Dr. Natalie Crawford: How Big Career Quits Can Prevent Burnout Before It Starts - a podcast by Lynn Marie Morski, MD, Esq., Doctor / Lawyer / Quitting Evangelist on a mis

If you’re not happy with your job now, you won’t be happy with your job in 30 years. Think about that and decide if you’re really okay with spending the rest of your life doing something that doesn’t resonate with you. Today’s guest, Dr. Natalie Crawford, decided she didn’t want to spend 30 years doing something that didn’t make her happy, so she quit.

Natalie was in her first-year residency in emergency medicine when she realized that something was missing. Because of the type of life she wanted, she asked for and received advice from others that influenced her decision to enter into emergency medicine. She didn’t like the thrill of a new patient everyday and she actually found herself trying to follow cases through, even after they left her care.

She watched her peers thrive in this environment but knew it wasn’t right for her. Natalie approached her advisor and transparently let him know that this wasn’t the right career path for her. Facing her fear and speaking up allowed her to begin the search for what was right, and her advisor turned into her biggest advocate to get where she wanted to go.

For Natalie, putting that extra effort in was beneficial to her finding what type of medicine she actually wanted to practice. She knows that every step she’s taken, even the ones that weren’t right, were necessary to get her to where she ultimately wanted to go.

After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

Are you happy in your career? Have you pictured the worst case scenario if you quit? Do you know what you want out of life? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!

In This Episode:

• How input from other people can affect where you head in life, even if it’s not the right way for you to go
• Why something that’s right for someone else isn’t always what’s right for you
• How transparency and honesty can help you get ahead in life and connect with other people who can help you navigate what the right path
• Why it’s worth putting the extra effort in to get to your goal
• How every step along the path leads you to where you’re meant to be, even if that step wasn’t the right one for you
• What happens when you name the absolute worst thing that can happen if you quit

Quotes:

“We only have this one life to make things matter and if we spend our time on something, it’s innately time away from other things: family, free time, other interests. So it needs to be worth it. And the only way to make it worth it is by knowing what really matters to you and making sure your choices are in line with that.” (1:39)

“Sometimes you have to be in something to get a better grasp of what is important to you or at least the things that are not.” (7:52)

“When you’re in that unknown period, that ‘this isn’t right for me but I don’t know what is,’ you start to doubt yourself.” (11:27)

“By quitting, sometimes you’re advocating for yourself in the strongest way that you can.” (26:33)

“The time is gonna pass, we might as well be happy while we do it.” (32:19)

Links

Find Dr. Natalie Crawford Online

Follow Dr. Natalie Crawford on Instagram | Twitter | Podcast

 

Check out the full episode post here

Keep up with everything Quit Happens here

Follow Lynn Marie on Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram

Podcast production support by the fine folks at Counterweight Creative

Further episodes of Quit Happens | How (and why!) to strategically quit your job, leave your relationship, or part ways with toxic mindsets.

Further podcasts by Lynn Marie Morski, MD, Esq., Doctor / Lawyer / Quitting Evangelist on a mis

Website of Lynn Marie Morski, MD, Esq., Doctor / Lawyer / Quitting Evangelist on a mis