Stimulus - Learn Tools to Crush It in Your Medical Career

The quality of our attention shapes every interaction we have, yet listening is often the first skill sacrificed when pressure, technology, and time constraints take over. Most clinicians spend years learning what to say, while spending little time learning how to effectively listen. In a healthcare system dominated by tasks, metrics, and efficiency, the ability to slow down and create genuine presence may be one of the most valuable skills we can cultivate.
In this episode, we explore why listening is both a mindset and a practical skill, how to listen more effectively, how small pauses can transform patient care, and why mindfulness extends far beyond meditation. Finally, we examine simple practices that help clinicians stay present, focused, and connected even during the busiest days.
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Guest Bio: Dr. Ronald Epstein – internationally recognized family physician, palliative care physician, educator, researcher and writer -- has devoted his career to understanding and improving communication and mindfulness in medicine. His scholarly articles have revolutionized doctors’ view of their work, and his 2017 book, Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness and Humanity shows how becoming mindful can transform healthcare, build strong connections between doctors and patients, and help clinicians flourish while providing the best care for patients.
You can find Ron at www.ronaldepstein.com and learn about his workshops at www.mindfulpracticeinmedicine.com
We Discuss:
Why listening may be the most important clinical skill we rarely teach
The 90-second habit that changes patient encounters
What a near-missed surgical complication reveals about hierarchy
The difference between spending time and being present
The difference between reacting and responding
A simple doorknob practice for transitioning between patients
How "Find Your Feet" helps restore presence during stressful encounters
Why slowing down often improves performance
What mindfulness looks like beyond formal meditation

Mentioned in this episode:
Doctoring Done Well | Bite-Sized Wins
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The Out-On-Time Course
Built for emergency clinicians who are tired of chart debt and getting derailed by interruptions and overwhelm. Learn practical, real-time documentation and shift-efficiency strategies to finish your shift and actually leave on time.
Learn More About The Out-On-Time Course
UnBurnable Registration is Now Open
We took the highest yield tools from our 1:1 coaching and created a community-based course with docs who get it and get you.
The UnBurnable Course

Your ability to earn income is your most valuable financial asset. Physicians spend years protecting patients, building careers, and accumulating assets, yet many discover too late that the insurance designed to protect their income is full of loopholes, exclusions, and traps. Disability insurance sounds boring until the moment someone needs it, and then it becomes one of the most emotionally and financially consequential topics in medicine.
In this episode, we explore the hidden realities of physician disability insurance, why employer policies often fail when doctors need them most, and how to think strategically about protecting future income before health problems appear. We also walk through what physicians should do when filing a disability claim, and how to avoid sabotaging the process from the very beginning.
💡 Get Rob's Book
Supranormal: A Field Guide for the Impossible Job.
Tools, mindsets, and communication techniques so you don't get eaten alive by a job you're good at.
Buy it on Amazon
Guest bio: Matthew Wiggins is the founder of Doc Insure and a leading educator in physician disability insurance. Since 2003, he has helped more than 15,000 doctors understand and secure income protection, while pioneering a faster, online-first way for residents, fellows, and attendings to compare personalized disability policies. Through Doc Insure, Matt makes a confusing and often overlooked topic practical, transparent, and easier to navigate so physicians can make informed decisions about protecting their future earnings. Matt and his crew will give you a quote on disability insurance through this link. Or you can set up a call to chat with them directly here.
We Discuss:
Why most employer disability policies leave physicians underprotected
How true own-occupation coverage protects a physician’s specialty income
Why physicians dramatically underestimate their chances of becoming disabled
The different disability risks facing procedural and cognitive specialties
Why disability claims often become adversarial and difficult to navigate
How detailed occupational documentation strengthens disability claims
Why income documentation determines the value of a disability payout
How understanding a diagnosis improves the strength of a disability claim
Why filing timing can affect whether benefits are approved and when payments begin
Why buying disability insurance during residency protects future insurability

Mentioned in this episode:
Get Out On Time
The Out-On-Time Course gives you the tools to complete your charts on shift, manage overwhelm and interruptions, and create fast, focused, kickass notes, so you can stay out of chart debt and get home on time. Self-paced. 12 hours AMA PRA Category 1 CME.
Learn More About The Out-On-Time Course
UnBurnable Registration is Now Open
We took the highest yield tools from our 1:1 coaching and created a community-based course with docs who get it and get you.
The UnBurnable Course
Doctoring Done Well | Bite-Sized Wins
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Medicine gives you a map. Pre-med, med school, residency, attending. Step by step, no shortcuts. Then one day, the map disappears and you’re there asking, “Now what?”
In this episode, Dr. Mizuho Morrison and I dig into what happens after training, when fulfillment, identity, and control are no longer prescribed. We talk about nonlinear careers in medicine, from part-time clinical work and motherhood to podcasting, entrepreneurship, leadership, and walking away from roles that no longer fit.
We also get into what happened when Mizuho wore a continuous glucose monitor during emergency department shifts, and what it revealed about stress, cortisol, and the real physiologic cost of the job.
This is a conversation about agency, experimentation, and ownership, and how to build a medical career that actually works for your life, not just your training.
💡 Check out our Free Resources specifically designed to address pain points in medical practice💡
Guest Bio: Dr. Mizuho Morrison is a board-certified emergency physician in Southern California and CEO of EM:RAP. A graduate of the Los Angeles County + USC residency program, she has worked in both academic and community emergency medicine and has been a major voice in EM education for more than a decade. Miz was one of the first female EM podcasters, helped launch multiple EM:RAP programs, served as Editor-in-Chief and Senior Medical Director at Hippo Education, and co-hosted Essentials of Emergency Medicine. She is also an entrepreneur and cofounder of 3MD, Three Mommy Doctors, a medical device company that reimagined first-aid kits for kids. She lives in Orange County with her two children.
We Discuss:
The Train Track Problem in Medical Careers
Fulfillment Is Not One Standard Career Shape
Seasons, Experiments, and Knowing When to Move On
Stress, Cortisol, and the Cost of Shift Work
Begin Before You Feel Ready
Reclaiming Agency in a System That Keeps Asking for More

Mentioned in this episode:
Supranormal: A Field Guide for the Impossible Job
Rob's book is for anyone doing high-stakes, human-facing work who's ever thought I wasn't trained for this. Built from 20 years in emergency medicine and thousands of hours coaching physicians, Supranormal delivers the tools, mindset shifts, and communication techniques that don't show up on any board exam, but make all the difference in how you perform, connect, and build a career worth keeping.
Get Supranormal on Amazon
Doctoring Done Well | Bite-Sized Wins
Every other week, a few minutes of career-elevating insight delivered straight to your inbox.
The Doctoring Done Well Newsletter is never lame, never spammy, and always fresh.
Sign up for our Newsletter
UnBurnable Registration is Now Open
We took the highest yield tools from our 1:1 coaching and created a community-based course with docs who get it and get you.
The UnBurnable Course

It’s not uncommon for hospitals to provide clinicians with scorecards. While they may seem like a judgment of your quality of work, scorecards rarely provide data that will lead to flourishing in your career. But what if you made your own scorecard, filled with things that were important to you and fully within your control? If you nailed one of those each day at work, what would your experience be like?
In this episode, we explore what happened when Dr. Erin Broderick, a participant in the Unburnable Course, stopped using the hospital’s scorecard as her main definition of success and created a more personal one instead. Erin talks about how she took a new approach to patient satisfaction surveys, one that has eliminated nearly all the stress and distress associated with them.
Finally, we look at how intentional practices during and after a shift made Erin’s work feel joyful and sustainable.
💡 Check out our Free Resources specifically designed to address pain points in medical practice💡
We Discuss:
Measuring success with a personal scorecard
A post-shift routine that closes the day
Closing open loops
A novel approach to patient satisfaction surveys
Letting go of metrics that don’t serve you
Scheduling recovery during the shift
Extending intentionality beyond the hospital

Mentioned in this episode:
Doctoring Done Well | Bite-Sized Wins
Every other week, a few minutes of career-elevating insight delivered straight to your inbox.
The Doctoring Done Well Newsletter is never lame, never spammy, and always fresh.
Sign up for our Newsletter
Supranormal: A Field Guide for the Impossible Job
Rob's book is for anyone doing high-stakes, human-facing work who's ever thought I wasn't trained for this. Built from 20 years in emergency medicine and thousands of hours coaching physicians, Supranormal delivers the tools, mindset shifts, and communication techniques that don't show up on any board exam, but make all the difference in how you perform, connect, and build a career worth keeping.
Get Supranormal on Amazon
UnBurnable | Our Cohort-Based Burnout Prevention and Cure Course
We took the highest yield tools from our 1:1 coaching and created a community-based course with docs who get it and get you.
The UnBurnable Course

If you have ever lost it mid-shift, frozen when you should have acted, or spent the next two weeks asking yourself what's wrong with me, you already know what character assassination feels like.
In this episode, we break down a simple and effective reframe that interrupts the self-flagellation shame spiral without making excuses or lowering standards. You will learn how to move from why did I to, of course, how to give yourself a legitimate and hard-earned break, and why self-compassion is not softness but one of the most underutilized performance tools in medicine. Topics include physician burnout, self-compassion, cognitive reappraisal, shame and self-criticism, communication under stress, and physician coaching.
💡 Check out our Free Resources specifically designed to address pain points in medical practice💡
We discuss:
Why self-criticism after a hard moment often hurts more than the moment itself
The difference between first-order distress and second-order distress
What the research on rumination and shame actually shows
Why your brain treats harsh self-evaluation like a physical threat
The biology of performance under load and why grit has a limit
The of 'course' reframe and how to use it in real time
Four steps to move from character assassination to context assessment
Why suppression makes it worse, and reappraisal changes the signal
Pre-shift dread and how to take the shame out of it
Why self-compassion is a performance tool, not a soft skill
What this reframe is not: excuses, lowered standards, or avoiding accountability
How to start today with one sentence

Mentioned in this episode:
Doctoring Done Well | Bite-Sized Wins
Every other week, a few minutes of career-elevating insight delivered straight to your inbox.
The Doctoring Done Well Newsletter is never lame, never spammy, and always fresh.
Sign up for our Newsletter
Supranormal: A Field Guide for the Impossible Job
Rob's book is for anyone doing high-stakes, human-facing work who's ever thought I wasn't trained for this. Built from 20 years in emergency medicine and thousands of hours coaching physicians, Supranormal delivers the tools, mindset shifts, and communication techniques that don't show up on any board exam, but make all the difference in how you perform, connect, and build a career worth keeping.
Get Supranormal on Amazon
The Out-On-Time Course
Built for emergency clinicians who are tired of chart debt and getting derailed by interruptions and overwhelm. Learn practical, real-time documentation and shift-efficiency strategies to finish your shift and actually leave on time.
Learn More About The Out-On-Time Course