Episode 119
119. 4 Ways the Little Voice in Your Head Warns You of BURNOUT
Are you listening to the quiet voice in your head? It holds the key to recognizing physician burnout before it’s too late.
Physicians often mistake stress and fatigue for burnout, pushing through with sheer willpower. But the secret to identifying physician burnout lies in understanding your inner voice. This episode unpacks how to decode the four specific phrases it uses, helping you take the first steps toward reclaiming your joy and purpose.
~~ Learn the four phrases your inner voice uses to signal burnout and what each one means.
~~ Discover how to recognize burnout in yourself and your colleagues, enabling you to offer effective support.
~~ Get actionable advice on designing a balanced job description to align your clinical and leadership roles, preventing burnout before it takes hold.
Press play now to discover how listening to your inner voice can transform burnout into an opportunity for growth and fulfillment.
Ep 111. 4 Simple Steps to Your Personal Physician Wellness Strategy https://bit.ly/SPB_111
Book a Discovery Session to supercharge your leadership and communication skills https://bit.ly/SPB-POD-Discovery
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Explore physician leadership tools and strategies to stop physician burnout, enhance physician wellness and give you the power of personal influence in the C-Suite. All the tools you need to play your role in leading the charge to wellness - at three levels - for you, your teams and your entire organization.
Takeaways:
- Recognizing the voice in your head can help distinguish between stress and burnout.
- Physician leadership roles can increase the risk of burnout, especially for straddle leaders.
- Understanding the phrases your inner voice uses can provide insight into your mental state.
- The most profound burnout signs often emerge on Monday mornings before returning to work.
- Acknowledging feelings of doubt or questioning your career choice is crucial for recovery.
- Proactively addressing your ideal job description can help realign your purpose as a physician.
Transcript
In this episode, I’ll show you the most reliable way to determine whether what you’re feeling is just stress, overwork, and fatigue—or if it’s actually burnout. The answer comes from an inner source: that little voice in your head. I’ll help you understand the exact words it uses and what they mean.
Welcome to the Stop Physician Burnout Podcast,
a leadership podcast for physicians. Here, you’ll learn skills to lead the charge for physician well-being. These skills will earn you respect among colleagues on the frontlines, give you influence in the C-suite, and help you reclaim your job, practice, career, and life. These tools come from my work coaching and training 40,000 physicians over the years. I know you’re busy, so let’s get started.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
Where that little voice in your head comes from
Common phrases burned-out doctors have shared with me in coaching sessions
The four specific phrases your inner voice might use, especially on Monday mornings, and what they signify
As a leader, you’ll also learn to recognize these phrases in the people you lead. This awareness can help you provide the support they need to regain peak performance and rediscover the joy that led them to become doctors in the first place.
Physician Leadership: A Risk Factor for Burnout
Physician leadership is inherently a burnout risk, especially if you’re what I call a "straddler." A straddler has one foot in clinical care and the other in a leadership role—often part-time, sometimes paid, sometimes with protected time, and sometimes without either.
It’s like standing with one foot in each of two canoes. Eventually, those canoes drift apart, and you do a backflip into the lake. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen. But if you’re straddling both roles, you’re at increased risk for burnout—likely the case for many of you listening.
Recognizing the Inner Voice of Burnout
Over years of coaching thousands of physicians back to enjoying their practice, I’ve found the most reliable sign of burnout isn’t just feeling tired or overworked. It’s what your little voice says to you—especially on Monday mornings when you’re gearing up for the week ahead.
Before we dive into the phrases this inner voice uses, let’s talk about where it comes from.
What is the Little Voice?
The little voice is your internal monitor. It reflects your true feelings, often ones you’d never admit out loud because of our medical training's "never show weakness" programming. While your outer voice says, “I’m fine,” your inner voice often whispers the truth.
It’s like those cartoons with the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. Your little voice operates similarly, revealing what’s really going on inside. Here are the four phrases it might say, escalating from mild distress to severe burnout:
“I still love my patients, but this job is rough.”
This is the first sign. You’re hanging onto the joy of patient care, but the stress of the job is creeping in.
“I’m not sure how much longer I can keep going like this.”
This signals deeper exhaustion. In every live training I’ve led, when I ask who has heard this phrase in their head, every hand in the room goes up. It’s universal.
“What’s the use? I’m not making a difference.”
This is when burnout truly takes hold. You’re losing touch with the purpose that inspired you to become a doctor—a healer, a helper, a light worker.
“I should never have gone to medical school in the first place.”
This heartbreaking phrase indicates severe burnout. If you hear this from someone you lead, it’s a cry for help. Support them immediately.
Breaking Through Burnout
When you notice these thoughts, it’s easy to fall into guilt, shame, or imposter syndrome. Medical training teaches us to stay the course, work harder, and follow the rules. But here’s the truth: You’re not a resident anymore. Working harder won’t fix burnout. It’s like Einstein’s definition of insanity—doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.
Burnout is a wake-up call, pushing you toward a path with more purpose. The sooner you recognize it, the better. If your little voice is whispering any of these phrases, it’s time to take action. Start by revisiting Episode 111, where I guide you through building your ideal job description.
Proactive Leadership: Clinician + Leader
If you’re a straddler—balancing clinical and leadership roles—your ideal job description must address both. Think about:
What you want your clinical practice to look like
What you want your leadership practice to involve
How the two roles will work together
Don’t just double down on what you’ve always done. If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. Burnout is your signal to change.
Final Thoughts
Listen to your little voice—it tells the truth. Recognize burnout as an opportunity to redirect your practice toward purpose and fulfillment. If you’re feeling stuck, a no-cost, no-obligation discovery session with me might help. Together, we’ll identify a path forward.
That’s it for today’s episode of the Stop Physician Burnout Podcast. We publish twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays—short, digestible nuggets of leadership wisdom. Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review if you’re enjoying the show.
Until next time, keep breathing and have a great day!
