How Can I Help?! - Life improvement strategies for the surgeon who wants more ... in 10 minutes - Episode 48

Pump the brakes on your week and take 10 minutes to make your life as a surgeon is just a little better…

In this episode of the mini-podcast, Jeff welcomes Dr. Errin Weisman. 

Errin is an osteopathic family practice doctor and physician coach. She is also a fierce physician wellness advocate.

In this episode Errin and Jeff ask, How can I help? 

It’s a powerful question. Especially when it comes from a colleague during a time of need. 

Errin tells Jeff a story about a time in her life when her colleague Dr. Jones came to her aid. At first she wasn’t interested in talking to him. But he asked her again how he could help with compassion and totally free of judgement. The experience of a colleague showing enough care to ask her twice how she was doing was POWERFUL.

It’s time more of us take simple steps like Dr. Jones to impact the lives of our colleagues. 

It starts with asking simple questions, and listening with empathy. That’s it.

Are you with me? Take these steps this week:

• Step 1 - Be brave. Offer support to a colleague.

• Step 2 - Just wait. Listen without judgement.

• Step 3 - Don’t try to fix things! Just listen and offer support.

Most importantly, ask - how can I help?! Let’s start increasing the accountability we have for the wellness of ourselves AND others!

---

Errin Weisman, DO

Errin Weisman, DO is a life coach, podcaster and fierce advocate for wellness in medicine. She faced professional burnout early in her career and speaks openly about about her story in order to help others, particularly female physicians and working moms, know they are not alone. If things are not so great and you're interested in learning more from Dr Weisman, join her online November 3rd, 4pm EST for a Masterclass about these topics we talked and more. You can find out more and sign up in the link in the shownotes (www.truthrxs.com/masterclass).

Positive Self-Talk! - Life improvement strategies for the surgeon who wants more ... in 10 minutes - Episode 47

Pump the brakes on your week and take 10 minutes to make your life as a surgeon is just a little better…

In this episode of the mini-podcast, Jeff welcomes Dr. Errin Weisman. 

Errin is an osteopathic family practice doctor and physician coach. She is also the creator of the website TruthRX’s. 

How can we expect to perform our best with a negative voice telling us what we’re incapable of and what we can not accomplish? Jeff highlights that he, like many of us, has been driven by negative thoughts that motivated him and pushed him to work harder through the early part of his career. In the long run though, this was not a sustainable strategy. What if you could recognize when this is no longer working for you? What if you could spark that high accomplishment with positive thoughts? 

Errin believes we can. And she says the power is within us to choose who we listen to. 

In limited doses, negative talk can help us. Think of the athlete with the proverbial ‘chip on my shoulder’ attitude. This negative motivational technique can serve us well, AND it has its limitations.  Instead of allowing negativity reign, Errin says we can move forward and grow more by shifting and changing our inner voice to serve us better. 

What does Errin suggest we do to start?

• Step 1 - Gain Awareness. Take note of what your inner voice is saying - good, bad, or ugly.

• Step 2 - Develop a positive voice. Pair your negative voice with a positive one to serve you better.

• Step 3 - Practice! Train to put your positive self-talk into action when you recognize your negative inner voice speaking up.

Most importantly, find your inner advocate! Positive self-talk can dramatically improve our ability to accomplish goals and continue to perform at our best!

---

Errin Weisman, DO

Errin Weisman, DO is a life coach, podcaster and fierce advocate for wellness in medicine. She faced professional burnout early in her career and speaks openly about about her story in order to help others, particularly female physicians and working moms, know they are not alone. Dr. Weisman wholeheartedly believes to be a healer, you must first fill your own cup. She lives and practices life coaching and medicine in rural Southwestern Indiana, loves her roles as farmer's wife, athlete and mother of three.You can find out more about Dr. Weisman on her podcast Doctor Me First, her website truthrxs.com or hang out with her on IG @truthrxs.

Clear Is Kind! - Life improvement strategies for the surgeon who wants more ... in 10 minutes - Episode 46

Pump the brakes on your week and take 10 minutes to make your life as a surgeon just a little better…

In this episode of the mini-podcast, Jeff welcomes Dr. Jennifer Weiss. 

Jennifer (Jen) is a pediatric sports surgeon at Kaiser Permanente, and Chair of the Communications Cabinet of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).  

Jen brings a powerful message to the podcast - Clear Is Kind! Jen discovered this concept through researcher and best selling author, Brene Brown, PhD, and Dr. Kristy Weber, 2019 President of the AAOS and Chief of Orthopaedic Oncology at Penn Medicine. During a board meeting, Kristy Weber encouraged the idea espoused by Dr. Brown of being unapologetically clear. Jen feels that when we avoid tough conversations, falsely thinking that politeness is nice, we are doing a disservice to ourselves and others. We are being unkind. The kindest thing we can do for one another is to be clear. 

While the AAOS is being led by its first female president, that specialty and many others in medicine are still tackling some very tough issues related to gender, diversity, and much more. There are many difficult conversations to be had with our organizations, teams, colleagues, and even our patients. As Dr. Jeff Smith highlights in the 8 PRACTICEs of Highly Successful Surgeons, high functioning communication requires mutual understanding. We don’t have to agree. We need to mutually understand each other.

When you follow the principle that Clear is Kind, it can give you the courage to share your perspective. 

In your next difficult conversation, what if you didn’t hide your expectations, didn’t give polite half-truths, didn’t avoid and talk behind someone’s back. Instead, what if you ...

• Step 1 - Choose to place your discomfort aside.

• Step 2 - Choose to share your perspective clearly.  

• Step 3 - Choose to listen equally to other people’s perspectives.

Most importantly, repeat the process to move towards mutual understanding as to be clear is kind! Incremental steps can lead to meaningful changes in our physical, mental, and emotional well-being!

---

Jennifer Weiss, MD

Dr. Weiss is an Orthopaedic Surgeon specializing in Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine. Dr. Weiss actively writes and speaks on the topic of women in medicine. She has served on the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Board of Directors, and is currently the Communications Cabinet Chair. She teaches communication skills to physicians, surgeons, and other health care clinicians both within her large integrated health care system in Southern California and within the Orthopaedic surgery societies. Her research is widely published, and she is an active leader and speaker within the medical community nationally and internationally.

Marketing Plan! - Life improvement strategies for the surgeon who wants more ... in 25 minutes

Pump the brakes on your week to make your life as a surgeon just a little better…

In this Podcast, Jeff welcomes back Shruti Tannan, MD for a longer conversation.

Not interested in learning how to market yourself?  Do you feel icky with self-promotion? Maybe you recognize the importance and you’re looking to get started or take more on. The principles in Pillars of Practice: Online Marketing Tactics They Never Taught Us in Medical School are valuable if you’re a do-it-yourselfer, or if you hire and delegate, whether you’re just starting, or if you’ve been doing it awhile. As we learned from Shruti in DIY Marketing!, it’s not OK to simply sit idle and wait for positive reviews to populate Healthgrades, ZocDoc, and your Google practice profile. 

Rather let’s make patient reviews about education - of our current patients and future ones. Shruti explains that our patients want to hear from us, and it doesn’t have to be promotional in nature to make an impact on our practices. We can engage, educate our patients, and create bonds that make our patients advocates for the excellent work we do to improve their lives.  

What steps does Shruti suggest we take to start?

• Step 1 - Increase your knowledge and understanding of best marketing practices whether you’re just starting out or a marketing champion.

• Step 2 - Decide what is best for you, your practice, and how you want to be represented.  

• Step 3 - Put your plan into action! Whether you take on the work yourself or delegate work to a company, start empowering yourself, your practice, and your patients through marketing.

Most importantly, don’t wait! Start assessing your online presence and patient review system - it will benefit you and your patients!

---

Dr. Shruti Tannan is Board Certified in Plastic Surgery with additional Subspecialty Certification in Hand Surgery by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Dr. Tannan has a unique perspective on the business of medicine with experience both in the academic and private sectors. She began her career as faculty at a major academic medical center, followed by the successful launch of her private practice, Tannan Plastic Surgery, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Years of advising colleagues in medicine, dentistry, and allied health sciences inspired Dr. Tannan to share her evidence-based approach in her new book, Pillars of Practice, which is available on Amazon, iTunes, and other major bookstores. Learn more about Dr. Tannan and her practice at tannanplasticsurgery.com.

Self-Compassion! - Life improvement strategies for the surgeon who wants more ... in 10 minutes - Episode 45

Pump the brakes on your week and take 10 minutes to make your life as a surgeon just a little better…

In this episode of the mini-podcast, Jeff welcomes Leah Weiss, PhD. 

Dr. Weiss is a researcher, lecturer, consultant, entrepreneur, and author. She teaches Compassionate Leadership at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and is a principal teacher and a founding faculty member of Stanford’s “Compassion Cultivation Program.”

As the daughter and sister of accomplished surgeons, Leah is familiar with a surgeon’s life and the frustrations that come along with the profession.  Physicians caring for patients are not governed by the tech industry’s motto, “Fail Fast,” nor are doctors willing to lower their standards, she explains.

While self criticism can drive performance, as Jeff attests, it’s also not sustainable over the course of a long surgical career. Instead, we should focus on compassion for ourselves. Leah explains that criticism causes “rumination, anxiety, depression, and procrastination,” while self-compassion affords us a greater ability to “execute on a growth mindset.” 

What steps does Leah suggest we take to increase compassion for ourselves?

• Step 1 - Pay Attention to where you are and the circumstances present when your self-critic creeps in. What are your triggers?

• Step 2 - Write down how you respond to self criticism. Does it spur steps forward or hold you back?  

• Step 3 - Think about ways you can increase compassion for self during times when self-criticism crops up.

Most importantly, don’t wait! Start assessing your online presence and patient review system - it will benefit you and your patients!

---

Leah Weiss, PhD

Leah Weiss, Ph.D. is a researcher, lecturer, consultant, entrepreneur, and author. She teaches Compassionate Leadership at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she created the perennially-waitlisted course “Leading with Mindfulness and Compassion.” She is a principal teacher and a founding faculty member of Stanford’s “Compassion Cultivation Program,” conceived by the Dalai Lama. She is also the co-founder of Skylyte - a company that specializes in using the latest neuroscience and behavior change to empower high-performing leaders and managers prevent burnout for themselves and their teams. Her first book, “How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim Your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind” (HarperWave) focuses on developing compassionate and soft skill-based leadership while also offering research-backed actionable steps towards finding purpose at work. It has currently been translated into 7 different languages. Her latest book, "Bhavana: The Thai secrets of everyday resilience," came out in the U.K. at the end of May.