Are You Still Lit Up by the Core of Your Work?

05/12/25 • 20 min

Stimulus - Learn Tools to Crush It in Your Medical Career

What is it about your work that still lights you up inside? At the center of every profession is a core - the reason we chose it in the first place, the part that feels meaningful no matter the chaos around it. When we reconnect with that core, even amid challenge, fulfillment often follows. Sometimes, though, that spark fades. Sometimes the core of what we love evolves, shifts direction, or gets buried under layers of stress and routine. In this episode, we explore how to evaluate your relationship with the essence of your work and how small (or big) recalibrations can realign your day-to-day with what matters most. Finally, we share strategies to clear out the noise, fuel the flame, and shape a career that energizes rather than drains.

🧭 UnBurnable | Our Cohort-Based Burnout Prevention and Cure Course

As physician coaches, my partner, Scott Weingart, and I have noticed a clear pattern: some doctors are thoroughly burned out, and many others are on the path toward it. Almost all were shortchanged in their medical training, having been molded into excellent clinicians but given virtually no tools for retaining joy and equanimity throughout their careers.

This course will teach you the hidden anti-burnout curriculum.

Learn more at unburnablecourse.com 🚀

We Discuss:

Starting with the central question: How do you feel about the core of your work?
Using the stories you tell about your job as diagnostic tools. What tone are you bringing to those tales?
What is a micro recalibration, and how can it reshape your workday from within your current job?
How do you recognize when overwhelm is a sign of a broken approach, not a broken you?
Exploring macro recalibrations. What if you love the work, but the environment is eating you alive?
Running the “look-around test” to evaluate other institutions.
Identifying “gravity problems.” Which issues can't be solved within your current system?
Considering a mega recalibration. What does it mean to step away from the work entirely?
How identity and sunk costs keep us rooted in roles we may have outgrown.
Visualizing the flame and smoke of your career. What’s burning bright, and what’s clouding the view?
Defining what a fulfilling day looks like. Is that kind of day even possible where you are now?
Use a five-year future vision to clarify whether your current job fits into your ideal life.
Why walking away doesn’t have to mean burning it down. What might rediscovery look like instead?
You don’t have to burn it all down to rediscover what lights you up.

💡 Check out our Free Resources specifically designed to address pain points in medical practice💡

🧭 UnBurnable | Our Cohort-Based Burnout Prevention and Cure Course

This course will teach you the hidden anti-burnout curriculum.

Learn more at unburnablecourse.com 🚀

We Discuss:

Starting with the central question: How do you feel about the core of your work?
Using the stories you tell about your job as diagnostic tools. What tone are you bringing to those tales?
What is a micro recalibration, and how can it reshape your workday from within your current job?
How do you recognize when overwhelm is a sign of a broken approach, not a broken you?
Exploring macro recalibrations. What if you love the work, but the environment is eating you alive?
Running the “look-around test” to evaluate other institutions.
Identifying “gravity problems.” Which issues can't be solved within your current system?
Considering a mega recalibration. What does it mean to step away from the work entirely?
How identity and sunk costs keep us rooted in roles we may have outgrown.
Visualizing the flame and smoke of your career. What’s burning bright, and what’s clouding the view?
Defining what a fulfilling day looks like. Is that kind of day even possible where you are now?
Use a five-year future vision to clarify whether your current job fits into your ideal life.
Why walking away doesn’t have to mean burning it down. What might rediscovery look like instead?
You don’t have to burn it all down to rediscover what lights you up.

💡 Check out our Free Resources specifically designed to address pain points in medical practice💡

Previous Episode

The White Coat Investor | Avoiding the Money Mistakes That Sink Physicians

Burnout isn’t just emotional, it’s financial. Many doctors put off financial planning until they’re deep in debt, stuck in lifestyle inflation, and too burned out to pivot. In this episode, The White Coat Investor Jim Dahle lays out how to build a burnout-resistant career by making smart, intentional money decisions, whether you’re a student or a seasoned physician.

We delve into frugality (the useful and the absurd), how burnout can quietly become your biggest financial threat, what makes a solid investment plan, the waterfall method of managing your money, and why many doctors end up wealthy on paper but broke in practice. Plus: when hiring a financial advisor is the smartest move you can make—and when it’s the worst.

Guest bio: Jim Dahle, MD, FACEP is a practicing emergency physician and the founder of The White Coat Investor. After early experiences with predatory financial advisors, he taught himself personal finance and saw firsthand how financial literacy transformed his life. Motivated to help colleagues avoid similar pitfalls, he launched The White Coat Investor—then the only unbiased financial education resource for physicians. More than a decade later, Dr. Dahle continues to lead the organization as CEO, columnist, and podcast host, staying true to its mission: “help those who wear the white coat get a fair shake on Wall Street.”

We Discuss:

Financial goals as the “game,” not competition with others
Embracing frugality (and where it can go too far)
Burnout as a major financial risk
Strategies to reduce burnout, including working less and managing spending
Understanding your financial “basement” (minimum monthly needs)
Lifestyle creep and how to monitor it
The “live like a resident” strategy post-training
Net worth versus income, and why physicians sometimes retire broke
The financial “waterfall” (how to prioritize where your money goes)
Why trying to beat the market usually backfires
Whole life insurance: the hype versus reality
Creating an Investment Policy Statement (IPS)
Real estate investing: REITs versus hands-on ownership
Designing your life and shifts as a financially independent physician
The "night shift marketplace" model
When to work with, or fire, a financial advisor
Case study: mid-career physician financial planning

Next Episode

An Insider’s Look at Addiction Medicine

What if addiction isn’t about drugs, but about pain? Beneath compulsive behaviors often lie histories of trauma, anxiety, and unmet emotional needs, hidden behind layers of stigma and misunderstanding. In medicine, addiction is still often mischaracterized as a moral failing rather than a treatable illness with deep psychological roots. In this episode, we explore the personal and professional evolution of Dr. Casey Grover, an addiction medicine physician who reframed both his own struggles and the way he cares for patients. Finally, we uncover how shifting mindset and language can transform both clinical outcomes and clinician well-being.

💡 Check out our Free Resources specifically designed to address pain points in medical practice💡

Guest bio: Dr. Casey Grover is a board-certified physician in Addiction Medicine and Emergency Medicine at Montage Health, where he also serves as Chief of Staff. He is the Physician Champion for the Monterey County Prescribe Safe Initiative, a program focused on reducing opioid misuse through education, safe prescribing, and improved treatment access. In addition to his clinical and leadership roles, Dr. Grover hosts the podcast Addiction Medicine Made Easy, where he breaks down complex topics to make addiction care more approachable for both providers and the public.

We Discuss:

What is Addiction?
When Food Becomes a Coping Mechanism
The Stigma of Addiction
The Neurology of Addiction
Divided Views on Sobriety
Why Some People Recover and Others Relapse
The Reason Some Brains Get Hooked
Addiction vs. Dependence — and Why Stigma Makes It Worse
Building Trust with Patients
From Frustration to Compassion: Reframing Patient Encounters
Trauma, PTSD, and Personal Reckoning
The Practice of Addiction Medicine

Mentioned in this episode:

UnBurnable - Our Cohort-Based Burnout Prevention and Cure Course

As physician coaches, my partner, Scott Weingart, and I have noticed a pattern: some doctors are thoroughly burned out, and some are on the path to burnout. Almost all were shortchanged in their medical training, having been molded into excellent clinicians but given virtually no tools for retaining joy and equanimity throughout their careers. This course will teach you the hidden anti-burnout curriculum.

The UnBurnable Course

Never Lame. Never Spammy. Always Fresh.

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5 Free Tools To Make Medical Practice Easier

Scripts for your least favorite conversations. The quick and dirty guide to calling consults. A 10-minute "Driveway Debrief" to switch off from work. My favorite documentation templates. Step-by-step guide for delivering the news of death.

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