top of page

5 Steps to Unlocking Fulfillment and Sustainable Work / Life Harmony in your Medical Career

Jackie Carl

In a profession where strength is often synonymous with silence, what happens when vulnerability, even when it’s just with ourselves, feels like weakness? For healthcare professionals, the expectation to remain unshakable is constant. But is this resilience—or is it a mask hiding the weight of stress and/or occupational fatigue? 


Your patients come to you in a weakened state, and you work to restore their strength. You identify the cause of their problem by assessing their condition, running tests, and making diagnoses, always striving to recommend the best treatments options for your patients.


Without your patients choosing to seek professional help for their weaknesses, you would not have the opportunity to share your strength and help them heal.


You become a part of the solution to their strength. 


During one of my recent coaching sessions with a physician, he opened up by saying, “I don’t have adequate time to give my patients the attention they deserve. I feel rushed with them which makes me question my true impact as their trusted doctor and I want to leave medicine all together, but I have a family to take care of so I’m trapped.”


I reassured him that he’s not alone in feeling this way. Studies show that 48.2% of physicians experience at least one symptom of burnout—exhaustion, cynicism, and feeling less effective in their roles. Across healthcare, 46% of professionals report significant burnout. What’s more concerning is that nearly 40% of physicians are moderately to definitely considering leaving their current organization in the next two years because of burnout.


Later in our session, he reluctantly discloses to me that he is stressed, and suffering from physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. His passion for treating patients has diminished because he doesn’t believe he’s making much of a difference no matter how hard he works. He shakes his head and says, “I’m sorry for telling you all of this. I sound so weak. I can’t be weak because my job is to help those that are weak.”



But here’s the good news: research shows that addressing stress and burnout through healthy mindset management and positive psychology practices leads to significant improvements. Studies indicate that healthcare professionals who engage in regular mindfulness or stress-reduction practices report 25-35% reduction in burnout symptoms, and experience greater job satisfaction, allowing them to better care for their patients.


Why are you making weakness a bad thing?” I asked my client. He said, “Well that’s a good question, Jackie. I just have always perceived weakness as a bad thing. I never stopped to think of it any other way.”


I explained to him that by reframing the narrative around "weakness," healthcare professionals can shift towards empowerment. Many studies support that individuals who actively practice positive thinking and healthy mindset strategies report significant improvement in emotional well-being and even greater resilience in the face of stress.


Our brains often operate in repetitive patterns—just like old habits. We keep repeating the same thought processes until we consciously identify what's not working and choose to replace those thoughts with healthier, more productive ones. By becoming aware of our thoughts and choosing to think healthy ones in place of the negative ones, we can rewire our brains to generate positive feelings and actions that will generate positive results.


The first step, often the hardest, is being completely honest with yourself to identify what you're feeling. Simply naming the emotion can immediately reduce its power over you.


From there, we have a starting point to work with.


Here’s how your thought process works:

Circumstances trigger thoughts, which cause feelings, which drive actions, which create results.


  • Circumstance: I am exhausted, stressed out, disconnected from my work and frustrated. These are the facts.


  • Thought: If I admit I’m struggling, I’ll be seen as weak—something that is frowned upon in my profession.


  • Feelings: I feel out of control, lonely, defeated, and frustrated.


  • Action: I push through, telling myself this is just part of the job and nothing needs to change. 


  • Result: The cycle of stress continues, taking a toll on my health, my work, and my relationships. It will perpetuate negative patterns that affect not only my patients, but my well being, home life and possibly future generations.


Practice creating your healthy thought process one thought at a time. Here’s an example of how that could look for you:


  • Recognize the circumstance: I am burned out.


  • Create a new thought: Seeking help will make me stronger. 


  • Embrace a new feeling: Being stronger feels empowering and puts me in control.


  • Take action: I will work with a professional coach, aka specialist in thought management for effective techniques and support.


  • Result: I will experience an improved work / life harmony, more energy, clarity, reignited passion and fulfillment leading to improved patient outcomes and better relationships with the important people in my life. Bonus: I’m creating a legacy that is shaped by healthy thought management.


By practicing different iterations of this simple healthy thought model, you can significantly reduce your symptoms of burnout, increase your productivity and improve your emotional resilience. Organically, these positive outcomes will also flow into your home life as well, creating a sustainable work - life harmony.


Can you see how powerful it is to take control of just one thought, shift your feelings, and create the actions that lead to the results you truly want?



Jackie Carl is a Master Certified Mindset Coach, speaker, and workshop facilitator for healthcare workers. As the daughter of a retired Emergency Room MD and her mom, his equally heroic wife, she deeply understands the demands of healthcare and the generational impact these demands can create. Jackie is also a wife and mother to two young children. Email her at hello@jackiecarl.com or visit www.jackiecarl.com to learn how she can help you achieve sustainable balance, reignite your passion and create a lasting, positive generational impact as well.


References:


American Medical Association. (2024). Physician burnout rate drops below 50% for first time in 4 years. American Medical Association. https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/physician-health/physician-burnout-rate-drops-below-50-first-time-4-years



Healthforce Center at UCSF. (2023). How hospitals and health systems are battling burnout in health care. University of California, San Francisco. https://healthforce.ucsf.edu/news/how-hospitals-and-health-systems-are-battling-burnout-health-care


American Medical Association. (2023). COVID-19 emergency’s over, but 1 in 2 doctors report burnout. American Medical Association. https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/physician-health/covid-19-emergency-s-over-1-2-doctors-report-burnout


The Physicians Foundation. (2023). Amplifying physician, resident, and student voices to drive well-being and care delivery solutions. The Physicians Foundation. https://physiciansfoundation.org/research/amplifying-physician-resident-and-student-voices-to-drive-wellbeing-and-care-delivery-solutions/


Comments


bottom of page