#22 Job Security in Medicine is a Myth

As you know, physicians nowadays come up with huge amount of student debt. And that ratio of where in terms of the ratio in terms of like how much your you owe your student loan debt versus how much you make and the cost of living, especially in some of the areas that people are living in. The numbers don’t work out in your favor as much as they used to. And so I know a lot of physicians, and I’ve talked about in the past that live paycheck to paycheck, that are stressed from month to month figuring out whether they can meet their expenses that could support their lifestyle.

I’ll be honest, there’s probably a certain amount of pride that you carry by being a physician. It definitely wasn’t easy getting here and you spent so much time and money on your degree through all those hours of training. You expect kind of be at the top of the ladder, and I think that probably most of us felt like we could not be replaced, especially with the physician shortage, we felt like there’s a lot of demand on our side. And of course, overtime prices, there’s a wage because of demand and the supply being low. That you know, as physicians, we’d be even more in demand and our salaries would go up. But unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. Society, and medicine in general, what they’ve done is they’ve learned to elevate others to the physician type role.

I think, as physicians, we tend to think there’s no way that we could be replaced by automation technology. However, I totally think that’s false. You’re starting to see it already. You are seeing how AI, especially when it comes to reading films. Technology is increasing significantly. You’ve seen how they’ve tried to create machines that take the places of a lot of physicians.

What I sometimes say about medicine is to make it a hobby. Once you’re in that position, it  doesn’t matter what happens in medicine – it doesn’t matter if your job security is a myth, doesn’t matter what regulation changes occur, doesn’t matter if you’re working in conditions that you’re not happy about. Because you can change it anytime. Let’s be honest, most of us don’t change the situation we’re in when it comes to our job is because of financial security. And so when that is handled through other streams of income, then you can really choose your ideal life career.

Let me tell you, it’s absolutely possible. If anything, if any of you were part of the Leverage and Growth Summit that we had recently, there’s so many physicians doing things outside of medicine while still practicing medicine, and able to create finances, enabled to create financial security, and able to really thrive and do things that they’re passionate about – all while still remaining a doctor. 

Be proactive, be humble, and know that there’s so much more to learn out there. Take a hold and just say, “I am no longer going to be held captive by medicine when it comes to finances, I’m going to create my own financial security.”

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