What does it look like to build a big clinical career and stay well doing it?

This week Jo sits down with Dr Jennifer Coller — senior cardiologist, regional practitioner, and founder of Pulse Point Academy — to find out. Jen's burnout never stopped her showing up to work. But it quietly hollowed out everything outside of it. What changed wasn't willpower. It was systems, environment, and intentional design.

In this episode:

• Why the clinicians most at risk are often the ones who care the most
• How Jen redesigned her environment to make sustainability the default
• The power of micro-recoveries over waiting for annual leave Identifying your personal yellow flags before you need them
• Women's heart health — the gaps that are still being missed

About Dr Jennifer Coller: Senior cardiologist based in Shepparton, VIC, and founder of Pulse Point Academy — delivering accessible, evidence-based cardiovascular education to regional and rural clinicians across Australia. 🌐 pulsepointacademy.com.au

Reflection question: Where are you relying on willpower to sustain something that probably needs a system?

Connect with Jo: @BurnoutRecoveryDr | Dr Jo Braid on LinkedIn Subscribe to The Sunday Long Game newsletter — https://drjobraid.com/subscribe Free 25-minute coaching consultation — https://drjobraid.com/coaching Proudly supported by MIGA. www.miga.com.au

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Culture isn't something that happens to you. It's something you're already participating in — whether you lead a team, belong to one, or sit somewhere in between.

This week, Dr Jo shares what a window taught her about workplace culture, why Appreciative Inquiry might be the most underused tool in healthcare teams, and how you can shape the environment around you — regardless of your job title.

In this episode:

• Why small environmental details signal something much bigger about belonging
• What Appreciative Inquiry is (and why it's not toxic positivity)
• The neuroscience of deficit-focused workplaces — and what chronic "what's wrong here" culture does to your prefrontal cortex
• How a two-minute huddle can change the temperature of an entire day
• Culture by design vs. culture by default drift

Researchers referenced: David Cooperrider (Appreciative Inquiry), Dr Kim Cameron (positive organisational scholarship), Dr Christina Maslach (lack of community as a burnout driver), Harvard Centre for Sleep and Cognition

This week's action step: Try one appreciative question — with yourself or your team. When were we at our best? or What went well today? Just one. Notice what shifts.

Connect with Jo: 📲 IG/FB: @burnoutrecoverydr 💼 LinkedIn: drjobraid 📩 Newsletter: drjobraid.com/subscribe 🤝 Coaching waitlist: drjobraid.com/coaching Supported by MIGA — medical indemnity for Australian healthcare professionals.

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You're sleeping. You're exercising. You're doing all the things. So why do you still feel like you're white-knuckling through the week?

In this episode, Dr Jo Braid explores why standard wellness advice can fall short for high performers — and what the science says is actually driving the stress spiral underneath.

In this episode:
— Why tracking recovery can make the stress response worse (Stanford research)
— What allostatic load means and why sleep alone can't clear the debt
— How rumination hijacks your resting brain (UCLA neuroscience)
— Values distillation: getting from ten words to two
— The difference between solo wellness and nervous system co-regulation
— One action: take a one-week break from a tracking tool

Connect with Dr Jo:
IG/FB: @burnoutrecoverydr
LinkedIn: drjobraid
Newsletter: drjobraid.com/subscribe

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Same burnout. Completely different costumes. Why the pressures driving a librarian, a trainee, and an entrepreneur toward burnout look nothing alike on the surface, and what leaders miss when they assume their own experience is the template.

Signal: → Burnout shows up differently by role even within the same institution (physicians, nurses, residents, researchers all differ) → ED trainee burnout risk climbs with seniority, not away from it → Boundary-setting entrepreneurs: 45% report low burnout vs 6% of non-boundary-setters → Mentor/peer access linked to ~50% higher resilience Reset: → Ask, don't assume, what a hard day looks like for someone in a different role → Build cross-role listening into leadership, not just same-lane check-ins → Protect recovery time as the floor, whatever the sector → Deliberate variety across your own work can be part of your own protection

🎙️ Resources: 📩 The Sunday Long Game: drjobraid.com/subscribe 🤝 Coaching waitlist: drjobraid.com/coaching 📱 @burnoutrecoverydr | LinkedIn: drjobraid

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What if the thing standing between good results and a thriving team is just one letter?
This week I'm joined by Tracey Ezard — author, facilitator, and creator of Ferocious Warmth — who I met on faculty at a Women in Leadership course in Prato, Italy. Tracey has spent two decades studying what separates great teams from ones that just get by, working across health, education and hospitality.

We talk about:

The "drop one letter" shift — why "I'd like to challenge our thinking" lands completely differently to "your thinking," and the neuroscience of why it lowers defensiveness instead of raising it
The Two Rs: why chasing results without relationship skills caps your outcomes, and what changes when you build both
Why "doctor" already means "leader" — whether you feel ready for that title or not
How multidisciplinary case conferences either open people up or shut them down, and the small, specific things senior clinicians do that make the difference
Early warning signs of leadership burnout, and why energy management matters as much as time management
Leadership as your "second profession" — and how much time you're actually investing in it
Tracey's non-negotiable self-care practice (hint: it involves stairs)

Tracey's story is a brilliant reminder that leadership skill isn't separate from clinical skill — it's part of the job description, whether or not it was ever taught.

Resources:
Connect with Tracey: LinkedIn (Tracey Ezard) and https://www.traceyezard.com/
Grab a copy of Ferocious Warmth: https://www.traceyezard.com/books/ferocious-warmth/

As always, if this episode lands, share it with a colleague who needs to hear it — and I'll catch you next week.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your team can't help how they feel walking into an uncertain situation. But you have enormous influence over what you bring into the room.

In this episode, Jo shares a real story from ward cover — a complex new patient, a team already bracing for the next few weeks, and the deliberate choice to show up supported rather than depleted. She unpacks why leader regulation is contagious (literally, neurologically), and gives you a practical way to lead through uncertainty without performing false confidence.

You'll learn:

Why emotional contagion means your mood shapes your team before you say a word
The neuroscience of co-regulation and why a steady leader calms an uncertain room
A four pillars approach to protecting your own wellbeing before a known hard stretch, not after
A simple way to name uncertainty out loud that builds trust instead of eroding it

Leaders need to be well to lead well. This episode shows you what that actually looks like.

Resources mentioned:
No Is a Full Sentence — 12 boundary scripts for clinicians, $47 (video masterclass upgrade $97): drjobraid.com/store
The Sunday Long Game newsletter: drjobraid.com/subscribe

Connect with Jo:
Instagram/Facebook: @burnoutrecoverydr
LinkedIn: Dr Jo Braid

This episode is supported by MIGA.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why does the same boundary tool work brilliantly for one person and fall flat for the next? In this episode Dr Jo Braid unpacks why recovery strategies aren't one-size-fits-all, and how to stop forcing yourself into someone else's system.

Prompted by a recent workshop with a room of physios and occupational therapists, where one manager's search for focus time revealed just how differently people respond to the same list of tools: a closed door, a sign, headphones, do not disturb. All valid. None universal.

Jo breaks down why strategy adherence depends on fit, not discipline, drawing on implementation science, occupational context across academic, clinical and business roles, and stress neuroscience from Dr Amy Arnsten's work at Yale. Then she runs the four pillars, Mindset, Support, Movement, Sleep, through a personality lens so you can find the version that's actually yours.

This episode closes out The High Performer's Paradox series.

You'll learn:
– Why a recovery tool you've abandoned might be wrong for you, not a discipline failure
– How academic, clinical and business burnout profiles differ
– The neuroscience of why unfamiliar strategies are harder to sustain under stress
– How to adapt one pillar this week to actually fit your wiring

Connect with Jo:
IG/FB: @burnoutrecoverydr
LinkedIn: Dr Jo Braid Newsletter,
The Sunday Long Game: https://drjobraid.com/subscribe

New:
12 Boundary Scripts — real language for the moments you know you should say no. $47, or upgrade to the video masterclass for $97. drjobraid.com/store

Produced by Propodcaststudio. Supported by MIGA.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In tennis, the ball is either in or out. No apology required. So why does saying no in real life feel so much harder?

This episode kicks off a new 10-part series on boundaries — why they're so hard to hold, and how to actually do it, at work and at home.

THE SIGNAL
🎾 In or out: clear, certain, no apology needed
🧠 Why ambiguity drains your prefrontal cortex
💭 The Zeigarnik effect: unset boundaries = active cognitive load
😬 The apology loop, and why it's a threat response, not politeness

THE RESET
✅ Notice the apology loop before you try to change it
✅ The Line Audit: find where the rule is actually unclear
✅ One breath, one pause, before you answer a request
✅ Practise one boundary this week — no apology attached

No is a full sentence. In or out. That's it.

🔗 Grab the boundary scripts you need in the moment: No Is a Full Sentence, at drjobraid.com/store

📩 Get The Sunday Long Game, my weekly newsletter: drjobraid.com/subscribe

📱 Instagram/Facebook: @burnoutrecoverydr
💼 LinkedIn: Dr Jo Braid

This episode is supported by MIGA. www.miga.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.