I am Dr. Hassan, a Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own profitable practices so they can achieve financial independence and live without limits.
—
When someone tells you they’ve just been burned, you probably generally know what they are speaking about. You might not be knowledgeable of their specifics. But you understand that it was a negative experience and that they were somehow taken advantage of or suffered a big loss.
When a steak is burned, it’s no good. The best cut of meat is virtually inedible if it’s cooked too long. That burned, black meat doesn’t taste good, no matter how much steak sauce you drown it with.
If you’ve ever burned yourself with fire or on some extremely hot surface, you know how unpleasant that situation is. No one likes getting burned, not in a physical sense, in business, or in a relationship. If someone you care about betrays your trust, it can leave a long-lasting mark. This is true in business and in your personal life.
Sometimes you might feel that you’ll never be able to trust anyone again. You shy away from workplace and personal connections with new people and won’t even entertain giving the person who betrayed you a second chance.
The truth is: rebuilding trust after getting burned is possible, whether in the workplace, in a romantic relationship, or you get burned by a friend or family member. Here is a simple four-step process that can help you in confidently trusting yourself and others in future relationships, even if you’ve been burned by someone important to you in the past.
1 – Accept Any Blame You May Have
Many times you won’t be at fault when someone betrays your trust. It will be entirely on them. Sometimes, you may have turned a blind eye to warning signs trying to tell you there could be a problem. You may have been otherwise to blame, at least partially. The first step to learning to trust again after getting burned is to realize whatever part (if any) you played in the process.
2 – Learn Whatever Lessons You Can
A trust betrayal can catch you entirely off-guard. Still, there are probably some tough lessons you can learn. Chalk this up to a learning experience. File away any important lessons in your memory bank. You may even want to write them down and refer to them if you aren’t sure you can trust someone.
3 – Experience Comes from Failure
Experience is a product of failure and loss. You need the experience to get better at anything. After embracing this as a learning lesson, remind yourself that you are stronger because you survived the experience. Strength and experience build confidence.
4 – Confidently Make a Decision
You have embraced any role you may have played in getting burned, whether emotionally, financially, in business, in your personal life, or in any other way. You have embraced this as a learning experience. You gave yourself kudos for surviving what happened, and you are now more confident about your ability to survive any future betrayal.
The next step is rebuilding trust or withholding it. Remember that past relationships don’t guarantee the outcome of future connections.
This is a proven process for rebuilding trust if you’ve had your feelings (or your wallet) hurt. You can write the steps on paper or store them as a digital file. They can help you grow from a betrayal and learn to trust again, mindful that you can only control your own actions, not those of another person.
—
Once you’ve decided that you want to leave your current job to start your practice, you need an exit plan. Check out our blog post here for tips on developing an exit plan and starting your new independent practice.
—
I’m Dr. Hassan, a Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own profitable practices so they can achieve financial independence and live without limits. Please go to businessofrehab.com/contractnegotiations to pick up the free guide to help you negotiate the contract of your dreams.
—
Attention, Physiatrists! Stop leaving money on the table. Sign up for the free video series: How To Build A Profitable Practice in 90 Days or Less: http://www.sixtytosuccess.com
