Stress-Less Physician

Earth School

Sara Dill — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 03:00:00 -0600

The concept of Earth School is that the entirety of our lives and what is happening around us might be a lesson. What if everything we experience is supposed to be so we can learn and grow? There are other versions of Earth School that also incorporate more spirituality, if you are interested in those as well.

For me, it’s less about spirituality as it is about a useful concept, one I can apply at almost any time and to any situation. Let’s talk about what Earth School is and how to use this concept.

“This concept of Earth School–right–that everything I’m experiencing, everything in my life, is part of the curriculum of my life, helps me drop my resistance to it.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

When learning was fun
What if all is learning
Lessens resistance
Changing the curriculum
Appreciating Earth School

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

What are you doing to move closer to your ideal life? Send me an email at sara@saradill.com or connect with me on social media. I personally read all my messages and I’d love to hear from you.

My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD

How to Start Your Day with Gratitude and Intention

Sara Dill — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Giving thanks with intention first thing in the morning can help set your mood for the entire day. This doesn’t necessarily completely erase other emotions and sensations, especially as our day progresses, but it is certainly helpful.

Simply focusing a few moments on what we appreciate can also help create space for all we’re thinking and feeling, positive or negative. There is great value in this, so let’s talk about how to start your day with gratitude and intention.

“Is there a way that you want to experience the day? Is there a way you want to practice showing up? Is there an emotion you want to feel?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Full human experience
Awake and aware
One minute
Better days

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

What are you doing to move closer to your ideal life? Send me an email at sara@saradill.com or connect with me on social media. I personally read all my messages and I’d love to hear from you.

My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD

ACT Made Simple and other Resources and Books by Russ Harris

Give Yourself Permission

Sara Dill — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Giving yourself permission is really open-ended. There are a lot of things you can give yourself permission to do or not do. And, perhaps most significantly, you don’t need to earn that right.

Growing up, we are typically taught that we need to earn permissions. Even into adulthood, we’re conditioned in many areas to ask permission from someone else in authority. But what if there are areas in your life where you don’t need permission? What if, in reality, you already have all the authority you need? Let’s talk about that.

“I actually think that giving yourself permission, and prioritizing yourself helps you be a better version of you and actually sets other people free to prioritize themselves, to give themselves permission.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Permission conditioned
At no one’s expense
Doesn’t lead to anarchy
What if
Doesn’t have to be serious

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

What are you doing to move closer to your ideal life? Send me an email at sara@saradill.com or connect with me on social media. I personally read all my messages and I’d love to hear from you.

My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD
saradill.com
saradill.com/coaching
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Pay Attention to the Good Things

Sara Dill — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 03:00:00 -0600

In living this life, we encounter a lot of things which are, frankly, not great. All around us and throughout the world there is a lot going on that is pretty discouraging. So how do we navigate such a world? One helpful thing can be to intentionally pay attention to the good things.

But with so many voices and so much noise, how do we focus on the good things? How do we let more of those influences in? How do we recognize more good? Let’s talk about it.

“Our brain can’t differentiate a lot of the time between things we read about that are happening in other places, or things that happened to other people, and what’s happening to us. It generates a big stress response.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Why it’s hard to tear away
Paying attention to the good
More right with you
Increase what you notice
Encourage the good

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

What are you doing to move closer to your ideal life? Send me an email at sara@saradill.com or connect with me on social media. I personally read all my messages and I’d love to hear from you.

My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD

What would love do?

Sara Dill — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 03:00:00 -0600

The question: “What would love do?” can be very powerful and revealing. And not necessarily for only what we automatically think about. When posed such a question, our minds tend to think about what love would do for others. But I want to look at it from a different vantage point.

In this episode, I explore the question “What would love do?”... for you? When faced with this question and pondering your response, I want to consider the answer from the other side. It’s a beautiful thing that we think of others first but there is also beauty in thinking about the answer in regards to yourself.

“[In] bringing love to the table, it has to be love for you and love for others.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

A beautiful question
Widening answers
Scarcity point of view
Just holding space
Sharing painful things

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

What are you doing to move closer to your ideal life? Send me an email at sara@saradill.com or connect with me on social media. I personally read all my messages and I’d love to hear from you.

My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Struggle Switch

Sara Dill — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Acceptance and processing of painful and unwelcome emotions is a skill we can learn. But it’s not an easy one. We naturally avoid pain, unpleasant emotions and uncomfortable interactions.

For this episode, I wanted to share a tool for easier acceptance and processing of the things we normally avoid. After all, we can’t completely block negative or unwanted emotions and thoughts, so why not learn to handle them better? Let’s talk about it.

“When that struggle switch is switched on, and it’s turned up high… it’s going to amplify all of those emotions, the ones you don’t like.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Tools to accept rather than resist
A dial in our head
Dial high or dial off
How to dial down

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

What are you doing to move closer to your ideal life? Send me an email at sara@saradill.com or connect with me on social media. I personally read all my messages and I’d love to hear from you.

My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD

Why Self Worth Cannot Be Measured

Sara Dill — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Productivity and measurable accomplishments are all too often how we’re defined and valued in our society. But that isn’t an accurate picture of someone’s worth. What we do isn’t all of who we are.

In this episode, I want to explore this topic because we so often conflate our value and worthiness with what we do. But the reality is, we are infinitely valuable and self-worth cannot be measured.

“When or if your self-esteem is dependent on external things, you can’t control it. You’re outsourcing one of the most important things to other people, to the world, to events unfolding… so many things we don’t control.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Measuring your self-worth
The world doesn’t care
Measuring internally
No real metric

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

What are you doing to move closer to your ideal life? Send me an email at sara@saradill.com or connect with me on social media. I personally read all my messages and I’d love to hear from you.

My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD

Creating Space From Your Thoughts

Sara Dill — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Our brains are wired to think almost nonstop. It can be very difficult to slow that down but having some tools and techniques can be extremely helpful. It can keep us from being jerked around by our thoughts.

To explore this topic further and to, hopefully, give you some ideas for creating space from your thoughts, I wanted to talk about this. In this episode, I offer several ideas for ways to know what you’re thinking, when you’re thinking it.

“Our thoughts are really just the natural manifestation of our cognition, of our awareness, of our human mind.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Thinking is natural
Knowing when to disengage
Looking at, rather than from
Techniques for creating space
Forms of thoughts
Default phrases
Thanking your brain
Observer and questioner role

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Ten Percent Happier app and website

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

What are you doing to move closer to your ideal life? Send me an email at sara@saradill.com or connect with me on social media. I personally read all my messages and I’d love to hear from you.

My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD

What Conditions Do You Need To Thrive?

Sara Dill — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Plants naturally thrive and grow when given the right conditions. Likewise, we need to identify our personal conditions to naturally grow and thrive, and then work toward giving ourselves those conditions. This can take many forms but the starting point is always identifying them.

To help us, I wanted to talk about how to identify your own best conditions to thrive. This will look different for each person but I hope to give you some points and questions to ponder to help answer the question: What conditions do you need to thrive?

“In thinking about what nourishes you, what energizes you, how can you include more of those things? And notice what, perhaps, will that naturally decrease or eliminate or delete from your life without you having to really make that happen?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Identifying your desired future
Increasing what energizes you
Decreasing what drains you
Disbelieving the outdated
Looking both closely and broadly

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.
What are you doing to move closer to your ideal life? Send me an email at sara@saradill.com or connect with me on social media. I personally read all my messages and I’d love to hear from you.
saradill.com
saradill.com/coaching
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Take some risks – don’t “stay safe”

Sara Dill — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone. Doing things scared. Not waiting until everything is perfect. Putting yourself out there. No matter how you describe it, challenging yourself to intentionally take some risks and not simply stay safe can be nerve wracking but also invigorating.

To be clear, I’m not advocating for physically endangering yourself. Please take care of and protect your physical health. What I’m talking about is emotional and mental risk. Tackling things you thought you could never do. Being courageous can have some extremely empowering and liberating results. Let’s talk about it.

“Outside of our comfort zone is where the excitement, the innovation, where significant changes can happen, where we can go after our goals, where we can experience things that we want to experience, where we can grow and change.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Our human default
Exposing yourself to discomfort
Where things happen
Taking stock of true danger
A challenge to us all

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

What intentional risks are you taking? Send me an email at sara@saradill.com or connect with me on social media. I’d love to hear about what you’re doing to move closer to your ideal life.

How to Increase Your Mental and Emotional Agility

Sara Dill — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 03:00:00 -0600

When we can maintain a more fluid and less rigid approach to life, it goes a long way to reducing stress and turmoil. We can pivot and not end up stuck in certain emotions or thought patterns. This allows us to better manage whatever unexpected thing life throws our way.

Because it’s such an invaluable skill, I’ve both practiced and taught thought flexibility for a long time. And over the years, I’ve found the same concept described in various ways. In this episode, I want to share one more way of viewing it. I’ve long believed it to be helpful to describe similar skills in different ways because one way might work better, speak deeper, and stick more tightly for you than another. So let’s once more examine how to increase your mental and emotional agility.

“Mental and emotional agility is the ability to move and change shape when you’re in a high wind. When you’re under stress. When you are experiencing severe storms.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

A lesson from trees
Increasing the space of our power
Mental rigidity vs Mental agility
Integral to well-being and success
Four steps to mental flexibility
Examining thoughts and emotions

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David, PhD
The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

I may be busy but I really do read and respond to all my own emails. Why? Because I look forward to corresponding with my podcast listeners. You can write to ask me questions, recommend something you’d like to hear me talk about or even just say hello. sara@saradill.com

Why how you speak about yourself and to yourself matters

Sara Dill — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Most of us are at least somewhat careful regarding how we speak about others. We try not to be overly cruel or to put others down too much. But we’re rarely as observant or conscientious of how we speak about ourselves. We don’t analyze our self-criticism or our self-talk.

But just like how you speak about someone else has an impact, so does how you speak about yourself. As does the manner in which you speak to yourself. And the impact may be more damaging than you realize. Let’s talk about why how you speak about yourself and to yourself matters and what we can do to change it.

“That little voice in our head is always going to be there… Are you good company to yourself?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Fundamental shaper of who we are
Examples of inner dialogue
Observing what you say
How to celebrate all of us
Setting the bar for how others treat us
Why the switch is everything

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

My Book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

How to Identify What Your Dream Practice Looks Like

Sara Dill — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Your Dream Practice. Just thinking about it might cause you to sigh with longing. But like planning a dream trip, you must be clear on where you want to go. As I’ve been planning some trips lately, I’ve been pondering this parallel.

Without knowing where you’re headed, working toward a dream practice becomes muddled. It can even become little more than an exercise in frustration and futility. But if you know where you want to go, a world of possibilities opens up. You can figure out the path and the how. And it all starts with first knowing how to identify what your dream practice looks like.

“The degree to which you don’t know what you truly want is the degree to which you won’t ever get it.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Recognize your focus
It’s going to feel uncomfortable
Knowing what you don’t want
Knowing what you do want
Identify your beliefs about your future
How to identify your ideal job (your “too good to be true”)
Tuning in and getting clear

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

My Book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine by Dr. Sara Dill, MD

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Dr. Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

My #1 Coaching Tool (Warmer vs Colder)

Sara Dill — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Can playing a version of a children’s game actually help us make decisions? Help us know what path to take? I think so.

In this episode, I share my #1 coaching tool: Warmer versus Colder–and how it can help us as adults. It may seem silly but this method taps into our intuition and our natural sense of the correct answer to questions we’re asking and decisions we’re making. Let’s explore how and why.

“Warmer feels less stressful. Colder feels stressed.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

A children’s game
How warmer vs colder works
Signs of warmer
Signs of colder
Why warmer vs colder works

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD

The Doctor’s Coach

Thinking about working with me? I have room for new clients, so don’t hesitate to schedule a FREE consult call: saradill.com/schedule.

Interested in my book? You can order a copy here: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine

How to Change Your Past

Sara Dill — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Noticing the story of your past and how it’s affecting your present can help you recontextualize it. This can lead to healing changes such as removing limiting beliefs, removing some of the sting of the past, and others. All of this can help lead you into a better future.

To accomplish this, I want to talk about how to change your past. I truly believe you can change your past… in a way. In the most important way. It’s not about changing facts or pretending things didn’t happen. And it’s not about making up a new past. It’s all about redefining how you tell your story, how you view things from your past, and how you allow that to shape your present and your future.

“Our past no longer exists in any place except our mind… If you’re thinking about your past, you’re doing so now, you’re doing so in the present moment… The only way your past exists now is in your thought or thoughts about it. Otherwise, it doesn’t really affect you.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Recontextualizing the facts of your life
Sharing with someone who is caring
The only place the past exists
Memory is malleable
Choosing focus and meaning
Making peace with your past
How to change your past

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I currently have space for new clients! Schedule a FREE consult call to chat with me about it: saradill.com/schedule.

Read and respond to my own emails? Yes, I do. I truly enjoy communicating with listeners to my podcast. Ask me a question, suggest a podcast topic or just say hi: sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

What do you believe (and when to change it)

Sara Dill — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 03:00:00 -0600

As children, we’re often told what to believe and/or feel. We don’t have much choice in what we believe. But as adults, that’s not true. No one can actually make us believe anything without our consent. This should prompt us to examine how we’re processing what we believe.

That’s why I feel it’s important to evaluate what you believe and what influences those beliefs. For example, what from your past might be tainting what you believe now? What thoughts or beliefs are left over from your past? Let’s talk about what you believe and when to change it.

“It’s very difficult to make decisions that go against our core beliefs, how we understand the world, how we understand ourselves. Right? It’s like paddling upstream. And so the easier place to start is to identify those beliefs and start to loosen them, start to change them, start to imagine how you would behave if you believed the opposite, if you believed something different.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Beliefs are choices
Past shame, guilt, worry, hesitation
What you believe
Changing your past
Changing how you speak about yourself

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I currently have space for new clients! Schedule a FREE consult call to chat with me about it: saradill.com/schedule.

Read and respond to my own emails? Yes, I do. I truly enjoy communicating with listeners to my podcast. Ask me a question, suggest a podcast topic or just say hi: sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

Don’t wait until you’re ready

Sara Dill — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 03:00:00 -0600

It’s been said that if you wait until you “feel” ready, you’ll never act. Of course, this isn’t the case for all people or even every situation but sometimes, there are things we want to do, or we even should do, that we may never really feel totally ready for. But do you have to feel completely ready or can you just get started?

In this episode, I want to explore this idea. What if you don’t wait until you’re ready? What if you move or act in spite of the fear or the uncertainty? Might you feel more ready if you try on the new thought that you can start regardless of your feelings? Let’s talk about it.

“What if you start to believe: I’m ready enough. I don’t need to wait until I’m completely ready. Right? I can start now.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

What needs to happen
Possible to just start
Kolbe Action Modes
Quick Start
Fact Finder
Follow-Through
Implementer

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Kolbe Assessments: kolbe.com

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I currently have space for new clients! Schedule a FREE consult call to chat with me about it: saradill.com/schedule.

Read and respond to my own emails? Yes, I do. I truly enjoy communicating with listeners to my podcast. Ask me a question, suggest a podcast topic or just say hi: sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

The Power of Constraint

Sara Dill — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Constraint, when placed upon ourselves, can be extremely powerful because it’s all about intentionality. It’s not about limiting ourselves simply for the sake of discipline. It’s about purposefully and thoughtfully removing or subtracting things from our lives to attain a bigger goal.

Thus this voluntary form of restraint comes from a place of autonomy and ownership. That’s why it’s important to both think carefully and make conscious choices in the area of constraint, as well as to ready yourself to follow through. Because your brain will resist, especially at first. So let’s talk about the power of constraint and how to wield it positively in our lives.

“Practicing voluntary constraint, practicing voluntary limitation of what your options are, and planning that out in advance, can actually give you so much more freedom. Freedom from overwhelm, freedom from decision fatigue, freedom from sort of frittering your time away on things that, in the end, you don’t really even care about.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

What constraint is and is not
How constraint guides us
Benefits of simplification
Areas to consider
Get specific
Measure your success

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I currently have space for new clients! Schedule a FREE consult call to chat with me about it: saradill.com/schedule.

Read and respond to my own emails? Yes, I do. I truly enjoy communicating with listeners to my podcast. Ask me a question, suggest a podcast topic or just say hi: sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

Decisions ahead of time

Sara Dill — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Making decisions ahead of time may, on the surface, seem like a constraining habit. Like your freedom to choose in the moment would be stripped away. However, it’s been my experience that the opposite is actually true.

There is a very real and very prevalent source of overwhelm and stress: Decision fatigue. We literally make hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of decisions every single day. But when I found the relief of utilizing this strategy of making decisions ahead of time – and honoring them – it has helped me alleviate some of my decision fatigue. Of course, there are some decisions that you simply can’t, and others you shouldn’t, make in advance but there are many you can. Let’s talk about how and why to employ this powerful stress reducer.

“When we make decisions ahead of time… we’re not focused on seeking pleasure or avoiding pain or conserving energy. We aren’t reactive… We’re intentional.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Draining mental energy
Using the more complicated part of your brain
Proactive thinking yields smarter decisions
Decision fatigue
Natural rebellion against premade decisions
How to employ this stress reducing habit
When to change your mind or not

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I currently have space for new clients! Schedule a FREE consult call to chat with me about it: saradill.com/schedule.

Read and respond to my own emails? Yes, I do. I truly enjoy communicating with listeners to my podcast. Ask me a question, suggest a podcast topic or just say hi: sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

Ask Your Future Self for Advice

Sara Dill — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Have you ever written a letter from your future self? It’s pretty common motivational advice to write a letter to your future self, outlining what you want to accomplish, who you’re going to be, and so forth. But what if, instead, you wrote a letter from your future self? What would that look like?

I’ve taken on the habit of talking with and thinking about my future self at about 60, or sometimes, 90 years old. And the more I do that, the more I care about myself in the future. I care about me. This prompts me to consider what I’m doing today to create that ideal future for the gracious, caring, tough-love, 90-year-old me. To help you try this unique approach to seeking wisdom, I share my experiences and how, exactly, you ask your future self for advice.

“The more I talk with my future self, the more I think about me in the future… the more I care about her… It makes me want to take care of her… I want to have my own back… I want to set myself up in the future to have my goals and dreams come true.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Positive anticipation of future
Tapping into future self wisdom
Get to know future you
How to gauge advice authenticity
Questions to ask future you
Wisdom from the future

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I currently have space for new clients! Schedule a FREE consult call to chat with me about it: saradill.com/schedule.

Read and respond to my own emails? Yes, I do. I truly enjoy communicating with listeners to my podcast. Ask me a question, suggest a podcast topic or just say hi: sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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When It’s Just One Thing After Another

Sara Dill — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Sometimes life hands us trouble after trouble. One thing goes wrong, then another, then another… and before you know it, you’ve suffered through a series of difficult times. When that happens, employing some thought work skills, along with gaining insight and perspective, is invaluable.

What prompted this podcast was my own experience of just one thing after another going wrong. I wanted so badly to be able to hit pause and make it stop. That, in turn, prompted me to examine why it seems like things happen one right after the other, and how I respond when they do. Let’s talk about it.

“I sort of like to be happy when I think about one thing happening after another because if I don’t like whatever this thing is–the good news is–there’s going to be something coming pretty darn soon that I might like a whole lot more.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Life doesn’t stop
Why we notice
There will always be more
Feel better now
Something else is coming

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

I read my own emails and love hearing from listeners. You can ask me a question, suggest a topic for the podcast, or just say hi. Write to me at sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

The Lost Art of Relaxing (and why you need a lazy day)

Sara Dill — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 03:00:00 -0600

In our modern society we have an aversion to the concept of being lazy or idle. We see it as a negative thing. But what if it’s not? Of course, I’m not saying we should do nothing all the time. But I am talking about the lost art of relaxing and why you need a lazy day.

Allowing myself to have unscheduled time or to take a lazy day is something I’m actually pretty good at. I know that’s an odd thing to say but I’ve embraced the power of a leisure day. However, I’ve found that most people, even if they know it’s healthy to take time off, struggle with it. They cannot lean into the peace of an idle day but rather find themselves feeling guilty or searching for something to do. So I thought I’d share some of my thoughts about the value of relaxation and encourage you to regularly give yourself permission to be lazy.

“What if not doing anything is actually one of the most important uses of your time?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Defining a lazy day
Why it’s not a waste of time
Practicing relaxation
What unscheduled time allows
Give yourself permission

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

I read my own emails and love hearing from listeners. You can ask me a question, suggest a topic for the podcast, or just say hi. Write to me at sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

How To Cope When Things Go Wrong

Sara Dill — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Life is an endless series of ups and downs. And, unfortunately, that means that sometimes things just don’t go right. Plans get messed up, expectations are dashed, disappointments invade our otherwise happy life.

In this episode, I to talk about how to cope with things go wrong. Interestingly, I recorded this for you on the still-hot-heels of a vacation day gone wrong. I invite you to take a journey with me as I rewind and replay my day, and transparently share my thoughts, emotions, and the techniques I employed to help bring myself back down because… well… I was pretty darn angry. Let’s go.

“Sometimes I’m not ready to move into a better feeling thought. And sometimes there’s enough relief in just noticing and knowing that my crappy feelings are coming a hundred percent from my thoughts about the situation, and I know that, and I’m just not ready to change them yet.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Noticing and labeling
Sometimes you’re just not ready
Recognizing true wastes of time
Amplifying only worsens things

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

I read my own emails and love hearing from listeners. You can ask me a question, suggest a topic for the podcast, or just say hi. Write to me at sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

Toxic People, Toxic Jobs

Sara Dill — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 03:00:00 -0600

The word toxic is a powerful and emotional one. And I believe it’s sometimes overused. After all, by the literal definition, people cannot technically be toxic and only specific jobs are. Yet we find this word used frequently and perhaps have used it ourselves.

So as we consider the word toxic, I invite you to contemplate with me: Does this word serve me well? Considering that it’s a very dramatic word, I’ve found myself wondering: Is it more harmful than helpful? Let’s talk about it.

“What toxic people and toxic jobs do is show us where we aren’t managing our mind… where we, perhaps, feel like we don’t have permission to change our minds… Drama’s always a sign that there’s work there for you to do.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Literal definition of toxic
Ramping up the drama
Why we use the word toxic
Embracing change
Working on your personal responsibility

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

I read my own emails and love hearing from listeners. You can ask me a question, suggest a topic for the podcast, or just say hi. Write to me at sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

My Favorite Sentences

Sara Dill — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 03:00:00 -0600

There are some sentences that nearly suck the life out of you. They’re deflating. But then, there are sentences that infuse you with life. They’re invigorating. Then there are those sentences which can be used to reflect on truths that make us both wiser and less stressed.

For this episode, I compiled a long list of sentences I personally have found to be useful. Each one, in some way, brings me back to center or stops me from spinning or the like when I find myself stressed and anxious or even angry. As I share my favorite sentences with you, I hope you’ll find several that bring you back into a peaceful mindstate as they do me.

“Regret is how we use our past to ruin our present.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Topics of my favorite sentences, include:

Time
Clarity
Courage
Worry
Failure
Acceptance
Feelings
Conflict
Discomfort
Love
Stress
Answers
Freedom
Thoughts

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

I read my own emails and love hearing from listeners. You can ask me a question, suggest a topic for the podcast, or just say hi. Write to me at sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

How To Get Out of a Funk

Sara Dill — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Just feeling off or blah happens to us all. On that inevitable off day, perhaps the best gift we can give ourselves is to simply allow the feelings to come and go... Give ourselves room to breathe, to be human, to accept that this, too, is part of the human experience.

Sometimes being in a funk just passes on its own. Something happens that changes how we feel or it’s blissfully time for bed and sleep makes it better. But because we all have days when we just aren’t at 100%, but still have to carry on through the day, I wanted to offer you ways to get out of a funk. I hope one or more of these stick with you and help the next time you face a down day.

“This, too, will pass… Normal to have a few bad moments here and there–to feel off–and it’s not going to add up to a bad life.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Have compassion
Practice acceptance
Carry on
Move your body
Avoid the 4 Cs
Keep perspective
Be grateful
Spend time
Caring connection
Slow down

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

I read my own emails and love hearing from listeners. You can ask me a question, suggest a topic for the podcast, or just say hi. Write to me at sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

When to Quit vs When to Grit

Sara Dill — Mon, 29 May 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Decision making is often ultimately between quitting something or sticking with it. Continuing on the path you’re on or choosing a new one. But finding the correct path for yourself is not always a clear one. Should you stick with it or cut your losses? Should you persevere or decide enough is enough?

As I’ve pondered this dilemma, I’ve reflected upon how many things I’ve quit and how each has been a part of leading me to where I am today. I also have thought a lot about how many small things are a quit vs grit scenario, not just the big things that easily come to mind. This prompted me to want to explore the concept and impact of how to know when to grit (which is encouraged in our society) and when to quit (which is typically frowned upon). Which is the better choice? Which is the healthier choice? Let’s talk about it.

“The idea of never quitting is actually a terrible idea. And in fact, what we need to do is to quit early and often those things that are unlikely to turn out well for us, that are unlikely to contribute to our happiness and well-being... I think the better advice is to never quit something with great long term potential just because we can’t deal with the stress of the moment.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Even the word synonyms encourage grit over quit
When to never quit
Markers to know when to quit
Desire for certainty
Right timing to quit
Calculating expected value
Sunk cost fallacy
Quitting criteria or kill criteria

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Books:

Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away by Annie Duke

The Dip: The Little Book That Teaches You When To Quit (And When to Stick) by Seth Godin

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

Thinking of dropping me a line? Please do! I read all my own emails and truly enjoy hearing from listeners. You can ask me a question, suggest a topic for the podcast, or just say hi: sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

Mini Thought Experiment (What if Today was Your Last Day?)

Sara Dill — Mon, 22 May 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Questions we ask that lead us to solutions and positivity are extremely helpful and useful. But we sometimes tend to ask ourselves dead end questions. These are the ones that lead us in a downward spiral and cause us to only find support for the negative. This is why it’s so important to really think about how you phrase questions to yourself and others. It can completely change the outcome.

As I have worked and coached myself and others to ask more positive questions, I’ve found there is tremendous power in them. The right questions can make all the difference. So in the spirit of asking myself questions that are upward moving and cause me to think creatively, I’m asking myself–and invite you to ask yourself–What if today was your last day?

“If today was the last day of my life, how would I show up differently to everything I’m already planning on doing?... So far it’s really made the small, normal routine events of my day to day more meaningful, more poignant, more powerful… It’s created a lot more of a sense of gratitude and abundance.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Quitting versus gritting
Questions we want to ask ourselves
‘If this was your last day…’
Different than making changes
Paying attention on purpose
The power of the right question

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

Thinking of dropping me a line? Please do! I read all my own emails and truly enjoy hearing from listeners. You can ask me a question, suggest a topic for the podcast, or just say hi: sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

How to Make Your Life More Like Vacation

Sara Dill — Mon, 15 May 2023 03:00:00 -0600

If asked, I think nearly everyone would love to have their everyday life feel more like vacation. But the question is: How? What, exactly, is the difference between regular life and vacation life?

I believe much of the difference lies in how you and I view things and approach all we need to accomplish. And because so much of it revolves around how we think and feel, I believe we can, with a small amount of thought-shift and some minor behavior modifications, learn how to make life more like vacation. Let’s talk about it.

“I especially like to feel connected with whoever else I might be on vacation with… not distracted, not sort of with a wandering mind. I wanna feel present.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Feel of vacation life
Pursuit of specific feelings
9 ways to make everyday feel more like vacation

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Small Group Coaching Program: Started Monday, May 8, 2023 but it’s not too late to join. There are still a few open slots. The program lasts 3 months, with 2 sessions per month, plus you receive unlimited written or email coaching in between sessions.

Don’t delay in signing up: there is a maximum of 10 physicians in the group. I keep it very small to be more intimate and so everyone can get coached every week if they want to. Sessions are not recorded (for more privacy).

Also, my Small Group Coaching Program has 6 CME AMA PRA Category 1 credits, which may make it easier to budget for or get reimbursed.

For more information and to register: saradill.com/coaching.

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

How "I don't know" keeps you stuck

Sara Dill — Mon, 08 May 2023 03:00:00 -0600

When we talk about “three little words”, we typically think of “I love you”... which are wonderful words. But there are three other little words that have been described as having the power to steal your life: I don’t know.

In considering these three little words, I’ve thought a lot about how “I don’t know” keeps you stuck. And I wanted to offer some thoughts I’ve had around these words of indecision: why we say (or think) them and how we can maybe say them a little less or use them differently. I hope reframing these words brings you freedom and helps ease some stress for you, as it has for me.

“The ‘I don’t know’ that will keep you stuck, the ‘I don’t know’ that will steal your life, the ‘I don’t know’ that you can lose months, weeks, years to–right–is the one that is really coming from fear.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

When we use “I don’t know”
Fine reasons
Problem reasons
The “I don’t know” that keeps you stuck
How to work with “I don’t know”
Take a little action

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Small Group Coaching Program: Starts Monday, May 8, 2023. The program lasts 3 months, with 2 sessions per month, plus you receive unlimited written or email coaching in between sessions.

Also, my Small Group Coaching Program has 6 CME AMA PRA Category 1 credits, which may make it easier to budget for or get reimbursed.

For more information and to register: saradill.com/coaching.

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

Give Yourself the Gift of Coaching

Sara Dill — Mon, 01 May 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Regardless of the type of coaching you receive, whether one-on-one, self-coaching, reading books… I believe everyone deserves coaching. And I truly believe you should give yourself the gift of coaching, if you’re not currently doing so.

In thinking about the gift of coaching, I have been reflecting on what coaching has meant to me and why I do what I do. I love helping others and have received much needed help myself from others. I want people to realize that things don’t need to be completely awful or falling apart for coaching to be valuable, although it is extremely valuable, even sustaining, during those times. Let’s talk about it.

“[When] our current situation is so bad and we are so unhappy that… that pain and suffering that we’re experiencing… outweighs our fear of change, and the unknown, and we’re suddenly willing to make a change… [That is] what I would love to help more people with… [because] it no longer has to get that bad.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

When coaching helps
Stepping into fear
Stuck in “I don’t know”
Coaching helps…
Stop recreating unwanted results
Redefine things
Improve decision making
Reduce stress
Much more

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Small Group Coaching Program: Starts Monday, May 8, 2023. The program lasts 3 months, with 2 sessions per month, plus you receive unlimited written or email coaching in between sessions.

Also, my Small Group Coaching Program has 6 CME AMA PRA Category 1 credits, which may make it easier to budget for or get reimbursed.

For more information and to register: saradill.com/coaching.

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

Frustration and How to Reduce It

Sara Dill — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Frustration. That irritation that arises from the inability to change or achieve something. We all experience this strong emotion in our lives. Countless circumstances or people can trigger it–even on a daily basis. But perhaps the biggest issue with frustration lies not in the existence of it but in what it does to us internally.

In this episode, I dive into the messy realm of frustration. When faced with frustrations, we may feel stressed, powerless, helpless or even like a victim. This is simply because we cannot always control situations, and we certainly cannot control the actions of others. We can only influence them. This is why I believe it’s extremely empowering to redirect our energy to what we can control: our thoughts as we process frustrations. And, in doing so, we can reduce it.

“Feeling frustrated does not help us to be more efficient, to get things done, to make changes, or to stress less... It doesn’t let us see where we do have control or autonomy or the ability to affect change… We feel helpless, and maybe at someone else’s mercy, or the victim of circumstances.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Why we’re frequently frustrated
Key feature of burnout
How frustration can rob us
Normal interpretations and reactions
5 ways to reduce frustration

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

New Group Coaching Session: coming soon! Stand by for details.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

The Importance of Thinking Time

Sara Dill — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Having time in your day to simply think can seem impossible. There is so much to do, especially as a busy physician. Or it may seem like an unnecessary or wasteful way to spend time. However, I would submit to you that it's not. It’s actually extremely productive. Having time to process, to mull things over, is healthy and indispensable.

Neuroscience suggests that a wandering mind is an unhappy mind when not focused on a task. But this is different than that. When you give yourself time and room to work things out in your mind, your brain receives much needed space. Space that can create solutions, bring clarity, and even offer opportunities. Let’s talk about it.

“Leaders often have a lot of time that is not spent in tasks or meetings. You need to have time to have a vision, create a vision, get creative. We need to be the CEO of our own lives.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Productive doesn’t have to mean busy
Wandering mind time
Blocking out time
Letting your mind unfold
Not relaxing time, reflecting time

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

Think Again by Adam Grant

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

New Group Coaching Session: coming soon! Stand by for details.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

Why Insight Isn't Enough to Create Lasting Change

Sara Dill — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Ever have one of those “aha” moments–one you thought would alter your life forever–only to have the initial thrill of discovery fade away? This is not only common but normal. A book, a conference, a session, a podcast… all can offer amazing insights. But just gaining awareness of a truth doesn’t automatically mean change in your life.

In this episode, I address the issue of why insight isn’t enough to create lasting change. Why that moment of revelation is only an impetus, not instant results. Action, coupled with awareness is necessary to cement insight into change. Action is how we reform our thinking, our behavior, our emotional reactions, and so on.

“This really has everything to do with the difference between insight and action. Right? So insight feels great. It feels like enough. It can be intense, or it can be exciting, or insight can be revelatory… but until I actually start to put a new way of living it out into action, I'm not actually going to see the results of that insight.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Intensity and excitement of insight
Insight needs action
Necessity of awareness
Rewiring our brains
Changing your habits

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

New Group Coaching Session: coming soon! Stand by for details.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

The Third Path or How to Grow from adversity

Sara Dill — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 03:00:00 -0600

There is an uncomfortable type of personal growth known as adversarial growth or post-traumatic growth. While not the way one would choose to grow, it offers opportunity that can be extremely useful and formative. This opportunity can be viewed as three paths, three ways of responding to negative or painful circumstances. One path will take you only in circles, and the second deeper into negativity and despair, but the third leads to resilience and wisdom.

In this episode, I want to explore the idea of this third path or this “falling up”, as it has also been termed. But how do you find it? What are its characteristics? Let’s talk about how we can find and then take the third path and grow from adversity.

“We live in a world where things happen… adversarial events, crises, all sorts of challenging things happen… it’s sort of the nature of life... [But] if you are in a positive sort of mental state, if you feel energized, optimistic, happy, and you’re thriving, you’re way more likely to be able to create the changes you want to.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Defining adversarial growth
Characteristics of the first path
Characteristics of the second path
Characteristics of the third path
Finding the third path
Crisis as opportunity
Counterfacts
Positive narrative

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

New Group Coaching Session: coming soon! Stand by for details.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I’d love to work with you! Sign up for a FREE consult call so we can chat. Schedule on my calendar at: saradill.com/schedule.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

The Power of “Maybe” and How to Use it to Reduce Any Stress

Sara Dill — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 03:00:00 -0600

“Maybe” is not a wimpy word. It’s actually quite powerful. But we tend to think it seems uncertain, as though someone is hedging, or being non-committal. However, I actually love the word maybe. It’s one of my favorites.

I think “maybe” is a viable way to handle situations which are uncomfortable in the moment. It offers the opportunity to shift how you’re thinking or feeling in any circumstance, while affording you a bit of breathing room to process. So let’s talk about using the power of maybe to reduce stress.

“Maybe is a powerful word… it takes us a little bit out of that certainty… the need to be 100% right, meaning the other person is 100% wrong.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

The confirmation bias
Maybe as a wiggle word
Assuming the other person is at least 10% right
De-escalation to reduce stress
A “maybe” parable

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

New Group Coaching Session: coming soon! Stand by for details.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I offer FREE consultations. Get scheduled on my calendar: saradill.com/schedule. I look forward to talking to you.

I read all my own emails and would love to hear from you. Feel free to ask me questions or make topic suggestions for the podcast. Email me at sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
Facebook
Instagram

How (and why) to Transform Any Crisis into a Gift

Sara Dill — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Being able to transform any crisis into a gift is a superskill. The more you develop it, the greater and further reaching the benefits. It may seem strange but it affords us the ability to respond, rather than react. We can learn to not argue with reality. Accepting reality is a path to freedom.

This is not to say that we simply accept everything that happens but we no longer expend emotional energy denying what has already occurred. The use of transformation reallocates our energy to work toward change instead of ruminating on the past. Let’s talk about this powerful mindset shift.

“I would offer that accepting reality is a path to freedom… [And] what if, in every crisis, there are multiple gifts and opportunities that can be found or can be created?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Not arguing with reality
You have more than one choice
The gift of not doing
What accepting doesn’t mean
Action of converting crisis
What’s the alternative

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

New Group Coaching Session: coming soon! Stand by for details.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I offer FREE consultations. Get scheduled on my calendar: saradill.com/schedule. I look forward to talking to you.
I read all my own emails and would love to hear from you. Feel free to ask me questions or make topic suggestions for the podcast. Email me at sara@saradill.com.
Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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There’s always going to be more to do (and why that’s a good thing)

Sara Dill — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Having a lot on your to do list can be either overwhelming or can be viewed as a positive circumstance. On the overloaded side, we can have this belief that if only we worked harder, faster, more efficiently… we’d somehow get to that elusive empty list, that blissful “Inbox 0”.

Unfortunately, to believe that can happen in every aspect is a fallacy and thus sets us up for stress. So instead, what if we were to adjust how we view our endless to do list? What if we can embrace that there’s always going to be more to do… and absorb positive energy from it actually being a good thing? Let’s explore this idea together.

“It doesn’t allow me to enjoy the process of accomplishing… to enjoy the moment to moment experience that is my life… And, in fact, it feels like it’s a race to me that I am sprinting. And sprints are not designed to be sustained.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Stressful mental construct
Missing the joy of the process
Feeling like a sprint
Finding a sustainable pace
Pursuing that feeling now

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

New Group Coaching Session: coming soon! Stand by for details.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I offer FREE consultations. Get scheduled on my calendar: saradill.com/schedule. I look forward to talking to you.

I read all my own emails and would love to hear from you. Feel free to ask me questions or make topic suggestions for the podcast. Email me at sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Are you Upper Limiting Yourself?

Sara Dill — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 03:00:00 -0600

We can unconsciously keep ourselves stuck. Subconsciously, we limit ourselves on the level of happiness, abundance, love, success – you name it – that we believe we deserve or believe we can handle. How we get them is from the things we hear, see and experience as we go throughout our lives. Even if we don’t specifically remember being told a limit, inferred ones become solidified in our subconscious.

But what if we can discover those ingrained beliefs? And what if, by doing so, we can break through them? To begin, we need to acknowledge the truth that, like negative emotions, we tend to also limit ourselves in positive emotions. We somehow believe we don’t deserve better or that too much good is somehow wrong. So let’s talk about it, starting with asking the question: Are you upper limiting yourself?

“All of these [limiting beliefs] are gonna keep you from feeling and being as amazing as you could be… [But] the good news is, this upper limit problem doesn’t have to persist for you.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Our limit thermostat
5 Upper limiting fears
We’re fundamentally flawed
Disloyalty of moving beyond
More success means more problems
I’ll diminish others
Inviting bad
6 Ways we upper limit ourselves
Worry and two questions
Blame and criticism of self and others
Deflection, brushing off accolades
Arguing, fighting
Integrity breaches
Accidents and illness

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

FREE Video:

The Big Leap Video

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

New Group Coaching Session: coming soon! Stand by for details.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I offer FREE consultations. Get scheduled on my calendar: saradill.com/schedule. I look forward to talking to you.

I read all my own emails and would love to hear from you. Feel free to ask me questions or make topic suggestions for the podcast. Email me at sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Regret Minimization

Sara Dill — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Considering regrets is a part of life. We wonder if we should have done something differently or not done something at all. We wonder what might have changed if we’d made another choice. Would things be better? Would they be worse?

Since I’ve been a coach, I’ve found the reality of evaluating past decisions and having regrets comes up a lot. And I have pondered and explored the possibility that there may be two ways of looking at regret. The first consideration is that regret is both a noun and a verb. The second consideration is whether or not indulging in regret can be avoided. Might we, instead, find a method for regret minimization? I think so.

Let’s talk about it.

“Is there something that you regret not doing in the past that you could choose again for the future?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Noticing regrets with intention
Projecting into the future
Themes from the terminally ill
Living your life true to yourself
Regret minimization framework (from Jeff Bezos)
3 questions to evaluate decisions

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing by Bronnie Ware

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

New Group Coaching Session: coming soon! Stand by for details.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I offer FREE consultations. Get scheduled on my calendar: saradill.com/schedule. I look forward to talking to you.

I read all my own emails and would love to hear from you. Feel free to ask me questions or make topic suggestions for the podcast. Email me at sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com

Work with me: saradill.com/coaching

My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine

Write Yourself a Prescription for Nature

Sara Dill — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 03:00:00 -0600

We all know that spending time in nature is a wonderful stress-reducer. Numerous medical studies support the health benefits of allowing nature to rejuvenate us, and countless testimonials to this fact could be garnered from around the world. Why, then, do we not spend more time outside? Could it be because we believe we’re too busy to have it matter?

In this episode, I want to explore this topic, including the results of some studies and the benefits of even spending just 20 minutes outside. And I hope after spending about 20 minutes or so with me, pondering the statistics and anecdotes I’ll share regarding the healing power of being outdoors, you’ll write yourself a prescription for nature and heed it right away.

“You can boost your mood just by walking in nature, even in urban nature. And the sense of connection you have with the natural world seems to also contribute to happiness, even when you’re not physically immersed in nature.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Stats and studies
Break lengths
Improvements and benefits
Forest bathing
Intentionally immersing in nature
Bring it in if you need to

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I read all my own emails and would love to hear from you. Feel free to ask me questions or make topic suggestions for the podcast. Email me at sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I offer FREE consultations. Get scheduled on my calendar: saradill.com/schedule. I look forward to talking to you.
My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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“GOOD” Hard versus “BAD” Hard

Sara Dill — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Not everything that’s hard to do is necessarily bad for us. We know hard work, for example, is rewarding. Right? But it’s also true that not everything that’s hard to do is good for us either. Each has an underlying impact. Yet how do we differentiate between things that are hard but good, and things that are hard and bad? And why does it matter?

As physicians, we encounter countless opportunities to steer our patients, as well as ourselves, toward “good” hard and away from “bad”. We do it regularly. It pours forth from who we are as healers. Because of this, I believe it is powerful to examine the characteristics of each type of “hard” more in depth, equipping us to help people even more. So let’s talk about “good” hard versus “bad” hard.

“Good hard is something that even though it’s hard, even though it’s difficult, even though it’s challenging, the result is worth it.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Characteristics of “good” hard
Characteristics of “bad” hard
Endurance and effort
Worth it or not
Nourished versus depleted
Drop the bad, choose the good

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

I read all my own emails and would love to hear from you. Feel free to ask me questions or make topic suggestions for the podcast. Email me at sara@saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com

Work with me: saradill.com/coaching

I offer FREE consultations. Get scheduled on my calendar: saradill.com/schedule. I look forward to talking to you.

My book: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine

Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine

How to be less judgmental and becoming discerning instead

Sara Dill — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Evaluation. Our brains are performing this function nearly nonstop as we go through our day. It’s part of our decision-making process, how we make sense of the world, and how we keep ourselves safe. However, due to various influences, our brains trend toward the negative more often than the positive. The judgmental mind strategy or pattern we use to protect ourselves actually leaves us feeling unhappy, dissatisfied and hyper-focused on what’s wrong.

But what if we can retrain our brains by replacing judgment with discernment? This subtle but freeing shift still involves the evaluation we naturally perform but it uses the information input differently. Rather than looking for what is wrong, discernment considers facts without assigning so much personal meaning and emotion. This fosters an environment of problem solving with less stress and calm, something we all desire. Let’s explore together how to become less judgmental and more discerning.

“Dropping judgment can actually allow us to achieve more… It can allow us to be more innovative and creative… enjoy our work and personal lives more… improve our relationships... [and] tap into our own inner wisdom and see possibilities where before we saw only problems.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Our evaluative brain
Saboteurs and no win questions
Negative effects of judging
Positive effects of discerning
The science of discernment
Nickname your judgy brain

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Have anything you’d like to hear me talk about on the podcast? Or have questions about working with me? Email me directly at sara@saradill.com, I personally read and respond to my own emails and would love to correspond with you.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Stop Making Things Personal

Sara Dill — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 03:00:00 -0600

There

is a big difference between doing and being. For example, you can

experience anger but not be an angry person. You can make a bad decision

but not be a bad person. You can fail but not be a failure. When we

make decisions and emotions mean something is wrong with us, personally,

that those somehow define who we are, we only make it worse. And we

make something personal that probably actually isn’t.

course, I’m not suggesting we don’t take responsibility for our choices

and our actions. But I am suggesting we maybe don’t personalize them so

deeply. That we don’t assign meaning and character traits that aren't

really there. When we don’t personalize things that aren’t personal, we

eliminate the pile-on of more negative emotions, freeing us to examine

ourselves, to grow and to change.

“When you

personalize it, you make it mean something more pervasive and more

permanent about yourself… That’s gonna be so much worse. Right? That’s

gonna be such a bigger deal, and have so many more repercussions for

you.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Difference between doing and being
Adjust your perception
Pile-on prevents growth and change
Catch yourself challenge

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Lessons Learned from Don Miguel Ruiz (The Four Agreements)

Sara Dill — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 03:00:00 -0600

We live with agreements, whether we acknowledge them or not. There are sets of rules and expectations to which we adhere in order to satisfy the demands of others. We’ve learned to act in accordance with these agreements, to be liked or to fit in, to live, show up and interact with other people in an acceptable manner.

In this episode, I discuss the existence of these agreements, specifically four agreements, as don Miguel Ruiz outlines in his short book, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book).

I particularly like this book because it brings these societal and familial agreements into perspective so we can examine them – and ourselves – more closely. And I want to share with you some ideas and quotes from don Miguel’s book, as well as my own thoughts about the concepts.

“If we don’t like our life, we need to change the agreements we have with ourselves and with others.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Types of agreements
Be impeccable with your word
Kind and necessary
Don’t take things personally
Their thoughts, feelings, experiences
People lie, so do you
Don’t make assumptions
Tell stories to ourselves
Ask questions, make requests
Always do your best
Show up as yourself

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by don Miguel Ruiz

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

About don Miguel Ruiz

don Miguel Ruiz is a renowned spiritual teacher and internationally bestselling author of the “Toltec Wisdom Series,” including “The Four Agreements,” “The Mastery of Love,” “The Voice of Knowledge,” “The Four Agreements Companion Book,” “The Circle of Fire,” and “The Fifth Agreement.” The Toltec Wisdom books have sold over 12 million copies, and have been published in 46 languages worldwide.

don Miguel has spent the past three decades guiding students to personal freedom through his profound insights regarding the nature of human reality. His newest book, THE ACTOR, is part of the Mystery School series written with Barbara Emrys, and was published in November 2020.

The youngest of thirteen children, don Miguel Ruiz was born in rural Mexico to parents who were healers and practitioners of ancient Toltec traditions. As a young adult, he graduated from medical school in Mexico City and practiced neurosurgery with his older brother in Tijuana. A near-fatal car crash forever changed the direction of his life, however, causing him to leave medicine and to examine the essential truth about life and humanity. With his mother’s help, and through her ancestral teachings, he discovered his own path to awareness, which evolved into a deep understanding of the physical universe and the virtual world of the mind.

Combining Toltec mythology and scientific perspectives, don Miguel has been able to merge ancient wisdom with modern physics and practical common-sense, forging a new philosophy for seekers of truth and personal authenticity. His landmark bestselling book, The Four Agreements, contains practical steps for long-term, personal transformation and has been read by millions around the world.

First published in 1997, The Four Agreements has since sold over six million copies in the United States and seven million worldwide. It has been translated into 46 languages, appeared on the New York Times bestseller for nearly ten years, and was the 36th bestselling book of the decade. Don Miguel is also the author of The Mastery of Love, The Voice of Knowledge, Prayers, and the New York Times bestseller, The Fifth Agreement, a collaboration with his son, don José Ruiz. Each of his books are international bestsellers.

The wisdom don Miguel has brought to the world has earned him respect around the globe. He has dedicated his life to sharing his message through practical concepts in order to promote transformation and ultimately change lives for the better. Don Miguel is the recipient of numerous recognitions, including a U.S. Air Force ‘challenge coin’ engraved with “The Four Agreements.” He is the recipient of an Honorary Degree in Cultural and Social Education from the American Cultural Institute of Mexico and referenced as a “national treasure” in his native country. He lives in Nevada.

Get don Miguel’s book: The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book)

Learn more about don Miguel: https://www.miguelruiz.com

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Believing New Things - rebroadcast

Sara Dill — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 03:00:00 -0600

We want to be the boss of our mind. Not let it be the boss of us. But often, our responses, emotions and thoughts are so ingrained, so automatic, controlling them seems impossible. But we can. The truth is, we get to choose to believe what we want. I’m not suggesting we ignore proven facts but we can choose.

By creating space to think about our thinking, we can gain more authority over our thoughts, over our beliefs. We can then deal with them as things, we can reframe what we believe about life, about ourselves, about others. Thus, we can choose the life that we live. We can reshape what was shaped by our past. Let’s talk about how to believe new things

“When we are believing new things, we’re often trying to believe something that’s not yet true for us but that's possibly true, right?… That's going to be true in our future, that's going to be a part of our future.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Awareness and thought downloads
Defuse: Create space
Play with a thought
Reshape, replace thoughts
Find evidence
New thoughts feel better
Ladder or bridge thoughts
Test it in the real world

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

The Work by Byron Katie

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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How to Forgive Yourself

Sara Dill — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Forgiveness.

Without it, we can spiral into bitterness… even against ourselves. And

when we cannot forgive ourselves, we can begin to identify with our

mistakes. Rather than seeing something we did (or didn’t do) as being

separate from who we are, we assign meaning that isn’t necessarily

truth.

But

what if we could step back and assess ourselves and our decisions in a

new light? What if we can release the guilt, shame and regret of past

mistakes? I have some thoughts and ideas, ones I’ve successfully used

myself, to help you do just that. I hope they encourage you and help you

learn how to forgive yourself. And, by extension of forgiving yourself,

help you to also forgive others.

“Part of

self-forgiveness is this idea: Can you accept that you did the best you

could at the time? And that now that you know better, you can try to do

better?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Seeing goodness and best efforts
Not assigning meaning
Disconnecting from identity
Honestly assessing
Know better, do better
Asking for forgiveness

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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A Fresh Start (or how to begin again)

Sara Dill — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 03:00:00 -0600

Fresh starts are a necessity in life. A reset, a restart. The new year offers such a wonderful opportunity but what if we didn’t have to wait for a big event (like the changing of the calendar) to start fresh?

In this episode, I explore the idea of a fresh start, at any time, on any day, even hour to hour or moment to moment. I share my techniques of practicing this in my own life. And I examine the magic of newness, of showing up differently than we used to, of how to begin again.

“Every day we have, every hour, every moment is an invitation to start fresh, to start over. We always have the next moment ahead of us as yet unwritten, unlived, and full of possibility.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Magical openness
Stuck in reactivity
Break the cycle, begin again
Meditation practice
Fresh mind, fresh heart

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Interested in coaching? My small group is starting! Sign up at saradill.com/coaching.
If you have any questions about the various coaching options or about the small group, please email me at sara@saradill.com. I personally read and respond to my emails.
Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Creating Ease (AKA How to feel less stressed out)

Sara Dill — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 03:00:00 -0600

We’re tight... we’re tense… in both our bodies and our minds. While we know that creating more ease in our bodies is essential for both physical and emotional health and wellbeing, we can struggle to know how to make it happen. We need practical steps to feel less stressed and create ease.

The good news is, there are techniques we can employ as needed. I personally use the step-by-step practice I share in this episode because it works. And I hope as we move into the new year, it works for you too.

“It’s these brief moments, often repeated, that create new habits and create our sort of new status quo.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Training in tension
Brief moments, often repeated
How to create more ease, any time, anyplace
Simple but not necessarily easy

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Interested in coaching? I’ll be starting a new small group in January. Sign up at saradill.com/coaching.

If you have any questions about the various coaching options or about the small group, please email me at sara@saradill.com. I personally read and respond to my emails.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Goal Setting for a More Amazing Life

Sara Dill — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Goals for the new year. We all have them, even if we don’t make formal New Year's Resolutions. Claiming we’re not going to change anything in the coming year is unrealistic. But so is making goals of changes that are fueled by the wrong reasons or are simply unsustainable.

Goal setting, in itself, is a good thing, admirable and worth our efforts. When done right, change can bring about a happier, more amazing life. So how do we choose goals that make sense and result in successful change? What are some pitfalls of goal setting to be avoided? Let's talk about it.

“Changing from pressure, telling yourself you have to change… Or changing under threat or fear… that if you don’t do it, something bad is going to happen.… is rarely sustainable..” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Check your reasons
Break it down into measurable
Choose for yourself
Unsustainable change
Adding, not losing

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Interested in coaching? I’ll be starting a new small group in January. Sign up at saradill.com/coaching.

If you have any questions about the various coaching options or about the small group, please email me at sara@saradill.com. I personally read and respond to my emails.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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The Cure for Complaining

Sara Dill — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 03:00:00 -0600

We easily see the downside to things. We bond over shared misery. We even might try to get perspective or solutions by pointing out all the negatives in a situation. Complaining. That verbal form of negativity which, unfortunately, our brains are wired for.

Since we’re naturally wired this way, we may think, ‘I’m not always upbeat, so what?’ But it affects more than you might think, and studies show it can even affect you for days. But a more positive outlook can be learned. We can rewire our brains, work on the cure for complaining, with some effort. And doing so may be more important than it appears on the surface.

“Complaining is also a classic sign, along with blaming others and venting, of [a] victim mentality or victim mind state… Where it’s the opposite of feeling self-empowered or feeling in control… it tends to vent away that energy that we have from those negative emotions, and we don’t often take as much action.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Science of complaining
Reasons we complain
Cementing negativity
5 reasons complaining is a problem
3 ways to stop complaining
2 techniques for replacing negativity

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Interested in coaching? I’ll be starting a new small group in January. Sign up at saradill.com/coaching.

If you have any questions about the various coaching options or about the small group, please email me at sara@saradill.com. I personally read and respond to my emails.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Stop FOMO forever

Sara Dill — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Fear of missing out - FOMO. Those thoughts that tell us others are having more fun or a better experience than we are. We’ve all felt this stressor to some degree or another, at some time or another. But what if it’s possible to stop FOMO forever?

As I frequently discuss, much of our experiences in life start with our thoughts. Fear of missing out is no different. So perhaps the answer to quieting FOMO lies not in a series of outward steps but rather in some inward ones… in flipping how you’re viewing abundance and scarcity… in acknowledging your power to create the feelings you’re desiring... Let’s talk about it.

“The thoughts that you have about missing out are actually the only thing causing your current unhappiness… making you feel lack and scarcity... If you didn’t have thoughts about missing out… you would probably be perfectly happy right now.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Thought patterns
The best news I can give you
Abundance, not scarcity
Liking your decision
3 steps to cure FOMO
Pinpoint it
Name it
Create it

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Interested in coaching? I’ll be starting a new small group in January. Sign up at saradill.com/coaching.

If you have any questions about the various coaching options or about the small group, please email me at sara@saradill.com. I personally read and respond to my emails.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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How To Not Use Gratitude (or any emotion) Against Yourself

Sara Dill — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Guilty gratitude. We’ve all experienced it one time or another. That thought that invades and tells you you “ought to” feel grateful. But you don’t. So you try to muster it up… but it’s not true gratitude. It’s only a form of guilt, layering a false emotion on top of your real one. Layering gratitude like this is unhelpful.

So what is helpful? Being honest. Not judging yourself for your emotions. Viewing them more objectively. After all, what if some emotions simply feel better than others but that doesn’t necessarily make them somehow morally superior? What if we can learn how to not use gratitude (or any emotion) against ourselves?

“Can you also cultivate being grateful for not being grateful?... For not being perfect maybe? For having this wonderfully messy human life that we have?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Subtle judgment
Improper uses of gratitude
Shoulding
Staying stuck
Tolerating
You are not your feelings
Don’t cover, be real

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Interested in coaching? I’ll be starting a new small group in January. Sign up at saradill.com/coaching.

If you have any questions about the various coaching options or about the small group, please email me at sara@saradill.com. I personally read and respond to my emails.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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The Gifts of Gratitude

Sara Dill — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Gratitude is an emotion and a state of mind that brings multiple benefits. Slowing down and reflecting on what we’re grateful for can bring us so much positivity and lift us up. But it’s not necessarily something that comes naturally. We have to work on it. Be intentional about it.

With this episode, I want to encourage you to put some new gratitude “tools” into your personal skill set. Exercising the superpower of recognizing the existence of goodness and staying in that moment can transform your daily experiences. In fact, gratitude is essential to actually enjoying our life. So let’s talk about it!

“The number of positive experiences that you notice is much more important than how special or how exceptional those experiences are… It’s more beneficial to savor ordinary, pleasant, everyday activities, rather than sort of waiting for important or extraordinary events that don’t happen very often.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

What experts say about it
Gifts of gratitude:
Life improvements
Health benefits
3 Exercises to cultivate gratitude:
Savor something daily
Focus on what you’re grateful for
Practice expressing appreciation

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Articles on the benefits of gratitude:

research.com/education/scientific-benefits-of-gratitude
positivepsychology.com/benefits-gratitude-research-questions
Get my book, where I talk about gratitude along with other stress-reducing concepts: The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Interested in coaching? I’ll be starting a new small group in January. Sign up at saradill.com/coaching.

If you have any questions about the various coaching options or about the small group, please email me at sara@saradill.com. I personally read and respond to my emails.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Lesson Learned from The Sedona Method

Sara Dill — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Letting go can be hard. Even if we academically understand the validity and the health aspects behind releasing negativity and emotions, it can be difficult to put into practice. That’s why it’s extremely helpful to have some idea of step-by-step techniques and questions we can ask ourselves.

In my personal journey to being a stress-less physician, I’ve learned an approach made popular by Lester Levenson based on Hale Dwoskin’s book, The Sedona Method. The concept is to bring yourself to a place where you’re not holding on so tightly to painful or unwanted feelings, whether in the moment you have them or later on as you reflect. This method has five approaches, and each works slightly differently but all can be useful. Although I’m not trained to teach the method, I hope that as I share an overview of it, you find the concept potentially beneficial to you.

“What if feelings are actually just perpetuating the problems that they appear to be preventing? What if feelings are sometimes a lie?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

What The Sedona Method works on
The continuum of letting go
Shifting from heavy to light
Feelings sometimes lie
Emotional ladder
Pitfalls to avoid
Stuck on the why
4 questions to ask yourself

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

The Sedona Method by Hale Dwoskin

(Learn more about The Sedona Method with Lester Levenson)

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Interested in coaching? Sign up at saradill.com/coaching. Have any questions about the various options? Email me at sara@saradill.com. I personally read and respond to my emails.
Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Why Other People's Opinions Are None of Your Business

Sara Dill — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 03:00:00 -0600

We spend a very large amount of time and energy concerned about the opinions of others. Perhaps too much. While it’s important to be kind and take other people’s feelings into consideration, if it causes us to constantly seek the approval of others, we may have a problem.

So at what point are other people’s opinions none of your business? Where do you draw the line that states your freedom will not be inhibited by the ever-changing thoughts of others? Let’s talk about how to find and create that healthy boundary.

“Giving people permission to not like you or approve of you or agree with you, can be so powerful. And notice how much freedom that gives you. Freedom to grow… and freedom to create a life that feels like your life, not someone else’s life.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Manipulation of opinions
Letting go of trying to control
Thoughts are temporary
Living someone else’s life
Being okay with people getting it wrong
Understanding our need for acceptance
Not adding meaning

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Interested in coaching? Sign up at saradill.com/coaching. Have any questions about the various options? Email me at sara@saradill.com. I personally read and respond to my emails.

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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How to Have More Fun

Sara Dill — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Have you grown up a little too much? Lost the natural child-like ability to just have fun on a daily basis? I think that, as adults, we have to cultivate and create fun for ourselves. We’re quite good at thinking about this and making it happen for the children in our lives, but not so good at making it happen for ourselves. And let’s face it, fun doesn’t just happen by itself. It takes some intentionality.

Why is this important and why am I talking about it? Bottom line: It’s healthy. We need the rejuvenation that doing something we enjoy – something just for the pure fun of it – offers. Our lives are busy, hectic, stressful… and without making time for recreation, we will burn out. So let’s talk about how to have more fun! And if you have difficulty thinking of things you might like to do, I have some thought-starters that may help.

“Life is a series of challenges and events and things that happen… Do we feel like we have enough of a buffer or surplus to cultivate the good stuff…To allow us and enable us to meet all those challenges and not to feel wiped out?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Reasons we lack fun
Why we need fun
Remember what you used to like
Some thought-starters
Intentionality of challenge

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Small Group Physician Coaching starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com/coaching. Have questions about the group? Email me at sara@saradill.com.

Podcast Episodes that pair well with this one:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Life is Short and Why This Matters

Sara Dill — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Looking back over all that has occurred the past couple of years has reminded me of how precious life and time are. We’ve all had things drastically change in our lives and in the lives of those around us. And all this change has me pondering the depth of what it means to live the moment, and to appreciate the time we have.

Through this episode, I want to encourage you to examine the truth that life is short. And to dive into why this matters. This is absolutely not in a “life is short and then you die” kind of way, but rather in a way of cherishing one another and the time we have together. I hope to help each of us embrace more fully the gifts of living wisely, aligning with purpose, and especially, loving and being loved.

“Is there a way in which someone who was observing how you spend your days… would they get what’s really valuable to you?... I don’t believe in just living FOR the moment, but living IN the moment… I would just encourage all of us to not miss out on our actual life while maybe worrying about or thinking about our future life or maybe even our past life.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Daily appreciation
Cherishing time and other people
Living wisely
Embracing the moment
Aligning with purpose
Fully loving

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Small Group Physician Coaching starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com/coaching. Have questions about the group? Email me at sara@saradill.com.

Podcast Episodes:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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What To Do When You Feel Jealous

Sara Dill — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 03:00:00 -0600

As physicians, as business owners, as human beings, we all struggle with jealousy and/or envy from time to time. Those feelings like others have more or that we want something they have. I’m here to tell you, it’s normal. But if it’s just a natural human emotion, why bother to think much about it?

Because I believe examining jealousy and envy gives us deep and valuable insight into how we think about ourselves. Hand in hand with that, it reveals our perceptions of what we believe we can have, what we can achieve, even our place in the world. When we can step back and objectively examine times of jealousy or envy, we can turn that normally negative experience to our advantage. Let’s talk about what to do when you feel jealousy or envy.

“A lot of people notice that when they feel envious or jealous, then they also sort of add on a layer of shame or wrongness for even feeling it… I just want to say it’s totally normal. And that layer of shame or embarrassment or denying it or resisting it… that's super unnecessary. That is just gonna block you from actually working with it, from actually getting the information that jealousy and envy are there to provide for us.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Differences between jealousy and envy
Value of examining our thoughts
Steps for what to do when you feel jealousy or envy
Notice when or what causes it
Identify your thoughts
Question your thoughts
Come up with 3 ways
Discover how you would feel
Go on assignment

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Small Group Physician Coaching starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com/coaching. Have questions about the group? Email me at sara@saradill.com.

Podcast Episodes:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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How To Know If You Are A Good Doctor?

Sara Dill — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 03:00:00 -0600

As physicians, we all want to be viewed as a good doctor. But how do you really know? What can you measure to find out? Whether we think of them in this way or not, we have metrics we typically use. We might look at obvious things such as awards or achievements or patient feedback, or we may even have metrics we’re not aware we’re internally using. And surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, none of those metrics are really the best way to know if you’re a good doctor.

Like so many things we face in life, all of this starts with how we think. We take our perception of what we believe others think about us, gathered from various outward indicators, and from those we decide if we’re a good doctor. But there is a pretty big problem with this. Let’s talk about it.

“So often being a good doctor for me means NOT making patients happy. If I disagree with what they want, it might mean saying no.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

What do you think
Sources of outside metrics
The problem with outside metrics
Tap dancing and over-responsibility
Choosing metrics you can control
Metrics suggestions and a challenge

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Small Group Physician Coaching starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com/coaching. Have questions about the group? Email me at sara@saradill.com.

Podcast Episodes:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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How To Say No

Sara Dill — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 03:00:00 -0600

For a variety of reasons, we say yes more often than we should. This triggers excess stress and stifles honest communication. But what if saying yes is actually the poorer choice? The truth is, we cannot excel at everything. So knowing how and when to say no is not only personally healthy but it can actually be the kindest answer we can give.

Intellectually understanding the value of saying no is much easier than the actual execution of it. Faced with a request, in the moment, it can be hard to not just say yes. That’s why I wanted to share several helpful insights, exercises, and ways to reframe both your answer, and your thinking, around how to say no.

“I feel like being honest in my yeses and nos allows me to be more kind. It might not always be perceived as nice but it’s kind in that it’s honest... I like the question of: What if love, what if acting out of love, might look like a yes and a no?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Honest communication
Reasons we say yes
Identifying worries
Practicing saying no
Gently framing your no

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

A Mind at Home with Itself: How Asking Four Questions Can Free Your Mind, Open Your Heart and Turn Your World Around by Byron Katie

Podcast Episodes:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Improve Your Relationships by minding your own business

Sara Dill — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 03:00:00 -0600

When we’re mentally in someone else’s business, or in God’s business, we’re not present in our own lives. And we’re taking on an incredible amount of stress and accountability. Along with personal overwhelm, this can create strain and negatively affect our relationships.

But as physicians, it’s our very job to help people. Add to that the normal relationships of being a friend, child, parent, spouse or colleague… and the number of people for whom we have some measure of responsibility can be pretty high. So how can we know when we’ve moved out of healthy boundaries and into other people’s business? In this episode, I give you several examples to identify being in other people’s business, along with suggestions for how to move back into healthier boundaries. It’s not only personally freeing but you can actually improve your relationships by minding your own business.

“What I’ve discovered is that most of the time, we’re often in other people’s business… We’re disconnected from ourselves because no one’s home. No one’s minding our own business… So this can be a practice where you just keep coming back to yourself... What’s my business here?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

3 types of business
Examples of being in someone’s business
Define your own business
Offering advice without undue responsibility
Taking our own advice
Coming back to yourself

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Byron Katie: The Work

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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What if the Good Ole Days are Now?

Sara Dill — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 03:00:00 -0600

We tend to reflect on certain things in the past as being better, aka “the old good days”. That reflection typically revolves around experiencing things a certain way that we no longer can now. An example is one I’ve been thinking about lately: how much has changed since the pandemic. Things I had once taken for granted, such as going out to eat or making vacation plans aren’t as easy or certain anymore.

As I reminisced a little, I was reminded of a technique involving reflecting on current times as being the good old days. This technique involves imagining your future self thinking back on today. And it is a powerful method for focusing on what you might miss in the future if it were (or when it is) gone. This exercise harkens to both Hedonic Adaptation and the Stoic Philosophy of viewing events and processing emotion. And it holds some potential framework for cultivating positivity and gratitude now.

“Picture yourself in five years or ten years or twenty years, forty years… What might you wish you had appreciated more now? What might you miss in the future that you, perhaps, are taking for granted now?... Can we live today with the appreciation that one day, this is gonna be one of the good old days?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Reflecting as the future you
Hedonic adaptation
Appreciating your current ‘good old days’
Stoic philosophy
Cultivating gratitude and awe

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Books and articles about Stoic Philosophy: William B. Irvine

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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How to cultivate calmness by doing nothing

Sara Dill — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Setting aside time each day to literally do nothing is a fundamental practice to cultivating awareness. In order to coach ourselves to more fully understand our own thoughts and emotions, we need some quiet. We need to create space in our lives to calmly reflect. Busyness and distractions don’t allow for the deeper reflection sometimes needed to work on our beliefs, attachments and typical reactions.

The key is to practice it before we need it. Not when we’re already in crisis mode. That’s why I wanted to share with you some ideas and steps I’ve learned about how we can cultivate awareness by doing nothing. This practice is the one that really helps all of the other self-coaching tools designed to guide change.

“So the entire basis of being able to be coached, and coach oneself – and change one’s thoughts… navigate our emotions… create that space between when things happen and how we respond – is based on cultivating awareness, on having awareness of what’s going on in our mind, in our brain.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Value of doing nothing
Practicing equanimity
3 Steps to do nothing
Time, location, dedication
Movement or none
Disengage and gently label

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

Buddha's Brain: the practical neuroscience of happiness, love and wisdom by Rick Hansen, Ph.D.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Lessons Learned from Eckhart Tolle

Sara Dill — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Throughout our lives, how and when something is presented affects us differently. We’re always growing and changing and how we think about things and process situations evolves over time. Furthermore, I believe there really are not that many new ideas, there are simply different ways of presenting them. One person’s manner of speaking appeals to one group while another person’s style appeals more to another group.

I pondered this after recently perusing my book shelves (which are full of nonfiction volumes, mostly self-help and mindfulness), and I was drawn to my Eckhart Tolle volumes. Some people really like him, others not so much. Personally, I like Eckhart Tolle and much of what he says goes very well with what I teach. Eckhart speaks a lot about how our thinking affects everything from our emotions to our physical well being, and I wanted to share some lessons I’ve learned from him.

“[Eckhart Tolle says], ‘Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you.’ In coaching, we also refer to that as ‘If you spot it, you got it’... I would say I also like the converse idea: That the things you admire in other people are likely also characteristics that you yourself have. Often we don’t see that.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Our thinking affects
Our emotions
Our physical body
Our emotions are not who we are
Freedom from unhappiness
Giving away our power
Past and future
Pithy Tolle quotes
The tool of thought
Recognizing yourself in others
Ease in unknowing
Making a new decision

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Books by Eckhart Tolle:

Podcast Episodes:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Two Minutes to Procrastinate Less and Accomplish More

Sara Dill — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 03:00:00 -0600

The quest to increase productivity and stop procrastinating is seemingly never ending. We all struggle in one fashion or another to accomplish everything we need to. And like so many struggles in life, how we think about, and thus approach tasks greatly impacts our results.

As I sought to restructure my thinking, I discovered that flipping my thought process about the enormity of tasks was liberating. I learned I could reduce my procrastination and increase my productivity by first mentally reframing all I needed to accomplish into more manageable parts. To help guide me in this, I discovered three very empowering concepts: David Allen’s Two Minute Rule, James Clear’s Optimal vs Needed, and Martha Beck’s “turtle steps”. In this episode, I outline each of them for you and how they can help us all to procrastinate less and accomplish more.

“If you just decide that, ‘If it’s taking me less than 2 minutes, I’m just gonna do it. No questions. No debate. No decision making…’ It frees up all that energy for things that you do need to think about… This is the beauty of making one decision that then frees you up from making all these other little decisions… decisions that create so much mental overwhelm and mental fatigue for us.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

The Two Minute Rule
Standardize before you optimize
“Turtle steps”
Freeing up willpower and decision energy

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Books:

Getting Things Done by David Allen

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Articles:

The Power of Imperfect Starts by James Clear

Do Less, Fail More by Martha Beck

Podcast Episodes:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Sleep more, function better

Sara Dill — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Lack of sleep can affect multiple facets in both our physical and mental health. Studies have linked sleep deprivation to weight gain, chemical imbalances, thinking of food as a reward, and slower mental processes. It has been proven over and over that getting better rest is integral to lowering stress and increasing our ability to function in optimum health. But how do we actually achieve better sleep?

Having struggled to get adequate sleep myself, this topic touches me personally. I’ve researched and worked to improve my own rest, and learned a lot of information, tips and ideas revolving around sleep. In this episode, I share them with you, including several physiological factors. I discuss ideas and tips for changing our thought processes around rest, correcting mistakes we might be making regarding sleep, and implementing ways to increase our restorative sleep. I hope the information I share helps each of you sleep more and function better.

“Without enough sleep, we tend to be more irritable and our brains just don’t function as well… We make more mistakes, things take longer to do and we are just not as bright and as capable as we can be. However, even though we know all that, most of us continue not to get enough sleep.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Sleep linked to various diseases, especially obesity
Overeating and sleep deprivation
Listening to your body
Signs you’re not getting enough sleep
How to get more rest
Changing how you think about sleep
Mistakes we make regarding rest
Ideas and tips for improving sleep

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker, PhD
Oura Ring:
ouraring.com

Podcast Episodes:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
It’s not too late to join my Physicians Only Small Coaching Group! If you want to get in, sign up at saradill.com/coaching.
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Unwritten Rules That Keep Us Stuck

Sara Dill — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Whether we realize it or not, rules influence every aspect of our lives. Especially those unwritten rules that everyone seems to know and abide by anyway. But what exactly am I talking about when I say rules? It’s not things like obeying speed limits or following proper procedures. I’m talking about those rules that affect how we think, what we believe, and ultimately, how we act. Those unwritten rules that keep us stuck.

In this episode, I dig into this concept of rules and how they dictate our lives, particularly as physicians. I explain what I mean by rules and give multiple examples. I also touch on a concept by Vishen Lakhiani called BRULES. I think you’ll relate to many of the unwritten rules I bring up and I hope it causes you to question and rewrite some of your own.

“So often in coaching, clients will just tell me the rules, like they’re true. And I know I did the same thing, and I still do in some areas. We all have these blind spots.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

The BRULES concept (credit to Vishen Lakhiani)
Common unwritten rules
Questioning your rules
Rewriting your rules

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani

Podcast Episodes:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
It’s not too late to join my Physicians Only Small Coaching Group! If you want to get in, sign up at saradill.com/coaching.
I read all my own email and I’d love to hear from you! Please write to me at sara@saradill.com.
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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How To Beat Burnout

Sara Dill — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Burnout is a frequently used term in our society. But what exactly is it? What goes on inside your brain and your body when you experience burnout? What are some signs that you’re burned out and need to make changes?

In this episode, I open up about my experience with burnout. I had pushed myself and my mind to the point that I had to get away. I needed a sabbatical. And even though it wasn’t easy to make happen, I took that time. And within it, I discovered the power of mindfulness and coaching. I learned that you can, in fact, retrain your brain. You can heal the damage from burnout and even prevent it in the future. Let me share with you what I’ve learned about how to beat burnout.

“Can you start to choose thoughts that reinforce a sense of your own empowerment, your own ability to respond to the world and the events in it?... Maybe it’s something like: This too shall pass… This won’t last forever… I can do hard things… Those are just some examples… in which the way I think about it can cause me to feel less stressed out, less burned out.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Definition and signs of burnout
My experience
Your brain on burnout
Recovery from (and prevention of) burnout
De-escalate stress
Retrain your brain
Focus on what you do control
Alter your self-talk
Change your thinking
Examine your willingness to suffer

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Book:

The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal

Podcast Episodes:

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

My Small Physicians-Only Group starts MONDAY, AUGUST 8! Join at saradill.com.
Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email, so write me at sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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How to Drop Your Manual

Sara Dill — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 03:00:00 -0600

We all have a life expectations manual. It’s the unwritten one that dictates how we feel life should be. Our manual outlines internal expectations for how others should think, how they should behave, and what they should understand. We often don’t even realize our manual exists but it’s there.

The problem with this manual is that it is often unrealistic. The truth is, adults have the ability and freedom to behave however they choose. I’m not saying that just because people can choose that any and all behavior is acceptable. Not at all. But outwardly harmful or not, all behavior is inwardly harmful to us when we deny the reality that people aren’t always going to act how we wish. The empowering reverse of this is to grasp hold of the control we do have, which is over ourselves, not over others. Let’s talk about all this and how to drop your manual.

“No matter what people do or how they act, or what they say, we don’t have to give others the power to determine how we feel. Ever. I think this is amazing. I think this is a superpower.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Realize your manual exists
Use your superpower
Abandon trying to control others
Change your focus
Clarify proper expectations, in appropriate situations
Execute the step-by-step to drop your manual
Identify your manual
Pinpoint your suffering
Let yourself off the hook
Turn around your rules

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Get the How to Drop Your Manual worksheet: https://www.saradill.com/pl/2147607703

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Join my Small Physicians-Only Group, starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com.
Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email, so write me at sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Clean Pain vs Dirty Pain

Sara Dill — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 03:00:00 -0600

How we experience emotional pain in life is connected to the source or cause of the pain. This birthed the concept of clean pain vs dirty pain. But what exactly is clean pain? What is dirty pain? And do the differences between them hold a key to how we work through each type of pain?

In this episode, I want to share the powerful concept of clean pain vs dirty pain. I have personally experienced empowerment in how I handle emotional suffering by understanding and framing pain through this concept. The core difference lies in how concrete the source of the pain is. Is the pain something specific you can name that happened? Or is the pain in how you are thinking about what happened? Let’s examine this together.

“We think that sometimes by spending a lot of time worrying about something or thinking about something, we can somehow solve it. Or even prevent ourselves from feeling the discomfort or pain. But what it does is prolong it.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

What is clean pain?
What is dirty pain?
Defining pain
Responding to pain

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Balance Your Brain with Jill Bolte Taylor: drjilltaylor.com
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Dr. Steven C. Hayes, PhD: stevenchayes.com

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Join my Small Physicians-Only Group, starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com.
Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email, so write me at sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Taming Your To Do List

Sara Dill — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Does your To Do List cause anxiety and overwhelm? Are you having a physical reaction just from reading that last line? If so, you are definitely not alone. Taming your To Do List is, perhaps, one of the biggest sources of stress in our lives. It seems to never end. The moment you cross off one thing, another – or maybe even two things – take its place.

Now, I admit, I love to make lists because I thrill at crossing off done tasks. But if you’re finding yourself more anxious than accomplished, I offer some hope. I have a 5-Step method taming your list and getting things done, while still having time for the things and people you love. And it all starts with leveraging your calendar.

“If you are coming from time scarcity, from the feeling of not having enough time… you cannot do enough to solve the problem of not having enough time. Because that is a thought problem, not an actual time problem… You have to change how you think about your time… Can you decide when you want to do something, put it on your calendar, and then get it done as scheduled?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

5 Steps to Taming Your To Do List
Leverage your calendar
Make that huge list
Execute the 3 Bs
Don’t leave things off
Honor your calendar
Life application
Take notes
Carve out chunks
Live life one thing at a time
Address time scarcity

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Join my Small Physicians-Only Group, starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com.
Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email, so write me at sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Choose Again

Sara Dill — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Throughout our lives and careers, we face times we’re stuck… things we wish we could do over… big and small ways we long to go back and choose over again. But despite those inner yearnings, the “I have to” factors of life interfere. The question is… Should they? What if you could make different choices, while still maintaining the things you don’t want to change?

More than once, I’ve asked myself this life-altering question: Should I quit everything and choose again? As I’ve worked through the deep self-examination necessary to answer this question, I’ve discovered some truths and methods I’d love to share with you. So if you’ve been struggling lately, just feeling blah, and restless like I have, I hope these thoughts and insights help.

“Whenever we’re trying to escape or we feel urgency, we tend to not make the best long-term choices. And that’s often because we don’t see our choices. And we don’t see many options... [That’s why] this idea of potentially quitting everything and anything – even mentally – I find very powerful… The question you can ask yourself is, ‘Would I choose it again?’ Now. In your current life. Not choosing again in your past. Right? But choosing it again as it is now.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Quitting everything on paper
Choosing again in your mind
Examining the reasons for each answer
Noting the obstacles
Working out solutions
Loving and creating what is now

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Join my Small Physicians-Only Group, starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com.
Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email, so write me at sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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What You Can Control (And What You Can't)

Sara Dill — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Focusing on what we can’t control increases anxiety and stress. And there are certainly plenty of things we can’t control right now. That’s why I want to help us to all focus on what we can control. Focusing our energy on what we can do something about is empowering and freeing.

In this episode, I explore how we cannot control circumstances but we can choose what we think about all that is happening. By choosing how we think about things, we can help ourselves choose our emotions. And that has the positive effect of helping us choose how we react. When we can choose how we react, we can shape our experience. As added encouragement, I sprinkle in some quotes regarding control and our thoughts. I hope my recommendations help you change how you think as we face these rapidly changing times together.

“Know and remember that the most power you have is in your ability to make decisions… In times of chaos and uncertainty and stress, we often forget that we have the ability… We feel stuck or confused or powerless. But notice where you can make a decision… Start seeing all the choices you do have.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

What we can control and what we can’t
React versus respond
Resist versus accept (Note: accept does not mean approve)
Blame versus understand
How to perform a thought download
Separate circumstances from thoughts
Process emotion
Ask yourself questions
Consciously choose
Put energy into what you can control

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

To learn more about:

Brooke Castillo – thelifecoachschool.com/brookecastillo
Viktor Frankl – viktorfrankl.org or viktorfranklamerica.com

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Join my Small Physicians-Only Group, starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com.
Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email, so write me at sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Lessons Learned from Byron Katie

Sara Dill — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Byron Katie’s teachings have made a huge impact in my life. Once I was ready to take in everything she teaches, and ready to investigate my own personal belief patterns, how I look at life and other people, and how I think about all of that, I really have grown. And I want to share them with you. So in this episode, I relate some powerful concepts and quotes from Byron Katie. I include my thoughts about each and a bit about how they have helped me.

I invite you to be curious, to open yourself up to these insights. As we’ve discussed many times, how we think and respond to life are paramount to our experience. As you listen to how Byron Katie frames things, I hope you gain a nugget or two that aid you in your personal journey to joy and peace.

“I really like the idea that any emotion I’m feeling is sort of like a signal… that I just should check in with what I’m believing... What if stress is just an alarm clock that lets you know you’ve attached to something? Or you’ve attached to a thought or a belief that’s just not true for you or perhaps is not useful for you?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

The past
Forgiveness
Loving What Is
Other people
Thoughts we think
Communication

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

I encourage you to also listen to:

Episode 3 - Believing New Things

About Byron Katie

In 1986, at the bottom of a ten-year spiral into depression and self-loathing, Byron Katie woke up one morning in a state of joy. She realized that when she believed her stressful thoughts, she suffered, but that when she questioned them, she didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Her simple yet powerful process of self-inquiry, which she calls The Work, consists of four questions and the turnaround, which is a way of experiencing the opposite of what you believe.

Her books include the bestselling Loving What Is, also available in the revised edition, I Need Your Love—Is That True?, A Thousand Names for Joy, and A Mind at Home with Itself.

Learn more about Byron and get her books: https://thework.com/.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Join my Small Physicians-Only Group, starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com.
Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
I read all my own email, so write me at sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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When NOT to do Thought Work

Sara Dill — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 03:00:00 -0600

I 100% believe in thought work but it must be acknowledged: There are times it’s actually counterproductive. In my previous episode, titled Thought Work: The Most Important Work You Can Ever Do, I shared many of the benefits of thought work. Now, as promised, I offer you the flip side.

Before we begin, I want to reiterate that I think everybody benefits from developing the skill of metacognition. Understanding your own thought processes allows you to better relate to yourself and others, fostering more compassion and love. That said, I also firmly believe knowing when to leverage thought work and when to back off is integral to its success. In this episode, I’ll address questions which naturally arise from this position such as: When can thought work be ineffective? When can it be holding me back more than it’s helping me move forward? How do I know when it’s simply not serving me? Let’s examine the answers to those questions as we explore when NOT to do thought work.

“When you’re doing thought work… [and] you’re self-coaching… but it feels painful and you feel almost worse, then I would say you’re sort of doing it wrong… It should feel like an exploration, maybe like an opening or an ‘aha’... not like a boxing match, not like you’re attacking yourself.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

A recap of thought work and its benefits

5 times when thought work doesn’t work

During…

Strong emotion
Resistance
Stubbornness
Self-affliction
Rationalization

4 times thought work can be unproductive

Trying to…

Force an agenda
Swap your thoughts
Over-investigate the why
‘Fix’ yourself

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

I encourage you to also listen to:

Episode 18 - Thought Work: The Most Important Work You Can Ever Do.
Episode 8 - How to Feel a Feeling.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Join my Small Physicians-Only Group, starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com.
Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Email: sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Thought Work: The Most Important Work You Can Ever Do

Sara Dill — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 03:00:00 -0600

The most important work you can ever do is thought work. Why? Because it is human nature to experience emotions at every moment, and those influence our actions and reactions in life. Circumstances become thoughts, which shape feelings, which drives actions, which creates results.

But we aren’t always fully aware of precisely what emotions we’re experiencing. There are subtleties in them, subconscious emotions, underlying emotions... so many variations and flavors. In this episode, I share about thought work, and 5 underlying principles to doing thought work, including some actionable ideas. Although it does take focus and intentionality, we can become aware of our thoughts and, therefore better influence and control our emotions. And therein lies our power.

“Thought work and choosing what we want to believe – and thus feel on purpose – is like putting shoes on rather than needing to pave the whole world.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Defining thought work
Awareness and intentionality
5 Underlying Principles of Thought Work
Observe
Choose
Locate
Empower
Pause

I encourage you to also listen to Episode 19 where I address when NOT to do thought work.

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Join my Small Physicians-Only Group, starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com.
Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Email: sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Enjoying Time Off From Work

Sara Dill — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Having boundaries and work-life integration can be elusive, especially for physicians. Thinking about work when not at work or falling prey to the idea that some things are a waste of time… thoughts like these are all too common. However, there is a truth that revolves around needing time to be restored. Without it, you aren’t able to present your best self to the world.

For many of us, I believe the issue isn’t as much in making time to get away but the difficulty in actually getting away. That is, being able to remove yourself, to unplug not just physically from work but emotionally and mentalIy. Without this ability, we can find ourselves with time off but unable to relax into it. That’s why, as odd as it may sound, we need to intentionally learn how to enjoy time off work.

“If you look at nature, you look at the human body – rest and having sort of a restorative time is a critical component of how life thrives and how life is sustained.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Disassociate from productivity equating value
Stop people pleasing
Take responsibility for making the choice
Enjoy your own company
Take your own advice
Be intentional
Decide and plan in advance
Redirect your brain

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Join my Small Physicians-Only Group, starting soon! Sign up at saradill.com.

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Email: sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Fear: Friend or Faux?

Sara Dill — Mon, 30 May 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Fear can deter us from what we really want to do because we’re unsure whether to heed it or not. Is the fear I’m feeling because there is true danger or is it simply holding me back? Are there ways to differentiate between fear that is a useful warning and fear that isn’t?

In this episode, I explore the idea that if we can examine fear, we can redefine the experience. To begin, if we better understand our physical responses to fear, we can better identify their purpose. We can actively pull what we’re passively feeling into the more practical part of our brain. From there, we can ascertain whether we’re dealing with fear as friend or faux.

“What if you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be and fear doesn’t mean you’re making a mistake? What if it just means you’re considering stepping into the next version of you?… What if discomfort is the currency of your dreams?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Circular thinking that holds you back
Fear and our physical response
Warnings from our brain
The currency of your dreams
Pick something that scares you and do it anyway

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Is there a topic you’d like me to talk about on a future podcast? Email me or reach out on social media. All my contact details are below. I’d love to hear from you!

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Email: sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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How To Have Your Own Back

Sara Dill — Mon, 23 May 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Most people find it easy to have someone else’s back. As humans, we’re naturally devoted to our loved ones. But what about having your own back? This can be much, much harder. We are often unkind to and critical of ourselves. More so than we ever would be of others. We can be our own worst enemy.

Through this episode, I want to encourage you to examine your self-talk and self-evaluation. I believe this is extremely important for internal health. I pose the questions: Can we make it easier for ourselves by going easier on ourselves? Can we move into a place of true change by accepting and approving of ourselves more? I believe we can and it starts with knowing how to have your own back.

“...the real ninja move here is to approve of yourself first. I would say having your own back. Accepting and approving of your life in this moment, and of this moment in your life, and yourself, just as we are, right now… then change can happen from a very different place.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

You know because it hurts
There’s so much to love
The paradox of acceptance and change
11 ways to have your own back

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Is there a topic you’d like me to talk about on a future podcast? Email me or reach out on social media. All my contact details are below. I’d love to hear from you!

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Email: sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Taming Anxiety

Sara Dill — Mon, 16 May 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Occasional anxiety (not clinical anxiety) is a normal part of life. All those “What ifs?” creep into our brains and send us into a place of worry, fear and uncertainty. But what if anxiety didn’t have to result in feeling out of control of your life? What if it no longer caused you to miss out on things in the present? What if you could actually learn to tame anxiety and reduce it?

I know it may be hard to believe but taming anxiety is possible. I won’t say easy, but possible. In this episode, I offer some ideas for how to hold out anxiety and observe it for what it is, and then reframe it. As you listen, I especially want to emphasize this: anxiety is often problem solving, just without the actual solving part. The good news is, you can do something about it.

“As soon as you recognize you’re feeling anxious, that’s really the first step... It sounds simple but yet it’s really incredibly powerful when you can recognize it and name it… As soon as you start to be the observer of what you’re feeling, you step out of the feeling a little.... You detach a little bit from it… It actually almost immediately makes me feel better.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Anxiety is inevitable but not an identity
Emotions technically can’t hurt us
4 ways we deal with feelings
5 ways to actively accept anxiety
Thought starters for taming anxiety

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Want to hear more about the 4 ways we deal with feelings? Check out The Stress-Less Physician podcast Episode 8: How to Feel a Feeling.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Is there a topic you’d like me to talk about on a future podcast? Email me or reach out on social media. All my contact details are below. I’d love to hear from you!

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Email: sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Break the Unpaid Cycle of Charting at Home

Sara Dill — Mon, 09 May 2022 03:00:00 -0600

Charting or documenting is a critical part of excellent patient care. However, it often becomes overwork. That is, work that keeps you late or you end up taking home with you. If you’re stuck in the defeating cycle of completing work at night or on the weekends, this episode is for you. And although I mainly discuss charting by physicians, the principles I share in this episode can be applied to any necessities work. Your “charting” can be any task you find yourself routinely behind on.

Throughout addressing my own tendency to fall behind, I was forced to examine the true reasons behind it. Not just the obvious, surface reasons (such as having too many patients) but the root causes. In this episode, I share some of what I discovered and how it resulted in taking chart work home. Perhaps you will be able to relate. I also share what I did to break the unpaid cycle of charting at home and hope my discoveries can help you.

“I think it’s a major cause of dissatisfaction with physicians and other health care providers. I think this is probably true in other fields as well. All of the work that we do that is sort of, in a sense, unpaid, on our own time. It can create a lot of feelings of resentment, dissatisfaction, and sort of sucks some of the joy out of our day and the rest of our life.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

The overwork of charting (or similar necessities work)
3 main reasons you fall behind
Underlying thoughts
Distractions
Prioritization
Spread that leads to burnout
Potential issues from late charting
4-Step Solution
Personalized workflow
Prioritize it
Use your resources well
Be good with A- work
3 true purposes of charting

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Is there a topic you’d like me to talk about on a future podcast? Email me or reach out on social media. All my contact details are below. I’d love to hear from you!

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Email: sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Self Confidence

Sara Dill — Mon, 02 May 2022 03:00:00 -0600

People tend to shy away from the topic of self-confidence. They are concerned it is too akin to arrogance or they don’t really see any difference between self-confidence and regular confidence. But self-confidence is more complex than simply having confidence and it is not judgmental like arrogance. I’m sure I won’t surprise you when I say that true self-confidence is deeper because it is rooted in your thoughts.

Anything rooted in our thoughts has a ripple effect in our lives and therefore necessitates more attention. However, being internally based, it can be difficult to pinpoint where regular confidence (based on past success), and self-doubt about future success collide. After all, you can have success and be praised but that does not necessarily create self-confidence. But it is in that very place in our thoughts that self-confidence resides and from which we can draw it out.

“Self-confidence is the belief that you are already in possession of the qualities that you have to have to do or achieve whatever it is that you want. It doesn’t mean that you have to have the knowledge yet… But you believe in your fundamental ability to get there.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

What self-confidence is not
Mistaken Belief #1
Why external accomplishments don’t work
Mistaken Belief #2
Why borrowed thoughts don’t work
Questions for self-examination
Train your brain
Be willing to feel
Two exercises to build self-confidence

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Is there a topic you’d like me to talk about on a future podcast? Email me or reach out on social media. All my contact details are below. I’d love to hear from you!

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Email: sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Why Self-Care Matters (and isn't selfish)

Sara Dill — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 03:00:00 -0600

The two biggest issues that arise around self-care is the misconception that self-care is selfish or we simply don’t have time. Even in defining self-care it can sound like an encouragement to neglect others to indulge yourself. But proper self-care isn’t that at all. Everyone needs personalized methods and practices to reduce stress and re-energize. Without them, it is nearly impossible to function at our best. And let’s be honest, as physicians, we naturally place others before ourselves, making us great at caring for people but terrible at caring for ourselves.

In this episode, I discuss the topic of proper self-care. I start with my definition, which is simply making sure you have what you need to be at your best. When you’re at your best you can actually be a better physician. What makes each person better varies and that’s okay. The important thing is to have routines that prioritize your stress-reduction and fuel your good in the world. So let’s talk about why self-care matters and it isn’t selfish.

“What if not taking care of yourself is depriving the world of what you’re here to accomplish? What if not taking care of yourself is procrastinating in doing your work in the world?” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

Defining self-care
Being honest about what you need
Why self-care is not selfish
The uncomfortable necessity to occasionally disappoint others
Always saying yes is a form of lying
Busy vs Choosing
A better calendar = A better you

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

I recommend pairing today’s podcast episode with my one about Boundaries. Click to listen!

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Is there a topic you’d like me to talk about on a future podcast? Email me or reach out on social media. All my contact details are below. I’d love to hear from you!

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Email: sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Lessons Learned from Martha Beck

Sara Dill — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 03:00:00 -0600

I want to introduce you to some of the concepts I learned from my first coach, Martha Beck. I found Martha when I was searching for that elusive “something”. As a dermatologist, I’d gone through many positions that looked amazing on paper but once I was in them, I was repeatedly unsatisfied. I struggled over and over with feelings of unfulfillment and unhappiness, much of which stemmed from a pervading sense of scarcity mixed with imposter syndrome.

I set out to get to the root of my feelings of not being good enough. I longed to be confident in taking care of patients. To address my questions, I went to my to-go method, which was to search for a book or article. In my quest, I found Martha Beck. She had written several books on how to get unstuck and how to navigate to a life that’s more fulfilling. She became near and dear to my heart as her works spoke directly to what I was seeking.

“We often will have these limiting beliefs that feel very painful. And they create this sense of being stuck or not having options. Those are the thoughts you want to question. Those are the thoughts you want to practice disbelieving.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master
The way we do anything is the way we do everything
Question every thought that causes suffering and test it against your own sense of truth
Freedom vs Fear
Navigating with feeling better or worse
No part of your experience is wasted
Shackles on vs shackles off
Loving by restoring autonomy
Recognizing truth

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

About Martha Beck

Martha in her own words…

I grew up wanting to be an ecologist or a professor. However, after bearing three children and earning three Harvard degrees at the same time, I decided I’d rather just lie down for a few decades. During that time I became an author and life coach. I’ve written a number of books and more magazine articles than I can count (math not being my strong suit). My most recent book, The Way of Integrity, was an instant New York Times Best Seller.

As president of my company, Martha Beck, Inc., I continue to speak around the world, as well as offer virtual teleclasses and in-person workshops a few times a year. I also train life coaches worldwide through my Wayfinder Life Coach Training program.

All my work is dedicated to freeing all beings from suffering. This requires a commitment to valuing all humans as equally and infinitely precious. Integrity, compassion, inclusion, antiracism, and the preservation of our planet are my primary values in all that I do.

Get Martha’s books: marthabeck.com/books

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Is there a topic you’d like me to talk about on a future podcast? Email me or reach out on social media. All my contact details are below. I’d love to hear from you!

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Email: sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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Boundaries

Sara Dill — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 03:00:00 -0600

“I need to set a boundary so people don’t walk all over me! I need to stand up for myself!” Ever find yourself thinking or even saying these words in the heat of a situation? Perhaps you’ve not had these specific thoughts but maybe you’ve had a similar response to an unpleasant situation. If you have, I encourage you to stop, wait, and step back.

Now you may be wondering what in the world I mean by that. “Stop? Wait? Step back? You mean just let people walk all over me?” No, not at all. What I mean is that you cannot control what other people say and do, you can only control your response. You must first decide what you’ll tolerate being around. This is the core definition of a well-defined boundary. Then, more importantly, you must determine how you’ll respond if people violate your boundary and then follow through on that. This is essential to both physical and emotional health. So let’s talk about what a boundary is, what it’s not, and how to execute a plan for defending your boundaries.

“Boundaries are not about standing up for yourself. Boundaries are not about other people not walking all over you. Boundaries are about you. Boundaries are about you taking care of you.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

What a boundary is and what it is not
How to set a boundary
Step #1: Get to a place of peace, acceptance and love
Step #2: Very specifically decide what your boundary is
Plan your response
Differentiate between boundaries and preferences
Define a violation
Step #3: Follow through if a violation occurs

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Is there a topic you’d like me to talk about on a future podcast? Email me or reach out on social media. All my contact details are below. I’d love to hear from you!

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com
Work with me: saradill.com/coaching
Email: sara@saradill.com
Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule
Get Dr. Dill’s book The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine
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How To Feel a Feeling

Sara Dill — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 03:00:00 -0600

As a child, I hated talking about feelings. Yet here I am, years later, talking about feelings all the time. The reason is because I adhere to the idea that feelings are why we do what we do. Whether we’re motivated by fear, anxiety, grief, love, compassion, connection, exhilaration… whatever it is, we act based on feelings.

Our natural tendency is to mostly avoid feelings, especially negative ones. We push them away or even allow them to override our better judgment. Ultimately, this can yield unwanted and unintentional results, and can create a cycle of feelings that come again and again. But there is a way to help break such cycles. Even in the moment, you can intentionally process your feelings. It takes practice but it is possible. So let’s talk about how to feel a feeling. (My young self would never have imagined I’d say that!)

“Learning how to allow your feelings also gives you a lot more access to them and then authority over them. When you aren’t afraid of them, when you don’t worry that they might take over and never leave you, negative emotions lose a lot of their power.” – Dr. Sara Dill

What You’ll Learn

4 ways we respond to feelings
Resistance
Reaction
Avoidance
Allowance
Stripping negative emotions of their power
Identification, localization
Moving into the observer position
Intentionally creating feelings
1 Minute Emotional Makeover
Describe
Name
Identify
Change

Contact Info and Recommended Resources

Get the book “The Doctor Dilemma: How to Quit Being Miserable Without Quitting Medicine” by Dr. Sara Dill
Want to catch up on episodes of Stress-Less Physician? Links and Show Notes are all housed here.

Connect with Sara Dill, MD, The Doctor’s Coach

Website: saradill.com

Work with me: saradill.com/coaching

Email: sara@saradill.com

Get a FREE consultation with Sara! Sign up here: saradill.com/schedule