If you've come across Simon Squibb before, you'll know he has a habit of asking people a deceptively simple question:

"What is your dream?"

It's a question that sounds easy.

Until somebody asks you to answer it.

Which is almost never.

When we were children, we were asked all the time.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What excites you?

Then somewhere along the way the questions began to change.

What were your grades?

Which job are you applying for?

And Medicine took this to another level.

Because one thing medicine does incredibly well,

(which has nothing to do with imagination) is to teach us how to execute.

We learn how to study and become quite good at passing exams, building the portfolio, getting the training number, becoming the consultant.

Moving from milestone, to milestone and completing doable goals

And to be clear, there's nothing wrong with that.

Execution matters but answering the question made me realise

One of the great ironies of medicine is that we spend our teenage years proving we're well-rounded enough to get in.

Whether its sports, instruments, the books we read or societies we lead and volunteering we've done.

We were rewarded for being multidimensional.

Then we get into medicine and slowly strip those very things away.

We’re left with very little but medicine and end up, not being very well rounded at all.

So it becomes hard to answer the question when you’ve become an expert at climbing ladders and achieving goals

But at some point we have to stop and ask whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

I also think one of the biggest mistakes professionals make is assuming their value is limited to the environment where they developed it.

Last week I was reminded how wrong that assumption can be.

A few days before meeting Simon, I was invited to a roundtable discussion at SXSW London about preventative medicine and the future of our cities.

SXSW London is a massive annual festival/conference that celebrates the mix of tech, film, music, education and culture, the environment for imagination!

Around the table were people from venture capital, private equity, family offices, government, pharma, law and technology.

As I looked around the room though, I realised

There weren’t any clinicians there. Which isn't particularly surprising.

Given most doctors were probably at work.

But it meant that my perspective became extremely valuable,

A lot of the people making decisions about healthcare rarely get the opportunity to speak directly to frontline clinicians.

It was a reminder that the skills and experiences we develop in medicine often have value far beyond the environments where we acquired them.

The world is bigger than we think.

And so are we.

Which brings me back to Simon's question.

After reflecting on it, I realised I'm actually very clear on mine.

My dream is to help professionals realise that they are more than a job title and create lives with greater freedom, impact and intention. A media and education company just happens to be the vehicle I plan to use.

Looking back, I think the biggest barrier to pursuing a dream, are the stories we tell ourselves about what is and isn't possible.

I've met a lot of people who stopped giving themselves permission.

The permission to execute projects they've thought about for months, sometimes years never become reality because they're still waiting for permission to explore them.

I once did the same. So I understand and I think it stems from a dangerous phrase, that we are too familiar with as professionals.

It's a phrase that sounds sensible and responsible.

A phrase many of us have heard too many times.

Because "be realistic" is often what we say when we're trying to protect ourselves from disappointment.

But it can also stop us imagining possibilities that are entirely achievable.

One of Simon's recurring messages is the importance of community.

Finding people who challenge your assumptions, expand your thinking and make bigger possibilities feel normal.

That's one of the reasons I value this newsletter so much.

Because whether you're a doctor, student, founder, creator or simply someone trying to build a more intentional life, you've already chosen to step into a different conversation.

And if there's one thing I'd encourage you to do this week, it's this:

Give yourself permission to imagine again.

I don’t mean the next exam or promotion.

The bigger thing.

The thing you've been lowkey thinking about for years.

You might be surprised how much of it is already within reach.

Dr Niks

P.S. If you need help with where to start, I have a put together a tool that helps you personalise a starting point, taking into account your experience, personality type and strengths. Access it here