Are you successful AND happy in your veterinary job?

How do we become, and stay, successful in veterinary practice?

It has been said that success in veterinary practice comes when we have that sweet combination of clinical ability, interpersonal and personal skills (Viner 2010). We in the veterinary industry are great achievers and we particularly love to grow our clinical skills and knowledge. Our focus on clinical acumen is understandable - but when was the last time you worked on your relationship building strategies or thought about how you could improve your resilience or contemplated what makes you happy in your professional life?

Have you even considered what success would look like for you??

It is super easy to buy into the model of success advocated by the advertising industry – the beautiful, calm people in their immaculate houses surrounded by all sorts of consumer goods. Getting this type of success will definitely make big business happy – but will it make you happy, really? The definition of success which resonates with me is one from Maya Angelou, an American poet and novelist -

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how you do it”

Now that is what I am talking about! The question is, do you? Do you like yourself, do you like what you do and do you like how you do it? Often we get into a space of running around busily checking things off our multiple lists without even thinking whether it should be on the list in the first place – is it important, is it helpful, will it make a positive difference to us or to others?

Create some space….

Sometimes we need to create some space, to stand back and reflect……

…..to consider how happy we feel,

…..to think about what we are good at,

…..to think about what matters to us and

…..how we can make a contribution to the world.

Is it time to reflect and maybe rejig things in your life?

Are you at that point in your life where you want to reflect and maybe rejig things a little? If so, we have the course for you! I’ve teamed up with Ilana Mendels from VetPrac to create a course called How High Achievers Succeed and Keep Succeeding. This 6 week on-line course will cover all of the things we have talked about here…and more, and will use activities and individual and paired reflections so that you don’t just have the knowledge, but have thought about how you can apply it to your life.

Sound interesting?

Visit the VetPrac website to find out more....

If you have any questions about the course or any information in the post, why not ask Cathy in the Comments section below?

About Cathy

After graduating from Murdoch in 1989, Cathy worked as a clinician, trainer and manager in private, university and corporate practices for 25 years – mostly in the field of Emergency and Critical Care. Cathy left practice in 2014. After studying positive psychology and well-being, and coaching, she started her own business in veterinary wellness – Make Headway. She has a beautiful husband, three teen-aged boys, a loopy GSHP (Jelly) and 4 chickens. Cathy is committed to increasing well-being in the veterinary industry.

You can visit the Make Headway website here...