189. Your Career as an Authentic Expression of You with Dr. Chelsea Turgeon

Update: 2023-11-29

Description

You have permission to create the most authentic expression of you. Yes, even if you feel stuck in your career. And yes, even if you’re ready to shift gears into what you truly want. I’m joined by Dr. Chelsea Turgeon to talk about vulnerability, choosing your authentic self, and what your life after medicine might look like.

How to Live With Your Authentic Self

Get to the place where you can see your true self.
Slowly start to introduce that authentic self to others who can support and appreciate that.

About Dr. Chelsea Turgeon

Dr. Chelsea Turgeon is an MD-trained career coach, bestselling author, digital nomad, and host of the Life After Medicine podcast. In 2019, she left the hustle and grind of her OBGYN residency to travel the world and create a life of freedom. Now, she has a 6-figure coaching business helping healthcare professionals find careers that give them freedom and fulfillment.

Let Go Of What You Think You Need

There are often so many external pressures that influence the decisions we make in life. Dr. Chelsea Turgeon asks us to consider what decisions we’d make if we didn’t have those pressures. This is where finding your authentic self and vulnerability will play an important role.

Go after what you want and let go of what you think you need. If you’re worried about what you think you should be doing, Chelsea reminds you that you have to come back to choices and consequences in any decision you make.

Be super honest. Stop using the word ‘have to’ do things. You don’t have to do anything. There might be reasons you’re choosing to do something because you want to avoid consequences, but the more you can bring it back to that, it will start to set you free and start liberating you.

Life After Medicine

So many women physicians have been in, or are in, similar situations to Chelsea (and myself). I want you to know that you have permission to leave medicine on your own terms, not because of burnout or because you can’t take it anymore.

If you are experiencing burnout, it’s also important to understand that burnout is not your fault. It doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. You can’t create from nothing.

If you are considering the shift from medicine to entrepreneurship, Chelsea talks about some of the most common mindset blocks that new entrepreneurs face. She leaves us by saying that your greatest impact lies in following what you actually want – what do you want?

What story makes you feel empowered? Tell that one instead. I’d love to hear yours in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

How external pressures can influence who you are [6:30 ]
The role of vulnerability in finding your most authentic self [9:00 ]
How to navigate an authentic career within your current expectations [15:30 ]
What happens when you take ownership of your choices [17:00 ]
What blocks entrepreneurs tend to face [18:45 ]
Where your greatest impact lies [28:45 ]

Quotes

“During that first year, I really went through a process of pausing, recalibrating, connecting back to who I am and what my original goals are, the things I care about and actually want to do.” [6:26 ]

“Vulnerability is about letting people see you as your authentic self.” [9:19 ]

“You don’t want to introduce that authentic version of you to people who are going to cut it down and put you into a shame spiral. You do want to have safe spaces and places where you can show pieces of yourself and feel accepted for those pieces so you can start to grow and strengthen them.” [10:18 ]

“I started meditating and questioning everything, and really going within to a place of, ‘I might be okay just as I am. And if that’s true, what would I want to do?’ And it wasn’t being a doctor.” [14:04 ]

“The more you give yourself choices, the more empowered and free you can be emotionally and internally. Once it becomes time to start making different choices, you can start doing that.” [16:41 ]

“You do know. There’s just not this exact clear plan for how to get there, so they do nothing. They think they need this entire roadmap fully mapped out from A-Z in order to even begin when you just have to take a step and see what happens.” [20:11 ]

“You can’t create capacity from nothing. You cannot create it where it doesn’t exist. You have to free it up by removing energy drains and creating space.” [24:24 ]

“It gets to be more. There’s literally no reason why you can’t have the things that you want. […] It doesn’t have to be a pipe dream. It doesn’t have to be a crazy idea. You’re allowed to pursue the things that you want. There is something deeply important about you figuring out what you want and then following it. Within that is where you can truly make a positive impact.” [27:59 ]