The stakes are high in healthcare, which leads many providers to have a perfectionistic attitude, a desire to not miss anything and to review the day with a critical eye. These are admirable qualities and help to keep your patients safe. And, they can also lead to doubting yourself and feeling like you are ineffective,…
Strengths to Tap into Well-Being
Many of us have a vague sense of our strengths, what we do well, without having a vocabulary to really capture these attributes. For me, it took years before I could articulate what it is that I do best. Once I was able to hone in on this and identify it with words, I had…
Engage with Your Strengths
“Working hard to manage weaknesses, while sometimes necessary, will only help us prevent failure. It will not help us reach excellence.” Martin Seligman Working with strengths is powerful. People who use their strengths daily are happier and more productive. Using your strengths adds meaning to work by bringing in your own values. When you engage…
Recall a Peak Experience at Work
At a recent presentation of Vital Signs of Well-Being at Danbury Hospital, for nurses during National Nurses Week, I asked the participants to write down and share their own 3Ws, “What Went Well?” One of the nurses told the group about an experience earlier that day in the E D, when she was able to…
Dynamic Balance for Well-Being
There is a lot of talk about work-life balance and a question of whether such a thing should even be discussed; isn’t work part of life? With burnout, you may be feeling as if all there is, is work, work at the office, work in the clinic, work at home, work in planning and running…
Guard Your Thinking to Overcome Burnout
One of the hallmarks of burnout is a poor sense of accomplishment at work. For someone with high standards, not meeting them contributes to your sense of being ineffective. Generally, physicians have high standards, or you probably wouldn’t have made it this far. Guarding your thinking can help you overcome burnout associated with a poor…
