Never, never, never give up. This quote is associated with Winston Churchill, based on his famous speech delivered during World War II. It is often used to inspire people to persevere, to hold the line, to refuse to quit no matter what—in other words, to display grit. It is a great quote. But when I started digging deeper, I found it’s actually a shortened version of what Churchill really said: “Never give in. Never give…

“Drop the Rock” is a short talk by the late speaker Richard (“Sandy”) Beach. It is a favorite message of mine. You can click here to listen to it on YouTube, but to summarize, the story describes a person struggling to swim out to a boat where her friends were waiting. She was weighed down by a rock around her neck (her friends could see it, yet she could not). The friends kept yelling, “Drop the…

Self-replenishment matters. Today it is understood how important it is to keep ourselves hydrated with water. If we do not do so, there can be serious health consequences. I feel the same is true of replenishing oneself with good thoughts and messages. I recently coauthored a book with my good friend Dr. Janet Pilcher. The book is called The Extraordinary Gift: Our Teachers. The idea for the book came from a previous book of mine titled The…

Life is not always fair. I know people who are or have been in difficult situations. Often forgiveness and love help them in navigating life. That means self-forgiveness, too. I listened to a person share that they can forgive others much easier than they can forgive themselves. This reminds me of a picture of a boxing ring with only one person in it. The person is taking a pummeling, but they are beating themselves up.…

When we talk about burnout, the conversation is often focused on “the system.” We point to heavy workloads, or toxic work cultures, or leadership issues. These things do matter. But there’s another part of the equation that also matters: our own thoughts and mindsets. That was the message from Dr. Roger Kapoor, author of Working Happy!: How to Survive Burnout and Find Your Work/Life Synergy in the Healthcare Industry, when he joined me on the Healthcare Plus…

Burnout has been a problem in healthcare for a long time. As the industry has gotten more and more complex, the problem has had increased—and during COVID things got exponentially worse, with many providers walking away from their job. And while removing systemic burdens certainly plays a role in alleviating burnout, there is also a lot individuals can do on their own. In a recent Healthcare Plus podcast interview, Quint Studer discussed this topic with Dr.…