What If The Opposite Is True? One Powerful Question For Overwhelmed Physicians

Dr. T shared with me that she felt overwhelmed. Out of her ten-person practice, one physician left, and the replacement physician is not starting for another seven months. Another physician just announced that he was leaving the practice in three months to relocate. Another physician just started on medical leave. Being stretched thin with a sudden staff shortage, Dr. T felt stuck and defeated because she believed that she could not get out of that situation.

When you feel stuck and defeated, what do you do? It is natural to feel anxious about being in a situation that you cannot get out of. Feeling trapped, you may also feel helpless. When you feel that way, what would you do? Probably not actively finding a way out because you are convinced that you cannot get out of the dire situation. Everything else in your life is affected – in Dr. T’s situation, it affected her efficiency. She left many more patient charts unfinished and did not check her in-basket as frequently as usual, which left her with over 100 messages within a few days.

I asked Dr. T this question: what if the opposite is true? In other words, what if she could get out of her situation? I invited her to spend some time entertaining that possibility. For most things in this world, there are possibilities which are completely opposite of each other. Most of us tend to lean toward the negative outcomes. This may be shaped by our upbringing or our experiences. From time to time, oncology patients may ask me, “what if the treatment doesn’t work?” I answered by this question: What if the treatment works?

It does not hurt to spend some time to look at both sides of a coin and examine the polar possibilities. When Dr. T was willing to explore the opposite – it is possible to get out of this (her short-staff situation), she felt hopeful. That feeling fueled her to come up with different ways to change the situation, including hiring locums, asking if doctors from the other sites of her organization would work per diem as part of a rotation, posting in social media physician groups, etc.

We manifest what we believe. If we believe that we are stuck in a situation that we cannot get out of, chances are, you feel hopeless and defeated, among other unpleasant emotions. You are probably not actively seeking for solutions but ruminating on those emotions which drain you. When you allow yourself to be curious and look at the possibility of the opposite situation – that you are not stuck in a situation and you can get out of it, the emotions you generate are much different. You are more likely to feel hopeful and the next step you take is to look for possible solutions.

For every situation, especially when your default thinking is not helpful, I invite you to allow yourself to be curious and explore what if the opposite is true. It can be a little game you play with yourself. If your initial thought is a belief you made up, even though it may feel true, it is still not an absolute fact. That means that the opposite can be true too. Spend some time on the opposite. Your mind will be open to possibilities and actually make the more favorable belief happen.