How much authority are you giving your degree?

Recently I've been thinking deeply about how qualifications and professional titles can limit what healthcare professionals believe is possible for their careers.

Truth is, when you chose your degree, you were making a decision with the knowledge, interests, experiences and expectations you had at the time.

Perhaps you had a clear picture of the career you wanted. Or perhaps you followed a path that made sense to your family, offered security, or opened doors to a profession you were excited to enter.

Whatever shaped that decision, it made sense within the context of who you were then.

But here is a question worth considering:

How much authority are you still giving that decision over who you can become professionally?

Because over time, you acquire new skills. Your interests change. You discover strengths you didn't know you had. Or perhaps encounter opportunities you couldn't have anticipated, and develop perspectives that weren't available to you when you first chose your field.

When this happens, a curiosity around what to do with these new perspectives and opportunities naturally surfaces, but in most cases is quickly dismissed.

That's because too many professionals continue to measure their possibilities against the boundaries of their original qualification or the career they initially envisioned.

Most ask, What else can I do with my degree?

Far fewer ask, What have I become capable of doing since I earned my degree?

Those are two very different questions.

The first looks backwards, using an earlier decision to determine what's possible now. The second considers the person you've become and what your accumulated experience might make possible next.

This doesn't mean abandoning your profession, regretting your choices or starting over. You may still value the work you do. You may simply be ready to explore new interests, contributions or opportunities that your original career plan never accounted for.

This is where Career Identity Expansion begins: recognising that your professional identity can evolve as you do.

Your degree tells only part of your story. Your experience, interests, strengths, values and aspirations continue to add to it.

You don't have to make a dramatic career change to explore what else might be possible. Sometimes, the first step is questioning an assumption you've carried for years without even realising it was an assumption at all.

So, here's something to reflect on this week:

If you weren't limited by what you originally trained to do, what might you be curious enough to explore?

Give yourself permission to consider the question without dismissing an idea simply because it falls outside the career path you know... because your professional story may still be unfolding.

And because you're on my insider list, I wanted to let you know first that this November, I'll be opening up 6 spaces for the Career Expansion LAB experience!

This is a structured 8-week programme for healthcare professionals who are ready to explore what else their careers could become beyond the boundaries of their current role.

So if you recognise the tension between the career you've built and the possibilities you want to explore, look out for the Call for Applications from next week and be among the first to experience the possibilities identity expansion unlocks for your career.

Remember there's only 6 spots available so be sure to reserve your spot early!

Until next time,

Dr Diane
Life Beyond Clinical Practice

P.S. If this question resonates, I'd encourage you to listen to Dr Elizabeth Chetty's story and consider how our understanding of a career can evolve beyond the decisions we made at the beginning.