DRIVE TIME DEBRIEF with The Whole Physician Drs. Cazier, Dinsmore and Morrison

In the episode we discuss the essay "The Star Thrower" from Loren's Book The Unexpected Universe. It is a beautiful piece about making a difference even when it seems futile. And for many of us, working in healthcare can seem futile at times. But Eiseley's essay describes the beauty, the strength, and the importance of being the anti-chaos in a world of chaos. 

Colin Beavan, PhD has some suggestions for when things seem futile. Here are a few of our favorites:


realize there is a difference between the world not changing fast enough and you being useless
instead of focusing on how bad the problem is, focus on how amazing your allies are
realize that anger, fear, frustration will burn you out
take care of yourself
count your blessings
create boundaries
accept that it is appropriate to feel sad and frustrated

His biggest takeaway is to limit your concern to your sphere of influence.

And remember you're not seeing the full results of your work. Studies show that a single act of kindness can affect up to 125 people. That's a difference that you may never see but exists nonetheless.

What the world needs is not for you to burn out, but to pour from a cup that is overfilled. There will always be more "starfish" but there is only one you.

Join us for our FREE CLASS March 29, Noon (central) on how to work in the dumpster fire of healthcare without getting burned. Save your spot here (replay will be available).

Referenced articles/songs/resources:

 https://www.amazon.com/Unexpected-Universe-Loren-Eiseley/dp/0156928507

 https://colinbeavan.com/ten-ways-overcome-futility-life-climate-anything-else/

 https://colinbeavan.com/feel-like-make-difference/

 https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0913149107 

 https://drdavidhamilton.com/if-you-ever-feel-like-you-dont-make-a-difference/ 

Jason Mraz "Look for the Good"

The Good News Network

 

If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and CME courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.

If you'd like something you can use today, download our free Top 10 Mindset Hacks for Doctors here. 

For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance, you're welcome to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime

Introducing Dr Tonya Caylor, family medicine doc, who relocated to Alaska from Florida. She describes her journey from  academic medicine to independent practice and the recovery from burnout.  Her passion is now to help residents and faculty with mindset training to equip them with the tools they need for longevity in their career in medicine. In our conversation, Dr Caylor gives examples of common things residents struggle with and what she has taught through private and group coaching to get them to shift into a perspective that works for them! 

Our favorite moments: 


"The one thing that I think was surprising to me, number one, is at the time I was unaware that that was a term or a phenomenon that happens. And it was so insidious, like I thought, in fact, I remember saying at a faculty retreat, like, I feel completely balanced in life. I remember pronouncing this. You know, the joy that I was experiencing in my role. And then it was a few years later, but I was in deep by the time I figured it out."
"I had become like an approval addict. I was so over reliant on external validation that when all of my colleagues were super busy and not having the time to, you know, gimme a pat on the back. Really got in my head."
"you wanna like work within the system and see if you can make it work for you. But there's a huge difference when a system is working for you rather than against you. And I think we're starting to see institutions recognize that now." 

"And if they think about the time, blood, sweat, tears, money that went into it, like realizing that coaching could give some tangible traction for them to re-discover the joy in their chosen career, that's how I ended up starting my coaching business."

 Contact Dr Caylor:



https://www.joyinfamilymedicine.com/



joyinfamilymedicine@gmail.com 



 

Join us for our NEXT FREE CLASS, March 29, 2023 at noon (Central) all about frustrations with working in the healthcare system It's called: What's the ICD-10 Code for Injuries Sustained in a Dumpster Fire. Save your spot here.

If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and CME courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.

If you'd like something you can use today, download our free Top 10 Mindset Hacks for Doctors here. 

For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance, you're welcome to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime

Today we discuss some tips from Rick Hanson, PhD's book Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time for how to change your brain for better or worse.

Some highlights:


We are not our brains - we are the observers.
We can decide what is and isn't serving us and intentionally change our brains through neuroplasticity.
There are physiologic changes associated with neuroplasticity.
"Neurons that fire together, wire together." - Donald Hebb, PhD
Two important practices:

Be For Yourself - treat yourself as well as you'd treat a best friend or child. Choose things that are in your best interest. Don't diminish your own accomplishments.
Taking In The Good - knowing that our brains have a negativity bias, spend time in and relish the good on purpose.



Resources: 

Dr. Hanson's Book "Just One Thing"

Katrina Ubell, MD's podcast episode with Dr. Hanson

 

Join us for our NEXT FREE CLASS, March 29, 2023 at noon (Central) all about frustrations with working in the healthcare system It's called: What's the ICD-10 Code for Injuries Sustained in a Dumpster Fire. Save your spot here.

If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and CME courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.

If you'd like something you can use today, download our free Top 10 Mindset Hacks for Doctors here. 

We also have a FREE CLASS replay all about Buffering. It's called: Overcoming Over-(whatever)ing. We can email it to you instantly. Here's the link.

For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance, you're welcome to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime

Dr. Heather Awad joined us to talk about buffering. She's a family physician in Minnesota, a weight loss coach at Vibrant MD, and has her own podcast called Vibrant MD Podcast. She is an expert at helping her clients stop buffering with overeating and joins us today to give some of her secrets. She coaches professional women over 50 to achieve permanent weight loss and talks a lot about buffering. Buffering is using anything to numb out or distract from feeling negative emotions. For example, overeating, overspending, over-scrolling, over-drinking are all ways people find to distract them from feeling things that may be uncomfortable. She says, "We look at all that kind of stuff, the ways that we use food that doesn't serve us and helps us avoid our feelings. When we use food to avoid our feelings, we're avoiding the full richness of our life, by trying to step out of experiences, by using food to do that".

Where to find Dr Awad:

www.vibrant-md.com

Vibrant-MD.com/tips

Podcast: https://www.vibrant-md.com/podcasts/vibrant-md-podcast

 

We have a FREE CLASS replay all about Buffering. We'll email it to you instantly by clicking the link.

 

If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and CME courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.

If you'd like something you can use today, download our free Top 10 Mindset Hacks for Doctors here. 

For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance, you're welcome to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime

In the episode, we discuss "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. It is a beloved book by many, but it is problematic to say the least. And altruistic healthcare workers using this as a model of self-sacrifice may want to reconsider.

Highlights:


Self sacrifice is not sustainable, isn't healthy and can breed selfishness, narcissism and codependency.
Those who neglect themselves at the expense of others suffer the consequences: anxiety, depression, and less efficacy.
True generosity begets more generosity. 
The most successful givers ALSO score highly in self concern.
Self sacrifice doesn't model loving boundaries.
Generosity and self sacrifice are not the same thing.
Self sacrifice can create a mutually detrimental relationship for all.
Healthy, loving boundaries can result in much better outcomes.

Resources:

https://www.shelsilverstein.com/9780060256654/the-giving-tree/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/parenting/we-need-to-talk-about-the-giving-tree.html

http://www.curiata.com/content/3120.php

https://www.christopherroosen.com/blog/2021/5/29/why-i-cant-stand-the-giving-tree-by-shel-silverstein-a-picture-of-a-destructive-and-selfish-relationships

https://www.topherpayne.com/giving-tree

 

If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and CME courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.

If you'd like something you can use today, download our free Top 10 Mindset Hacks for Doctors here. 

Introducing Dr. Michael Hersh, who was in the same coaching class as Amanda and Laura, and has pioneered the male coaching space.  He is a full time practicing gastroenterologist in Chicago who came to coaching to address some of his frustrations with work. Little did he know, the work he did in the professional space created many improvements in his personal and family life.  He has amazing insight from the male perspective and all the other skeptics out there!  You can find him at betterphyscianlife.com.

Great moments with Dr Hersh:


but something just still didn't seem right. It was, it was almost like, you know, it was fine. But it just seemed like maybe something was missing. There should be more. And I kept seeing these ads for physician coaching. Super skeptical guy.  But I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna give this a try. This seems like something. I could try, I don't know....and then he asked me this one question that really changed everything for me. And that was, “well, if you don't do this, then what changes?” And man, that question, so I did it and it just, it literally changed everything.
I think one of the biggest hurdles that we kind of tackle in physician coaching is processing feelings, right?...I didn't even realize I had that many feelings. I was frustrated, angry, worried, and that was about it. And then during one of my coaching sessions, one of my female coaches pulled out a feeling wheel. And I don't know if your listeners know what a feeling wheel is, but this was an overwhelming experience just seeing this thing and all of the potential feelings that can exist. And so I think for men learning to process emotions and feelings is really vital work and it's something that we do a lot of in coaching.
I think that female physicians have kind of been the pioneers in the physician coaching space. They have been the ones that have really gone out there, you know, and in some ways, and again, I hate to be, you know, stereotypical and like gender focused, but you know, women tend to be the caretakers. And so right now the female physician coaches are caretaking for our entire profession.
I think the men, I think all physicians are skeptical, but I think the men tend to be a little bit more skeptical of this work out of the gate. I know I was, but once, once they experience it and they see the power of it, very quick adopters.
And I would say the thing I didn't realize was I thought saying yes, was just saying yes. And I didn't think about the no that I was saying on the other side of that yes. So when you say yes to one opportunity, you're saying no to something else. And for me, the people I was saying no to was my family...
So rather than thinking about a boundary as a negative thing, like, “oh, I'm saying no and that person's gonna not be happy with me because I've said no to them”. Remember the people that you're showing up for in that no, most notably yourself. 



 

Where to find Dr Hersh:

https://www.betterphysicianlife.com/

"Doctors Living Deliberately" Podcast with Dr Arpita DePalma (also on YouTube)

Other resources: 

Feelings Wheel

 

If you want to work with us, visit our website: www.thewholephysician.com. We have private coaching and CME courses available. Additionally, we're happy to lecture for your institution. Sign up for our Weekly Well Check by clicking the link. The Weekly Well Check is your weekly dose of encouragement and your only access to secret insider sales on our products.

If you'd like something you can use today, download our free Top 10 Mindset Hacks for Doctors here. 

For a free quote on Own-Occupation Insurance, you're welcome to use our affiliate link: patternlife.com/drivetime