve quality of life.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain typos.
Hi there. I’m Doctor Cari Wise, veterinarian, certified life coach and certified quantum human design specialist. If you’re a veterinary professional looking to up level your life and your career, or maybe looking to go in an entirely new direction, then what I talk about here on the Joyful DVM podcast is absolutely for you. Let’s get started. Hello, my friends. Welcome to episode 200 of the Joyful DVM podcast. In today’s episode, I want to share with you twelve tips for navigating your veterinary career.
And by the time we get to the end of this list, I hope that you’re feeling inspired, encouraged and empowered, not only over your veterinary career, but over your life in general. So let’s go ahead and get started. Tip number one, practice. Nothing. Perfection. This seems so obvious when we consider that our career is the practice of veterinary medicine. But so often what we do, the way that we engage with our profession, is through trying to be perfect.
So if you’re trying to do it right enough to guarantee that patients always get better and clients are always happy, I want you to give yourself a break. Because perfection was never the goal. This is the practice of veterinary medicine, which means I built into what we do are situations when things just don’t turn out the way that we think that they should. That doesn’t make you a bad vet or a bad vet tech.
That just comes with the territory. All you can do is the best that you can with the information and resources provided to you at the time. And when you have new data, you can make a new decision. So, my friends, lean into this being the practice of veterinary medicine and release that pressure that comes with perfection. You’ll find this much more enjoyable all around. Number two, patient outcomes is not something you control.
I want to say that one again. Number two, patient outcomes is not something you control. My friends, whether or not a patient responds to your treatment depends on the individual physiology of the patient. And because you cannot control individual physiology, you cannot be responsible for patient outcomes. So once again, just do the best you can with what you know and the resources available, and then just sit back and wait with the client to see how that patient responds.
That is what the practice of veterinary medicine is all about. Tip number three, whether or not a client agrees with you and your recommendations is also not within your control, and it’s absolutely not tied to your value or your success in this job. So, number three, clients are just not always going to agree, but that does not mean you’re a failure. It’s another way that we can put that so if we can just remember that the client’s decisions are theirs to make, and it’s not your job to make them for for them or to try to convince them of anything.
Your job is simply to provide options and then to execute what they decide. Then you can release some of the pressure for yourself. So whether or not a client agrees with your recommendations, don’t take that personally. Don’t make that be the way that you evaluate whether or not you are successful or a failure in this job. That is completely irrelevant. What they decide is completely irrelevant. Your role is only to make the recommendations and then to execute on what they decide.
Tip number four, jobs that require you to compromise your own personal morals, ethics or values should be left quickly. This one I feel very passionately about. Life’s hard enough as it is. The job that we have has challenging aspects of it built right in and that just comes along with it. But if you’re in a situation where the organization that you work for requires you to compromise your own personal morals, ethics or values, you should swiftly reconsider your position in that organization.
There’s not enough benefit in the world to day in and day out compromise yourself. And so whatever fear is keeping you there, the reason that you’re telling yourself that you can’t leave, I want you to question that because I guarantee you there is a better fit position out there for you. That’s not going to require you to compromise yourself in order to do this job. So if you found yourself in a situation where you are on the regular being asked to compromise your morals, ethics and values and you’re afraid to leave, then I want you to reach out to somebody and talk to somebody about this.
Because my friend, long term, that is not going to be good for you. And it’s not going to be good for your clients and patients either. The next tip, staying late and coming in early won’t improve the quality of your days. We spend so much time trying to check off the things on our to do list and believing that once the to do list is finished, then we can be happy.
Then we can feel less pressure than we can relax. But the truth is, because of the practice of veterinary medicine and the just uncontrollable nature of so many things that happen, there’s always going to be things left on the to do list. So coming in early and staying late isn’t actually going to get you ahead because there’s always going to be something else added. Instead, I want you to consider just working your shift and going home I know there’s going to be medical records that don’t get finished that day, then do them the next day.
If you start to utilize all the time that you have during the day focused on your work tasks, you’re going to be surprised how by the end of a week, it all balances out. Coming in early and staying late isn’t going to improve any of that. But what it is going to do is to decrease your overall quality of life as you start taking more and more time away from yourself, your hobbies, your friendships, your relationships, and the other things that matter to you.
Now, tip number six. This one is one that might actually ruffle a few feathers, but just hear me out. Tip number six is that venting and commiseration create short term relief. But using it as your go to for dealing with stress will have a negative impact on your well being. I know in our profession we like to sit around and commiserate and complain and blame. I know that we like to talk about the bad things that happen during the day or the bad way that clients behaved, that we go over those episodes over and over and over again.
We even sit around in groups and we talk about how terrible our schedules are, our pay is, our bosses, our organizations, whatever. So think about it. Whatever it is for you, that’s likely that you are partaking in a conversation on a regular basis that is negative in nature and critical of your job, your clients, or the place where you work. The reason that this is not useful for you is because the more time that you spend focused on that negative type of stuff, the more negative emotion you create for yourself.
And ultimately it pulls down your entire state of emotional well being. No wonder we feel so frustrated a lot of the time. No wonder a lot of us get caught in this low vibration of energy and emotion where it just feels like there’s nothing but work. We have to pay attention to where we’re spending our time, and there’s nothing useful for you. When it comes to helping clients and treating patients.
There’s nothing useful that comes from these venting and commiseration conversations. So if we need to vent and we need to commiserate, just make it short. Don’t spend all of your time there, because what you’re not recognizing is how the volume of time that you spend doing that is creating an equal decrease in your quality of life. So if you want to start improving your quality of life and the way that you feel day in and day out, you’ve got to start paying attention to how you’re spending your time and this is one of the easiest things that you can start to eliminate.
That’s going to have a positive impact right away. Tip number seven, historical statistics do not predict future events, my friends. This is a big one. Specifically, what I’m talking about is that you are not at risk for suicide simply because you chose a career in veterinary medicine. Are there historical studies that show that this profession is related to a higher risk of suicide? Sure, historical studies do show that, but that does not predict the future.
No historical statistic can predict the future. However, as long as we continue to collectively believe that we are at risk because of those historical statistics, we will then keep repeating the patterns that keep reproving those statistics as true. This one is a big one, my friends. Just because in the past that was the case does not mean that you are destined to it yourself for the future. You have choices you get to decide for you.
So it’s important for us to have some awareness about what has happened in the past. But that does not take your power away or limit your potential for yourself in this profession at this time or at any point in the future. And the sooner we stop collectively believing that the past will just continue to repeat itself, then the past will stop repeating itself and will get off that top ten list once and for all.
Tip number eight, medical records will never prevent board complaints. I’m going to say that one again. Number eight, medical records will never prevent board complaints. I know many of you out there are writing novels for medical records, and I know where that comes from. Some of you were taught that that was required as part of your job. And I want to tell you, novels are not required as part of your profession.
Quite the opposite. The more succinct you can make, the medical documentation, the better it is all the way around as far as interpretation for people who are looking at it later, as far as legally, as far as just keeping on pace with your day. But many people who are spending a lot of time writing these extensive medical records, they believe that they are protecting themselves and specifically believe that they were protecting themselves from board complaints.
But here’s the part that you’re missing, that a board complaint is something that gets filed by somebody other than you. And in most cases, the person who’s filing that complaint against you has never even seen your record. Those records don’t come into play until after the fact. So until after there is a complaint. So the amount of time that you’re spending writing those records, just in the event that you might end up with a complaint and those records might be needed to defend you.
I just want you to consider how much of your life are you giving away to writing these novels that may never, ever be used? And I want to share with you one other truth, that the number of veterinary professionals who lose their license is very, very small. Most board complaints end with just a slap on the wrist, usually over medical documentation. So what’s hilarious about this is, is that even if you spend all of this time writing all of these notes, that’s still no guarantee that you’re not going to get a slap on the wrist if there is a complaint about you.
And at the end of the day, it doesn’t even matter as long as you are always just doing the best that you can with the information and resources that you have available at the time. You’re making your best effort to help the client and patient in front of you. This is where you’ve got to let go of the outcomes. Because again, this is the practice of veterinary medicine and novels of medical records will never protect you from what the other humans are going to do.
Just trust that you doing your best is good enough. And even if you find yourself in a situation where you are at the center of a board complaint and an investigation, I want you to trust that that is going to turn out well. That is going to turn out well, too. Because at the end of the day, whether or not somebody decides to file something against you is not a reflection of your true value and worth.
And it certainly isn’t a reflection of how much you care or how hard you tried. So just do your best. Let the other humans do what the other humans are going to do and stop giving away so much your free time to writing novels for medical records. Because at the end of the day, the humans are going to do what their humans are going to do. Those records are probably not going to protect you anyway.
And there’s no reason to give so much of your time away to something that you may never even need anyway. All right, my friends, here we are at tip number nine. Getting fired isn’t something to be ashamed of. It’s just evidence that your situation wasn’t the right fit, and it provides opportunity for a better experience in the future. So many of us feel shame and guilt when we get fired from a job.
But I want you to consider that maybe getting fired from a job was the best thing that ever happened for you. Getting fired requires us to go through a period of reflection, to consider what happened and to also investigate new opportunities. The truth is that many of us get stuck in a rut. We’ll just keep doing the same things, going to the same jobs, just groundhog day over and over and over again.
Even when we’re unhappy, we’ll keep showing up because we are afraid of looking for another job. We don’t want to go through the efforts of looking for other positions, negotiating, starting in a new place that’s all unfamiliar. And sometimes when we get stuck in that kind of rut, our performance decreases. And there’s all kinds of reasons that we can get fired. Perhaps it is a performance based elimination of your position.
Perhaps it is a sale of a practice and a downsizing. Perhaps it’s just an overall change in culture. There’s lots of reasons why positions get eliminated. And if you take those eliminations really personally, if you blame yourself, then you are not going to learn the lessons that were meant for you in those moments. Every time we have a major change in our lives, there is real purpose behind it.
And that purpose is never to punish you. That purpose is to give you an opportunity for reflection and for awareness. And for kind of riding the ship to head in the direction that you were supposed to go. So if you have been one who has gotten fired, I want you to consider that it was absolutely the best thing for you. Because staying in that position was not where you were supposed to be.
There is something much better for you out there. And you don’t need to be ashamed. And you don’t need to feel guilty. And you certainly don’t need to judge yourself harshly for it. Instead, I want you to consider that your right fit job is out there. And now you have the opportunity and the freedom. To start investigating it freely. Yeah, I know it’s scary. And I know you might feel some pressure around it.
But trust me when I say that getting fired was the best thing ever for you and your journey. And it’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. The best is yet to come. Now for tip number ten. Every single veterinary professional feels freaked out about cases or clients from time to time. That’s just part of the job, and it’s not a problem. So often when we are feeling freaked out about a case.
Or freaked out about a client interaction. We jump right to comparison. And we believe that our colleagues aren’t experiencing the same things. We believe that if we were better. That we wouldn’t be experiencing the same things. And we compare ourselves to this mythical experience. That the other veterinary professionals around us are having. So I want you to just to take a nice, deep breath. And just realize that feeling freaked out about cases and clients is just part of the deal and it’s going to happen from time to time.
That doesn’t need to mean that you need to be better than you are, and that doesn’t mean that anything is going wrong. It just simply means that you are human in a human experience, in a job that is highly emotional and carries with it a lot of responsibility and pressure. And it’s not your job to take the pressure away from everybody that you interact with. And it’s not your job to try to force everything to turn out perfectly.
Because remember, this is the practice of veterinary medicine. So feeling a little freaked out just means that you’re human. And if without feeling a little freaked out, then you wouldn’t either. Experience those times when you’re feeling a lot of success and pride and joy. So just go with the flow and realize this too shall pass. And when you’re feeling a little freaked out, just remember you’re in good company because we all do that from time to time.
Tip number eleven. Paying off your student loans won’t create sustainable happiness. Take a nice deep breath, my friends. For those of you who are waiting to be happy until you get those loans paid off, I want you to realize that if you don’t learn how to be happy now, then getting rid of those loans isn’t going to make anything any better. Learning to be happy while those student loans still exist is a skill that is going to serve you for a lifetime.
Because right now, that student loan thing may seem like it’s the big scary mountain that’s standing between you and peace and joy and happiness and relief. But as soon as that is eliminated, there will be something else that jumps in the way. The better skill to develop is the one where you learn how to be peaceful and joyful and happy. Even when things like your student loans still exist, because you then disconnect your well being from these circumstances around you.
Circumstances are always going to change. There’s going to be things that happen in the world that are unpredictable and it’s always going to come back to the way that we look at it. That determines whether or not we are happy or miserable. So when it comes to those student loans, take your power back from them. They are not keeping you from being happy. They are not evidence of a bad decision.
Instead, let’s reframe those student loans and let’s look at them for what they actually are, which is evidence of success. The hardest thing that you have ever done in your life. If you hadn’t been successful, those loans wouldn’t exist. So just keep doing whatever you want to do to pay those down or to deal with them in whatever way you’ve chosen to deal with them. But don’t give them too much time in your focus.
Because the more time you focus on them, the more you will continue to believe that their existence is limiting you and that your well being, your happiness, your future is dependent on them being gone. And I want you to know that’s absolutely not true. The student loans can exist, and you can simultaneously be happy, joyful, and building amazing things for the future at the same time. And finally, my friends, tip number twelve, your emotional experience of any situation is never caused by the situation itself.
It’s always caused by your perspective of that situation. So when you control your perspective, you control the quality of your life. This one is an important one. This one is at the heart of everything that we do over here at joyful DVM, of every free resource, of every prepaid program. It is the anchor of Vetlife Academy. When you learn how to control your perspective, how to decide it for yourself, you write your own ticket to well being.
And in the world that we live in, where we are simply the result of what we’ve been taught after generation after generation after generation, it is really important for us to put a pause in these cycles and patterns of belief, to remember, to consider, to learn that what we believe about a situation is the only thing that creates our experience of it. That it doesn’t actually matter what happens around us.
What matters is what we believe about it. And the sooner that you learn how to do that, which is what I call leveraging the space, the sooner you are the one who becomes in control of your entire well being and the quality of your life. This is the most important thing that you can learn how to do for yourself. And that’s why, as tip number twelve, reminding you that your emotional experience is not caused by the situation, but by your perspective of it.
And your perspective is something that you and you alone control. That’s why it is so important that I include it on this list. So if you’re ready to figure out how to do that, my friends, I’ve got you covered. Our Vetlife Academy program is absolutely for you. Go over to joyfuldvm.com vetlifeacademy, jump on the priority list, and as soon as those doors open, I will let you know.
So, my friends, as we wrap up this 200th episode of the Joyful DVM podcast, I do hope that you will share this episode with a friend and leave us a review. Wherever you’re listening to this podcast, have a beautiful week. I’ll see you next time. Bye for now.