By: Tony Barlow | tbarlow@barlowmccarthy.com
December can be a bit of a challenging month for those in physician recruitment. With the holidays and travel, distractions are numerous this time of year for both the physicians and the recruiters. Of course, our work does not stop because of those distractions. Keeping the pipeline full is a never-ending task.
With that said, this is an excellent time of year to look ahead. In the busyness of this role, it can be difficult to lift our heads and scan the future. Looking ahead is an incredibly important exercise for you personally and professionally.
I want you to right now… take a moment and schedule yourself some time for looking ahead this month. Write it in your calendar. At least an hour, but two or three would be great too. And then, don’t allow yourself to reschedule it. 😊
Here are a few tips to use that time wisely: (For this exercise I’m only really looking at your work life, but the ideas could easily translate to your personal life as well.)
Get Organized
Create a document for this exercise. This will allow you to look back to review your thinking. I am going to suggest you do this digitally. I know some of you are more comfortable with pen and paper. But, oftentimes keeping track of a piece of paper is a challenge.
Start with Looking Back
The first step to looking ahead is looking back. Take a few minutes and analyze your year. If you did an exercise like this last year, get out last year’s document and review it. Take a close look at goals you set. If this is your first time just take some time and go month by month. Think about where you were a year ago and where you are today. To help you remember your year feel free to take a look at your calendar, email, text messages and photos. Write down a list of the things you did that made you proud. Now, write down some of the disappointments from the year. Did any of your co-workers rise to the top as good mentors? How do you feel about internal leadership? How would you rate your overall job performance? What are the principles that guided you through the last year?
Analyze Yourself in This Moment
Next let’s take a few minutes and analyze who we are in this moment in time. What are a few new skills you learned in the past year? How have you grown and what has shaped that growth? What were some fears you overcame and in the past year? What are some points of pride about yourself? What are some things you can work on? In what ways are you different from a year ago?
Look Ahead
Now that we have examined the past and the present. I want you to go back and review what you wrote. These are the things that are going to shape the future. Take a minute to look ahead, think about the next year ahead in a very broad way. Are there some things you are looking forward to? Anything that scares you?
After these meditative moments, let’s dive into what the year ahead is going to look like. Let’s start by making a few buckets. Dividing your work into these different buckets will allow us to analyze our work life in an organized way. There are likely some really obvious buckets based on your day-to-day work, I would also like you to create a bucket for personal growth. Take the buckets one at a time and write down at least three growth goals for each bucket. Keep your goals realistic and within reach. It would be great if a few of these goals could be measurable. For instance, I would like to source 10 new candidates each month.
With your growth goals laid out, go back and write down a few ideas for how to achieve those goals. Give yourself some pointers. You likely know what it is going to take to achieve those goals. Putting them in writing will help you act and achieve your goals.
Lastly, when looking forward, take a few minutes to write a letter to yourself. This might feel a little awkward or cheesy, but it is a cool exercise that pays dividends now and in the future. Write some words of encouragement. Touch on a few of the things that you are proud of from the last year and what excites you for the year ahead. You can refer to your thoughts from time to time when you need some inspiration.
Use the last space on your document to leave any other notes that you personally find helpful. Beyond this exercise there might be ideas that you have that are specific to you and the way you work.
Save the document in a safe place where you won’t misplace it! You can of course also print yourself a hard copy and stash it in a file folder. If you haven’t done an exercise like this before this is your jumping off point. In the future you can add to this document or create a new one for the year ahead and save it in the same place. Think of how impactful this exercise will be after 10 years, with 10 years’ worth of saved reflections and goals.
Don’t let your busyness steal this opportunity to self-reflect, set goals, and chart your course for the future. We only get one life, and our work life is a huge part of that. Optimize your time and efforts and learn from your mistakes! Your personal work growth is up to you and an exercise like this gives you the control and guidance to grow year over year.
At Barlow/McCarthy we are looking ahead as well. We are excited to offer our exclusive sourcing services for a few more clients in 2023. We are also looking forward to doing a few select sales training sessions for recruiters. If you want more details simply reach out to us at info@barlowmccarthy.com.