Envisioning Your Ideal Career

Update: 2025-06-24

Description

Episode 19: Envisioning Your Ideal Career

In this episode of the Medical Mentor Coaching Podcast, Dr. Stacey Ishman dives into how early-career physicians can build a fulfilling and aligned professional life by starting with their core values, mission, and vision. Through personal stories and real-life examples, she walks listeners through the practical steps of defining what matters most, auditing their current work, and creating a plan that actually matches their long-term goals.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or unsure about what direction to take in your first 10 years of practice, this episode is your roadmap to clarity.

No need to take notes—check out the Blog for a written summary.

If you're ready to go deeper, the Academic Kickstarter Course helps early-career physicians build a customized, promotion-aligned career strategy. DM @sishmancoach on Instagram or email staceyishmancoach@gmail.com to learn more.

Key Points

Introduction: Defining Career Fulfillment (0:00 –2:54 )
- Stacey shares how she lacked focus early on in her academic career.
- Realization that aligning with a niche—pediatric sleep apnea—helped her grow quickly.

Clarifying Values (2:55 –7:20 )
- How values shift over time and why they’re the cornerstone of a fulfilling career.
- Examples of Stacey’s current core values and how she uses them to make decisions.

The Power of Saying No (7:21 –9:48 )
- How values help filter requests.
- Healthy vs. unhealthy guilt and how to use guilt as a feedback tool.

Clarifying Your Brand (9:49 –11:30 )
- Why being “all over the place” hurts your visibility.
- The importance of alignment in publications, talks, and committees.

Crafting a Mission and Vision Statement (11:31 –15:42 )
- Mission = what and why; Vision = what it looks like in 5–10 years.
- Stacey’s examples of her evolving mission from research to coaching.

Real-Life Coaching Stories (15:43 –18:15 )
- How helping others align with their own values resulted in national recognition.
- Tips on leveraging panels, papers, and speaking invitations to align with your brand.

Audit Your Life & Calendar (18:16 –22:01 )
- Does your schedule reflect your priorities?
- Aligning time blocks with values to maintain focus and joy.

Final Action Steps (22:02 –24:50 )
- Write down top values
- Create mission and vision statements
- Audit your calendar and make aligned changes
- Myth-busting: You do not have to say yes to everything to get promoted.

Join the Academic Kickstarter Course (24:51 –end)
- How to build a personalized promotion plan with coaching support
- Call to connect via DM, email, LinkedIn, or website