The Hidden Curriculum of a Career

Over the past several weeks, I’ve introduced you to John, a fictional physician whose story reflects common themes many physicians wrestle with.

He’s a mid-career family physician struggling with a career dilemma I hear often: “I’ve never stayed in one job more than x number of years. I feel like I need to leave my current one, and I think that must mean something is wrong with me.”

Rather than telling one linear story, we’ve been exploring different ways John might sort through his thoughts, assumptions, frustrations, and decisions.

In this final reflection, John began looking back differently.

Instead of seeing wasted career time or disconnected jobs, he started recognizing something else: He had accumulated wisdom, operational insight, and hard-earned discernment that had compounded over years.

It's similar to what I realized recently.

As my husband and I prepare for our move from Alaska to Washington, I’ve been exploring what staying active in residency and clinical work might look like there. Somewhere in the middle of those conversations, I realized how much the last 27 years, 5 jobs, and many different roles had taught me.

Not just patient care and teaching, the obvious stuff. But systems, workflows, leadership dynamics, communication patterns, stakeholder relationships, staffing structures, scheduling realities, and organizational culture.

At the time, most of those separate experiences just felt like “part of the job.”

I didn’t fully appreciate that I was accumulating operational insight, pattern recognition, and discernment along the way.

Instead of disconnected experiences, they had become an education that compounded.

And that’s exactly what John slowly began realizing too.

Some lessons were personal. He learned the importance of listening to his gut without catastrophizing, recognizing when negativity bias was taking over, and understanding that every role eventually reveals frustrations and tradeoffs.

But many lessons were surprisingly practical and cumulative.

He realized he now understood multiple EHR systems and their strengths and weaknesses. He had seen different approaches to scheduling, inbox management, staffing models, room layouts, patient flow, vacation coverage, FMLA processes, templates and communication guidelines. He had watched how different leaders conducted meetings, handled conflict, rolled out updates, communicated expectations, and responded during times of stress.

He had learned what helped teams function well and what created resentment or inefficiency. He noticed what created psychological safety and what didn't. He better understood what workflows supported good patient care versus what simply looked efficient on paper.

Some organizations moved quickly but chaotically. Others were thoughtful but painfully slow. Some protected physician sustainability and well-being better than others at the system and structure levels. Some had stronger teamwork than others.

And through all of it, John slowly realized something important: he was wiser and more knowledgeable on a variety of topics. But it took him pausing and journaling to realize all the things he learned that were not "wastes of his time." By giving intentional focus and gratitude for each bit of learning, he was savoring the education that he was paid for.

He also recognized something easy to overlook when we’re focused on dissatisfaction or uncertainty. He had touched many people for the better along the way, and they had shaped him too. From patients to staff to colleagues to trainees to leaders to communities.

All the experiences were meaningful for one reason or another, even if he chooses to leave, again.

Over time, John's goal moved from finding the perfect job to becoming wiser, clearer, and more intentional with each season of work.

Whether he applied that learning in his current position, or to developing his current position into new roles, or into a new job, doesn't matter as much as realizing that he no longer saw himself as broken, but as someone who was continuously learning, refining, and becoming as he contributed to health and wellbeing of his patients, staff, trainees, colleagues, and community.

Reflection:

What lessons, skills, or wisdom have you gained across different seasons of your work that you may be overlooking or minimizing?

What parts of your growth came specifically because of difficult experiences rather than despite them?

What's your next step?