If you were in a life-or-death scenario and the only path out was over hot coals, would you take it? Of course. But when it comes to situations that are making us uncomfortable or even miserable, we seldom want to experience that discomfort to get to what we know will be better for us. In this quick dip episode, Rachel explores the importance of considering the long-term impact of our work, and offers a single question you can ask yourself right now, to discover what you really want to do with y...
Feb 05, 2024•13 min•Ep. 206
If you’re in a job where you use your brain a lot, it can be easy to feel disconnected from your body and emotions. This in turn can lead to a lack of self-awareness and even difficulty in expressing yourself. That lack of awareness changes how we outwardly express ourselves, even in ways we’re not aware of. But by becoming consciously connected with our body, we can get a bit more control over our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, and over how others see us. This week, Rachel is joined by coa...
Jan 29, 2024•51 min•Ep. 205
We all experience shame from time to time, but when it becomes toxic, we can end up in a shame spiral from which it's difficult to escape. When we’re called out on something about which we feel shameful, it can make us defensive. And so often, no-one can punish us as harshly as we punish ourselves. In this quick dip episode, Rachel shares her strategy to break free from shame spirals and cultivate a healthier mindset; by sharing our shame, taking some perspective, and seeking support from others...
Jan 22, 2024•25 min•Ep. 204
When we’re presented with a difficult problem, naturally we use logic and reasoning to solve it. But some problems – like stress and burnout – can’t be solved with logic alone. The left hemisphere is the area of the brain focused on tasks, logic, and problem-solving. But the right hemisphere deals with relationships, connections, and new perspectives. It’s also visual and metaphorical, so it can help us see problems in a different way. So our right brain can help us live more easily with problem...
Jan 15, 2024•52 min•Ep. 203
So you’ve got a problem, maybe a relationship issue at work or difficulties managing your workload. You’ve talked it with friends, but the solution won’t present itself. Often the problem isn't that we lack solutions, but rather that we haven't fully understood what the problem is in the first place. In this quick dip episode, Rachel shares her three-step model to help you identify and address the real problem you’re facing. It involves recognising we have choices, embracing our human needs and ...
Jan 08, 2024•14 min•Ep. 202
Faced with a difficult situation, we often ask the question “should I stay or should I go?” It could be about work, a relationship, or something more personal. We all face this question at various times in our life, and it can be overwhelming to make a choice when we’re scared of the unknown. This week, we’re revisiting a discussion with Corrina Gordon-Barnes , about how to tackle the decision-making process. Instead of relying on traditional methods like pros and cons lists or seeking advice fr...
Jan 01, 2024•54 min•Ep. 201
If you have a high-stakes job like medicine, shame can show up in unexpected and unwelcome places. Doctors have incredibly high societal expectations, with constant pressure to be invulnerable. It’s time to challenge these unrealistic expectations and foster an environment that supports doctors in their vulnerability. This week, we’re featuring one of our most popular and impactful episodes from 2023 to help you identify and combat shame. In this episode, Dr Sandy Miles discusses the impact of s...
Dec 25, 2023•57 min•Ep. 200
The Christmas season can be a time of stress and disappointment, especially when our expectations don't match up with reality. We can find ourselves dealing with difficult family members, feeling overwhelmed with work and family obligations, or experiencing a general sense of dissatisfaction.But there’s plenty we can do to make the festive period more enjoyable and less overwhelming. This week, we’re revisiting a previous conversation on the podcast, with Corrina Gordon-Barnes. In her chat with ...
Dec 18, 2023•55 min•Ep. 199
If you're like most people, you'll have experienced moments when your confidence wavers, leaving you unsure of yourself and holding back from reaching your full potential. But what if there was a way to increase your confidence and make a greater impact in your personal and professional life? This week, Dr Claire Kaye joins Rachel to explore the power of confidence and how it influences our lives. They dive into the common challenges we face when it comes to confidence, whether it's feeling unde...
Dec 11, 2023•55 min•Ep. 198
We can learn how to say no to other people, but often don’t say no to ourselves or to our inner critic who’s always telling us we can do more or be better. We become our own worst enemy when it comes to setting boundaries and prioritising our own needs. This is why we need self-compassion, and to overcome the toxic self-talk that often fuels our negative self-talk. In this quick dip, Rachel will help you name the critical voice and acknowledge its presence, explore the underlying triggers and ne...
Dec 04, 2023•14 min•Ep. 197
Do you find yourself trapped by the expectations and pressures of what you think you “should” be doing? Is there a voice in your head, berating you for not living up to their standards? If so, you might be experiencing the tyranny of the shoulds. You’re not alone in feeling overwhelmed or uncertain. But it turns out that hearing others' stories can help you realise that your struggles are common. Also, if you rely on others for feedback it’s important to know whom to ask and when, so you don’t e...
Nov 27, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 196
If your job is demanding, jou've probably wondered at some point if you're burning out. The constant stress and pressure in health and social care especially can leave us feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. But ignoring the signs of burnout can have serious consequences, affecting not only our performance but our wellbeing and our relationships too. In this quick dip episode, Rachel introduces the Stress Curve and how it can help you recognise if you're nearing burnout. She explains the different...
Nov 20, 2023•20 min•Ep. 195
Managing your energy can be a challenge at the best of times. But if you’re a highly sensitive person, you might be more prone to burning out due to your unique traits and the demands of your work. Being highly sensitive doesn’t mean being touchy, but having a high degree of empathy and a particular way of processing sensory input. That means it might take longer to recover from a tricky situation like a conflict with a colleague, or witnessing something traumatic at work. The key to managing en...
Nov 13, 2023•45 min•Ep. 194
Saying no and setting boundaries are core to avoiding burnout. But if saying no might put a patient at harm – or worse – what can you do? In this quick dip episode, Rachel explains the concept of core and flex boundaries along with core and flex consequences. Core boundaries are non-negotiables that we always enforce, rather than preferences we’d like to enforce but can be flexible around.Key to this approach is also recognising the short- and long-term consequences of saying no. By not setting ...
Nov 06, 2023•23 min•Ep. 193
Interactions between team members can have a big impact on performance and outcomes. Disrespect and hostility can create a threatening environment and hinder collaboration and productivity. In a medical setting, it could literally be a life-or-death situation. The Civility Saves Lives movement aims to raise awareness about the importance of behaviour and promote a culture of civility. By showing respect and support towards each-other, teams can enhance their performance, deliver better outcomes,...
Oct 30, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 192
When someone else sets boundaries, do you feel able to do the same, or do you resent their ability to say no? Often, our anger towards others' boundaries comes from our own unmet needs and desires, and what presents itself as resentment is actually envy. Guilt, shame, and fear often prevent us from expressing our own needs, which just compounds those negative emotions. Without shifting our mindset, we can end up adopting a victim mindset and feeling even more trapped. In this quick dip episode, ...
Oct 23, 2023•16 min•Ep. 191
Productivity and time management are difficult at the best of times. But when your job directly affects people’s lives, it can be tricky to make time to get organised, so that we have control over our days, and our inbox isn’t overflowing. What we need is to manage our attention and make space for what matters. In this episode, Rachel is joined by productivity expert Graham Allcott. Graham shares ways we can prioritise and delegate tasks, make dedicated time for deep work, and get on top of our ...
Oct 16, 2023•43 min•Ep. 190
We’ve all had weeks where our schedules are packed tightly and there’s no time for ourselves, leaving us exhausted and overwhelmed. The problem is we often make commitments for our future selves without thinking about what might be on their plate in the future. In this quick dip episode, Rachel uncovers ways we can make space for the the big and important things in our lives, set rules and boundaries to prevent over-committing, and creating space to cope with challenging times ahead. Not everyth...
Oct 09, 2023•14 min•Ep. 189
Do you give yourself permission to rest? If you’re like many people in caring professions, you worry that taking time out to look after yourself means not spending that time helping others. That thinking may have got you to your position now, but is it serving you, or is it time to update your operating system? The problem with rest is that we often confuse it with inaction. But rest from work doesn’t have to mean rest from activity. As this week’s guest, Nick Petrie discovered, for high achieve...
Oct 02, 2023•58 min•Ep. 188
We all get stressed or overwhelmed with our daily responsibilities from time to time. But we’re not always good at telling them apart. And this is important, because the way out of overwhelm is different form the way out of stress. Stress is caused when the demands on us outweigh the resources we feel we have to cope. Overwhelm happens when high amounts of stress make us feel like we can't cope with our lives' demands. The way out of overwhelm is non-doing, resting, and letting our nervous syste...
Sep 25, 2023•11 min•Ep. 187
Confronting anxiety is easier said than done. It’s hard enough with adults, but with children it’s even more tough. Anxiety keeps us safe, but often we over-predict that something bad will happen and under-predict our ability to cope. The key is to learn how to manage anxiety before it becomes a problem. This week’s guest is educational psychologist Nicky Odgers. She specialises in working with kids who are feeling anxious about attending school. A lot of what she helps kids with applies to adul...
Sep 18, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 186
Do you find yourself thinking "it will be better tomorrow", or believing things will improve in a few months' time “when x happens”? In this quick dip episode, Rachel reveals how waiting for outside events to occur leads to more problems – because even when tomorrow comes, we’re still the same person facing the same challenges as we were yesterday. This mindset can lead us to looking for partial solutions which ultimately keep us from solving our bigger problems. But by focusing on our zone of p...
Sep 11, 2023•18 min•Ep. 185
One way or another, menopause affects everyone at some point. If you’re not experiencing symptoms yourself, you almost certainly know or work with someone who is. That’s why understanding its effects and being able to offer support and compassion is so important. Women going through menopause can experience a wide range of physical, psychological, and hormonal symptoms. These symptoms often go unnoticed or ignored, which can impact confidence and increase anxiety. Lack of confidence or temporary...
Sep 04, 2023•52 min•Ep. 184
So many of us are caught up in a vortex of busyness. We end up working harder and harder without doing anything that re-energises us, all because we feel like we have no other choice. As healthcare professionals, we feel like rest is a reward for good behaviour, but it's a basic human need, and a professional responsibility. Why? Because rest makes us better at our job, and – frankly – we deserve it. In this quick dip episode, Rachel explores ways we can give ourselves permission to rest and rem...
Aug 28, 2023•14 min•Ep. 183
For people in caring professions, trauma can be something we experience on a regular basis. an event doesn’t have to be earth-shattering to be traumatic, and if we let those “little T” traumas build up over time without addressing them, we can find ourselves in a constant sate of fight, flight, or freeze. When stress and trauma accumulate over time, we can minimise what triggers us and downplay our experience. Each time we do, we deplete our battery, pushing it from the green zone of calm and en...
Aug 21, 2023•51 min•Ep. 182
We’re not just service providers – we’re carers and helpers. This can make it hard to set boundaries and prioritise our workload. What we need is air cover. By working together with your colleagues, you can create agreements about what to say yes and no to, and hold each-other accountable. And you can also seek out peers outside of work, so you can share your dilemmas and feel less alone. If we keep silently struggling with saying no or setting boundaries, we can start feeling burnout, which can...
Aug 14, 2023•17 min•Ep. 181
Do you ever feel like you're just not being heard? Or like you’re under pressure and no one understands how much you’re juggling? Especially in high-stress careers, few of us have the chance to truly be listened to – and coaching can help with that. Coaching isn’t therapy or listening to someone else’s advice. It's about exploring solutions yourself, with guidance. Coaching gives you permission to take a tricky situation and ask "If this were different, what would I notice?". Coaching allows you...
Aug 07, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 180
Have you ever had to do something you didn't want to do? Maybe it was a task at work, a favour for a friend, or a chore at home. It can be frustrating and draining when it seems we have no say in our actions. It can make us feel powerless and stressed out. And that's not good for our work quality or our well-being. But is that true? Do we really have no choice at all? In this Quick Dip, we share how to use power language to set boundaries and take back control of your life. Keeping your work and...
Jul 31, 2023•10 min•Ep. 179
In the words of today’s podcast guest, “Everyone can benefit from neurodiversity”. But how much do you understand about the way it impacts you and your colleagues? Neurodiversity can be a real strength in high-stress roles like medicine. Different ways of thinking can allow us to cope with high pressure situations, handle complex information, and perform brilliantly in ways that others couldn’t. But it also offers us challenges, both when it comes to managing our own needs but also in supporting...
Jul 24, 2023•56 min•Ep. 178
It's a fact of life that we can't please everyone. That's why one of the hardest things to do is say no and try to keep everyone happy with our decisions. Even if it's against our will, we try to give a piece of ourselves to everyone. The thing is, that takes a toll on us until resentment builds up in our hearts. So, how do you expect pushback while staying firm with your decisions? In this Quick Dip, we explore the topic of pushback, how it affects our emotions, and why we should expect it. We ...
Jul 18, 2023•15 min•Ep. 177
