19. “I Don’t Know How To Advocate For Myself” with Dr. Linda Street

Aug 25

Negotiating your contract can be a terrifying prospect. I’m joined by Dr. Linda Street, a Life Coach specializing in Physician Negotiations, to talk about self-advocacy, self-worth, and negotiating your dream contract.

Listen to Episode 19 Here

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About Dr. Linda Street

Dr. Linda Street is a Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist and Life Coach who focuses specifically on Physician Negotiations. She speaks about this topic in many forums and lives and breathes to close the gender gap, starting with you!

She is the Founder & CEO of Simply Street MD Negotiation Coaching. Keep a lookout for her new DIY Negotiation product that will walk you from overwhelmed to confident about your negotiation in less than 90 minutes AND comes with specialty-specific regional pay data to help you get there.

The Chief Complaint: “I Don’t Know How to Advocate for Myself”

Dr. Linda Street joins me to talk about a subject that many women physicians need to get more comfortable with: negotiation and self-advocacy.

You might not think about it consciously, but negotiations are part of almost every moment of your life. Getting your children to eat their veggies, encouraging your dog to go for a long walk, and dealing with the cable company to get a better offer. What we’re not comfortable with? Advocating for better benefits or pay at our jobs.

Linda encourages you, regardless of what kind of position you’re in, to negotiate your contract. One of the wonderful insights from Linda is that this negotiation doesn’t have to be financial, and it doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing mindset. You can negotiate for four-day workweeks, better parking spots, or a change in your patient load.

We both understand the fear you might have approaching these negotiations. But, as Linda says, when you think of them as just a conversation that you want to know the outcome of, one way or the other, they become easier. Perfectionists - I’m looking at you, right now!

Linda explains how you can use tools such as a Venn Diagram to help you figure out what you should negotiate for. When you plot out your short- and long-term goals you’ll see how accessible some steps already are.

Finally, Linda shares some real-life success stories from women she’s worked with. What you need to know right away is that success is different for every woman. You define your own success.

Homework for Women Physicians

Ladies, I encourage you to advocate for yourself. Start today by asking for one thing that you don’t currently have. It can be big or it can be small.

Yes, it’s probably going to be scary the first time you do. But, trust me when I say that negotiating for yourself is so worth it.

Success is what you make it and you have to start somewhere. I believe that you have the power within you to take steps towards living in your self-worth.

I can’t wait to hear what you do. Let me know in the comments below how that was for you!

In This Episode

How negotiations are part of your daily life [4:00]
Why everybody should be negotiation their contracts [10:00]
Why perfectionists have so much difficulty with negotiations [16:30]
How you can use a Venn diagram to help achieve your goals [19:30]
What success looks like for different women [25:30]

Quotes

“Success is also the mindset. How can you look at the negotiation that you can’t fail? How can you look at this that no matter how you come out on the other side, you win?” [4:48]

“If your option is ‘I take this job as is or I quit,’ you’re skilling all the in-between.” [11:00]

“We spend so much time at work. If you can shift from feeling undervalued to feeling valued, I would argue that’s better than any salary change.” [29:39]