“This isn’t how I imagined practicing medicine when I was in medical school.”
It’s been over two years since I heard those words come out of my client’s mouth. Those words still move me today. Why do I find these words so moving?
Perhaps it’s because I once considered becoming a doctor. Perhaps it’s because I know what it feels like to take a look at my life and know there’s so much more that I want. Perhaps it’s because my ideal client was sitting across the table from me. Perhaps it’s all of the above.
I work with ambitious high achievers with a proven track record of success who know they have a lot more inside of them to learn more, do more, and be more.
Meet my client, Dr. Komal Dhingsa.
On paper, she sounds like an Asian parent’s dream come true! Her accomplishments include being selected as one of Los Angeles Magazine’s Top Doctors, being promoted to Partner Physician in her 30s at one of the nation’s top multi-billion dollar healthcare companies, making a very healthy six-figure salary, benefits, retirement plan, and basically job security for life.
For many people, her position was a dream come true. And she knew that. She knew she was in a fortunate position and was grateful for the experience.
But she had bigger dreams. She knew that she wanted to practice medicine, but she wanted to do it her way. Her way would give her more fulfillment and purpose. Her way was patient-centered and focused on healing, longevity, aging optimally, spending more time with patients to listen and empowering them to perform at their highest potential. That was what she envisioned a decade ago when she was in medical school. Simply put, her vision was not possible within the world of corporate medicine.
Dr. Dhingsa lit up as she continued to share her vision with me in that initial coaching conversation. She revealed her dreams of better ways to practice medicine and her hopes for patients to receive top-quality care focused on healing and health optimization.
So I asked her, “What if you created that?”
And she did.
I wish that I could play a cheery 80s rock music montage that showed her two-year journey from that first coaching conversation to present day as a seamless light-hearted cake walk of a process. It wasn’t. It was filled with fear, self-doubt, procrastination, more fear, and basically every bullsh*t limiting belief her monstrous inner critic could throw at her.
I’d remind her how she was so much stronger than her inner critic.
I’d remind her that choosing her mission was so much more important than choosing her fear.
I’d remind her: “I didn’t say it’s going to be easy; I said it’s going to be worth it.”
And it was sooooo worth it.
Session after session, she took small steps to build the foundation for her new private medical practice. Until one day, she said sayonara to corporate medicine.
Allow me to make a re-introduction:
Meet my client, Dr. Komal Dhingsa, Founder and Physician at Four Oaks Regenerative Medicine.
Dr. Dhingsa is now treating patients in her private practice in Santa Monica, CA.
She is now practicing medicine her way. Even the name of her practice is very personal to her. It’s a nod to the name of the suburb where she grew up in England called Four Oaks Estates. The name is also fitting as she notes that the oak tree is synonymous with longevity of life.
She is practicing medicine that fills her up in mind, body, and spirit. She is now able to spend more time with patients to listen and to truly understand their problem. She’s performing cutting edge procedures and giving world-class medical care in ways that seemed like a fantasy to her not too long ago.
I am so proud of Dr. Dhingsa who had the courage to let go of something good in order to create something great. Something that only she could do.
I am so proud of Dr. Dhingsa for teaching herself something that medical school could never teach her: that she is so much more powerful than she ever imagined. It’s been an honor helping her discover that power.
She is now practicing medicine just like how she imagined in medical school.
Leave a Reply