Creating your Dream Career as a Healthcare Provider

How can I start turning my passions into my career? What do I do if my dream career doesn’t seem to exist? This is exactly what special guest Dr. Shivani Kamodia Barto and Chelsea discuss in episode 5 of the Life After Medicine podcast.

Shivani is a dentist, yoga teacher and multi-passionate person who knew she was never going to be a traditional dentist. She recently took the leap to leave her clinical practice (temporarily) and go all in on her business creating wellness retreats for women in healthcare. She is a living example of the fact that we can’t just sit around and wait for our dream career to smack us in the face, we have to intentionally CREATE it.

Listen in as Dr. Barto and Chelsea talk about how to clarify your purpose and create a cohesive vision as a multi-passionate healthcare provider. They discuss what it really feels like to live your purpose, practical steps you can take to transition from full time clinical practice to pursuing your side gig, and the importance of integrating mindfulness into your everyday life throughout the process.

This episode is PACKED with valuable insights, tips and reflective questions that you do NOT want to miss. Tune in using the audio player above, or by searching “Life After Medicine” wherever you listen to podcasts.

Personal transformation through immersive experiences

Dr. Shivani Kamodia Barto shares her personal journey finding fulfillment throughout her dental training by participating in immersive, transformational experiences. In particular she went to a yoga teacher training and spent some time in a sustainability program that both proved to be highly transformational experiences.

During dental school she taught yoga three times a week, and found fulfillment in many areas outside of school. Because of her multi-passionate nature, she knew early on in her training that she was never going to be a “traditional dentist”.

Creating a vision for your dream career

For a while, Dr. Barto had many different ideas and passions swirling around in her mind, but this was overwhelming to her. She needed to find a way to create a cohesive vision. How would all of her many interests go together in a way that made sense of her career?

To create her cohesive vision, Shivani hired a coach. Finding coaches and mentors who are doing what you would love to be doing is invaluable in creating your dream career.

The process of working with a coach helped her to distill out her values and strengths to craft a purpose and mission statement. She realized that facilitating groups through transformational experiences was the common thread. Thus, she decided to create wellness retreats for healthcare workers.

What it feels like living out your purpose

Shivani recently hosted her first wellness retreat for healthcare workers and had such an incredible epiphany. During the retreat she felt this moment where everything clicked into place. She felt like she was exactly where she was supposed to be and living out her purpose.

Purpose isn’t always about what you are doing but also about who you are being. While she was hosting these retreats, Shivani got to be fully immersed in her own zone of genius. She was facilitating groups through a transformative experience and integrated her love of personal growth and wellness.

Transitioning into your dream career

Crafting your dream career can take some time. You can’t always make money right away from living your passion and doing work that fulfills you. Sometimes you need a bridge job or a transition plan or sorts. You need a way to make money and cover your living expenses while you are figuring out your passion. This time period is all about making space for your side hustle.

Shivani decided to make space for her passions by slowly transitioning to part time dentistry. First she took one day off a week from her clinical practice. This sounds simple, but taking this step wasn’t easy. There were a lot of fears and guilt that came up about “who am I to take this time off?”. It didn’t financially make sense at the time, but Shivani knew that to create her dream career and move towards her passions it was a leap that she needed to take.

Bringing mindfulness into your everyday life

Another important element in fulfillment is mindfulness. Shivani has a practice for bringing mindfulness into her everyday practice, even throughout her clinical practice. She does “midday resets” which is a short practice to fill her cup, focus on her breath and bring herself back to the present moment.

The short moments of mindfulness help her to stay centered and present along her journey towards building her dream career. It is so important to take care of yourself in small ways every day.

Getting started on your dream career

Dr. Barto defines fulfillment as being so immersed in the present moment that there is nowhere else you would rather be. She thinks one of the key elements to getting started on your path to fulfillment and crafting your dream career is just getting started.

You have to get started taking action even if you are scared and every step is so important. As you take steps towards your dream career you learn and grow and can achieve clarity through action. If you never start taking action, you will stay stuck.