Non-compete clauses have never been beneficial to physicians.

They are notoriously difficult to negotiate out of.

They keep us trapped in toxic work cultures, and they back us into career moves that can be harmful.

I’d also argue that non-competes also harm employers and the economy as a whole.

Removing this barrier would be highly beneficial to a lot of people, so I'm encouraged by the FTC’s proposal to end non-compete clauses.

What would changing this rule mean for physicians?

In this episode, I share my thoughts on the proposal to ban non-competes.

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode 

• The problem with handcuffing people to the job
  Is there a better and more humane way to increase retention and encourage physicians to be loyal?
  
  
• Why physician burnout needs to be a solved at the systemic level
  How do we create work cultures that support less burnout?
  
  
• What happens next
  Before the decision is made, what actions can we take?

If you really think about it, most of the goals and resolutions we set at the beginning of the year are often based on having more - more money, more stuff, and more responsibilities.

In the spirit of un-goals and values, what if we set the intention to have less?

Could we achieve more by having a lot less on our plates?

There are plenty of opportunities for excess, but that could create clutter and barriers that make life more stressful.

In this episode, I’m sharing why I’m aiming for having a lot less this year.

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode 

• Why it’s so easy to accumulate more
  There are plenty of opportunities for excess when you have a lot of spending power. How do you use that power wisely?
  
  
• The lesson I learned recently
  It’s so easy to get caught up in having more and adding to our plates, but do we have to do all the things?
  
  
• How to get used to less
  Many of us get a little itchy when we have extra time on our hands, how do we get...

When we talk about finding that right-fit job, the checklist is usually centered on salary, benefits, schedule, and the tangible things that ensure that it reflects our worth.

The less tangible things also require some thought too, and they can have a bigger impact on how well we thrive in our roles.

Enjoying your job and feeling like your values are being met preserves our happiness and our longevity in medicine, so it’s worth pinpointing them.

How do we identify the values that matter most to us and apply them to our current or next jobs?

In this episode, I talk about how to uncover what truly makes you happy at work.

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode 

• Why our values can help us keep burnout at bay
  Can being in alignment make us more productive and purposeful at work?
  
  
• The win-win of focusing on your values
  Why is it so much easier to go above and beyond in our work when it aligns with what makes us happy?
  
  
• How to apply your values to your current job or job...

From finishing med school to reaching a certain income level, most of us live our lives by outcome-based, tick-the-box goals - but what if this approach just limits us?

We’ve been indoctrinated with the idea of setting goals, but having such concrete resolutions can rob us of opportunities to fully enrich our lives.

How do we shift from hard-coded goals to a driving principle for the year?

How do we hold our lives to something less tangible?

In this episode, I share why in 2023, I’m trying un-goals on for size.

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode 

• Why goals can keep us from our highest potential
  Can we still make amazing things happen without an outcome pulling us?
  
  
• How to hold yourself accountable to something intangible
  If you thrive around the structure of a concrete goal how do you stay motivated?
  
  
• How to live towards your values
  Once we’ve set our un-goal for the year, how can you modify the different buckets of our lives to align with it?

...

‘Tis the season for functioning in survival mode.

With busy schedules, to-do lists, holiday plans, and the usual end-of-year stuff, sometimes all we can muster is just “good enough”.

We can’t always be in peak achievement mode, and that’s okay.

But when survival mode becomes less a temporary phase, and more a chronic state of being, there’s a problem.

How can we tell if survival mode is becoming more maladaptive and toxic?

What can we do when we’re stuck in survival mode?

In this episode, I share what a long-term state of survival tells us and what we can do about it.

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode 

• The good thing about survival mode
  Is working in survival mode ever acceptable?
  
  
• Chronic survival mode vs. hibernation
  Sometimes we slow down to prepare for a big leap forward, but how do we make sure that’s what’s happening?
  
  
• The giant caveat of functioning in survival mode
  How can we tell if our survival mode is a...

Call it gut instinct, a weird vibe, your sixth sense, or your brain picking up subtle cues, intuition is something we all have.

As physicians, we get so caught up in the logic of things, it’s really easy to shrug off a gut instinct as unreliable, but what if the little nagging feeling holds a lot more wisdom than you give it credit for?

In many ways, we subconsciously know what’s best for us, so ignoring our intuition can actually be detrimental.

Do our instincts provide useful information we should include in our decision-making?

How can our intuition serve us in a negotiation?

In this episode, I talk about why we shouldn’t dismiss our intuition before listening to what it has to say.

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode 

• Why we shouldn’t underestimate our intuition
  Intuition might not be as woo-woo as you think. Could those nagging feelings be backed by science?
  
  
• Why your gut instinct serves you in a negotiation
  Listening to your intuition...

Conversations - the ones we have with ourselves, and the ones we have with others - are such everyday, autopilot things, we can easily forget how powerful they can be.

By fine-tuning our conversational skills, we can tap into a world of possibilities and create moments of transformation, whether it’s in your next negotiation, or at the dinner table over the holidays.

What are the ingredients of a transformational conversation?

How do we get past the natural tendencies that make it hard for us to open up??

In this special throwback episode, I’m joined by certified life coach, fitness enthusiast, podcast host, and founder of Life Coaching For Women Physicians, Ali Novitsky.

We talk about the power of upping our conversational intelligence.

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode 

• How to identify an opening for a transformational conversation
  Is every interaction an opportunity to go beyond an informational exchange?
  
  
• High trust vs. low trust conversations
  ...

Gratitude is one of those things we’re socialized to believe is always positive, but there’s a lot more nuance to it.

Sometimes saying thank you can go a long way, other times we use gratitude as an excuse to not ask.

What are the advantages of showing gratitude?

Where can gratitude take a turn for the negative?

In this episode, I talk about how to make sure your ‘thank you’ is working for you and not against you at the negotiating table.

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode 

• A powerful way to bridge your ask
  How can we use gratitude to melt the ice in a negotiation?
  
  
• The built-in social capital of negotiation
  Why is it so important to express gratitude to the people who help pave the way to a great outcome?
  
  
• Where gratitude hurts your goals
  Can gratitude keep us trapped in a job that’s not serving us?
  
  
  

To have a job that truly serves us and allows us to thrive at the highest level, certain boundaries and conditions need to be present.

We may be acutely aware of what these things are for ourselves, but our employers can’t read our minds.

We have to express our unique needs and spell them out so we can get the support we need to thrive in our jobs.

How do we get key decision-makers to understand the day-to-day challenges we have in our jobs and the improvements we need?

In this episode, I talk about how to express what you require to be your best (and happiest) at work.

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode 

• Why our employers might not understand what we’re dealing with
  The people who make the decisions on what our day-to-day looks like are removed from our everyday clinical work. How do we let them in on what we’re experiencing in a way they will understand?
  
  
• What we need to perform optimally
  How do you maximize the things you’re best equipped and...

Big wins, leaps, and accomplishments are often associated with endorphin-rich highs and tons of elation, but what happens when the joy is short-lived, and we’re left feeling a little underwhelmed about the whole thing?

Sometimes the after-effect of a win is more anticlimactic than we thought it would be, and that’s totally okay.

Victory hangovers are a natural part of growing as a person, we won’t always have the warm and fuzzies when we achieve something great.

How do we deal with all the feelings that come with a win?

In this episode, we talk about why we feel low after doing something really great.

Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode 

• Why moments of accomplishment bring up unexpected feelings
  A huge part of growth is adjusting to a new set point for ourselves - is that what makes a win feel anticlimactic?
  
  
• How to avoid a spiral into full-on negativity
  After a victory, our brains may offer less-than-helpful thoughts that can sabotage us, how do we...