“Once you accept your flaws, no one can use them against you.”

   Tyrion Lannister, Game of Thrones

I like to tell the story about the evening I met my wife.  We were out to dinner with a group of people, and she was sitting across the table from me.  After a friend made an annoying com...

What is this self inside us, this silent observer,

Severe and speechless critic , who can terrorize us

And urge us on to futile activity

And in the end, judge us still more severely

For the errors into which his own reproaches drove us?

   T. S. Eliot, The Elder Statesman

In...

“Alone, we can do little; together, we can do so much.”
―Helen Keller 

For all its traumas, one of the most incredible gifts bestowed upon doctors is the community created during medical training.  When I think back to my Internal Medicine internship, I don’t think about the grueling,...

“Sometimes you are in the middle of your destiny before you even know it has begun.”
―Sarah Holman 

As a native New Yorker, I always assumed Chicago was called the “Second City” because, well, it was second to New York.  It turns out that’s a pretty common misconception about how my h...

“When you squeeze an orange, you'll always get orange juice to come out. What comes out is what's inside. The same logic applies to you: when someone squeezes you, puts pressure on you, or says something unflattering or critical, and out of you comes anger, hatred, bitterness, tension, depress...

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are taught from an early age to avoid comparing ourselves to others.  Then, we are sent off to school, where we are ranked, compared, and pitted a...

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
–George Bernard Shaw

Who Needs A Reinvention?

Everyone.

Reinvention gets a bad rap. People hear the word and think it sounds woo. Or, they believe it means scrapping everything and starting over, like tor...

“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.”
–Sydney J. Harris 

During a recent conversation with my physician coach, I found myself reflecting on my favorite part of our family vacation to the Caribbean. We snorkeled, swam with turtles, rented jet skis, held starfish, and...

“Perfection is the enemy of good.”

–Voltaire

Regarding the invention of the electric light bulb, Thomas Edison famously said: “I have not failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  Can you imagine a world where Thomas Edison looked at his pile of failures and decided to give u...

Dear Physician Coaching Skeptic,

I see you.  I hear you.  I was you.

I imagine many of you believe that I was always a die-hard fan of coaching.  You might even think I signed up for my first coaching program without hesitation or objection.  If you know me, you also know that isn’t me.

“Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance.”
―Ruth E. Renkel

It is incredible to look back at your life and recognize the critical moments that led you to become the unique human being you are today.  Many people, places, and things needed to come together ...

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

I stumbled upon the Financial Independence Retirement Early (FIRE) movement when I was extremely frustrated with medicine.  Retirement seemed like the best solution for my physician burnout.  I’m not sure I completely understo...