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Is Guilt or Shame Driving You? The Perspective of a Physician Coach on Why It Matters

Someone once tried to convince that guilt and shame were identical. A recent trip to the hospital had me musing about my belief in the difference–and why it’s important.

Need Communication Skills? You Already Have the Basics

I’ve been coaching women physicians for more than five years now, helping them build lives that work personally and professionally. We start with the places where they have the most control to make changes. Charting efficiency, prioritizing sleep, delegating what they...

When Flaw-Finding Gets in Your Way, Try Asking Yourself This Question

If you’re a perfectionist like me, you’ve probably already noticed the flaw in this sign. The fact that bicycles can’t actually dismount reflected an error I just couldn’t NOT see. I stopped to snap the shot, then saw that the photo was flawed: off-center and...

The Three Categories of Time

Sep 1, 2022

I had a mini epiphany recently. I realized there are three basic categories of time: Productive: many work tasks (but not all), completing a task at home, achieving a specific personal or professional goalNon-productive and enriching: sleep, physical activity, being...

A Mindset Hack for Frustrated, Burned Out Physicians

Aug 4, 2022

Haiku #1 “I can’t.” Power words. And very, very prophetic. Are they always true? When we meet, most of the physicians I work with are experiencing some level of feeling stuck. So often today, physicians are at the whim of others’ choices—patients, payers,...

Need a Job Change? Use This Tip from Mountain Climbers

Jun 30, 2022

Sometimes we just need to focus on finding a basecamp. Climbers whose goal is scaling Mount Everest first spend time in one of two basecamps. They don’t expect to hop from the foothills to the summit. They recognize that they will be healthier and have a been chance...

Taming Perfectionism with Surfing

Jun 2, 2022

Being detail-oriented, conscientious, and self-critical helped me make it through the hoops required to become a physician. But I’ve learned in the years since that perfectionism and being highly focused on achievement can get in the way of living life to the fullest....

Dream Big, Then Get Practical

May 6, 2022

It is so easy to lose sight of your dreams. Remember the passion that once kindled your interest in your field, or a particular hobby, or in mastering a sport or skill? For me, and for many of the physicians I’ve worked with, it’s not so much about forgetting a dream...

“Boundaries are for me too.”

May 5, 2022

“Boundaries are for me too.” This statement represented a huge breakthrough for the physician I was coaching, a bright, accomplished subspecialist surgeon whose career was halted by exhaustion due to an untenable work situation exacerbated by the pandemic. Her words...

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Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH, PCC

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