We conclude the Finding Joy in the Journey of Medicine series this week.  After touching on awareness, expectations, intentionality, and perspective, we now move on to maintenance and language.

I’ll break maintenance into - physical care, mental fitness, and emotional health (including healthy coping strategies and boundaries). Neglecting self-care leads to poorer physical, mental, and emotional health. Putting time and attention toward self-maintenance, on the other hand,...

We are in a series on finding joy in the journey of medicine and avoiding the arrival fallacy. This week are on to the next approach: Perspective. I lump several strategies under this category - gratefulness, practical positive cognitive psychology, growth mindset, and self-compassion. 

I, along with many others, have written, taught, and coached on all these topics, so I suspect they are not new to you.  However, let’s harness these approaches to find joy now rather...

We are continuing to unpack ways in which to begin enjoying the joy in the journey of medicine as we work toward our goals. We have already discussed awareness and expectations, and this week we are focusing on intentionality. 

So many of us have been deceived by the arrival fallacy in which we believe things will be better when (insert next milestone) only to be disappointed. To avoid that, cultivate a life that you enjoy now. It will require deliberate action to create time and...

We are on the quest to uncover your personalized way to best enjoy the journey of medicine. Last week, I introduced the concept of a multi-pronged approach and covered the initial step – awareness. That leaves expectations, intentionality, maintenance, perspective, and language. Today, we start with expectations. 

Expectations can be tricky.

I used to joke as my husband completely renovated two houses over 8-11 years each: "low expectations equal high...

For my new blog series, I thought I would tackle how to enjoy the journey of medicine.  Many greater philosophers, leaders, and authors than myself have taken on the expansive subject. So, I find myself questioning my ambitious quest to assist readers in this manner, especially divorced from coaching. However, the one thing I have learned after almost 2 years of weekly blogs is I do my best writing whatever is on my mind. And currently, that’s learning to take pleasure in the steps...

This week, we are continuing to focus on common tendencies that hinder our ability to best navigate the demands on our time, energy, and attention. Last week we covered people-pleasing and exaggerated reputation management. This week we will unpack self-judgment and the procrastination habit.

Most of us have such unrealistic expectations for ourselves, that we regularly subconsciously wallow in self-judgment. When asked to take on a project or task we’d prefer to decline, some of...

This week, we are focusing on a spin-off issue around navigating the demands on your time, energy, and attention. Four common issues arise that side-track us. 1. People-Pleasing. 2. Reputation Management. 3. Self-Judgment 4. The Procrastination Habit. Let’s start with the first two.

People-pleasing for physicians sounds so nice, doesn’t it? What could possibly be wrong with it? I think the answer lies within the definition. If you love to serve and make others’ lives...

Week 4 Navigating Demands.

We each have people or tasks that demand our time, energy, and attention – usually many more than one human can tackle.  This week we will discuss how we can optimally manage the requests. Hopefully, you crafted your own purpose-in-career statement from last week’s exercise.  You will use that and your core values as part of the process. If you haven’t done it yet, take the time to work through it, as it will be valuable for...

We are continuing our Purpose-in-Career Series. This week I offer you a working blog. Go ahead and get out something to write with and on (or, if you prefer, something to type into). I combined a few methods I’ve experienced and added my own takes. (I don’t have the original attributions as they were either not given to me, or I don’t recall.)  You get to design your own purpose as it plays out in the professional realm. You don’t have to wait for an epiphany.

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We started our Purpose-in-Career series last week by addressing an emerging theme among some early-career physicians - “I’m not wanting professional fulfillment.” Hopefully, I created enough wiggle room to consider the middle ground for those individuals. This week we will review the benefits of revisiting or redefining your “why” behind your career choice.

Crafting and reflecting on your motivation for being a physician is quite empowering. As usual, I...