Why do you want to become a Healthcare professional?
This is so important! What is your motive behind becoming a medical professional?
The prime, the number one, the most fundamental reason why you want to become a great medical professional is very important, because that will determine not only your success, but also the fulfillment that you will experience as a medical practitioner.
Let’s look at wrong motives first:
- Money
- Fame
- Power
- Status
- Security
Some of the above factors will be welcome side benefits of you following a medical career, but none of the above can fulfill or satisfy your heart.
Let’s look at money. Someone once told me that money is not important, but believe me it is! It pays for essentials like a roof over your head, for food, clothes, transport etc.
The problem is, if money becomes your primary focus, your whole value system becomes distorted and you make financial decisions instead of decisions that should be in the best interest of your patients!
The proverb “the love of money is the root of all evil” is true. It doens’t mean money is bad; instead, it means that an obsession with money, when money becomes the most important thing, is bad.
Financial progress should be a benefit of you doing the right things, while pursuing your dreams with vigor and passion – as well as you managing your practice well.
Now people will probably beg to differ from me, and feel free to do so, but in my opinion you should become a medical professional mainly because you have compassion for suffering people.
The American heritage dictionary defines “compassion” as:
The deep awareness of the suffering of another, coupled with the wish to relieve it.
So keep in mind, compassion is neither pity nor sympathy, because these emotions won’t get you moving. It “sits on the sideline” BUT COMPASSION GETS INVOLVED!
How do you picture yourself? A super-wealthy doctor living in the best area in a great city driving a Mercedes, or an unknown missionary doctor in a rural clinic in mid-Africa alleviating the suffering of poor people. Would you be willing to take the second path?
The daily prayer of a physician should include: “God, fill me with your compassion for the suffering and sick patients that I will have the privilege of meeting and assisting today.”
I trust that I have given you something to think about. Tell me what you think in the comments section below.
Dr. Anton
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Dr. Anton Scheepers, BChD, MDent, FFD(SA), MFOS, President of The Apprentice Corporation |
I think all you said was perfectly said.