You Are Not A Frog

A doctor emailed me recently, she's been in medicine for 25 years, and the question she asked was one I've heard in a hundred different ways: "Am I a snowflake?" She felt a great deal of shame about finding things hard - something I see time and time again in high achievers. Like the feeling that not coping is proof of something wrong with you. A character flaw. A sign you've gone soft. But the da...

When Aoife O'Brien is close to burnout, she doesn't want to stop. She wants to do more. One more task. One more thing to get through before she can stop. She says that's how she knows now - not the exhaustion, not the breaking point, but the acceleration. If you recognise that feeling, this conversation names what's actually happening. Not to add to your list. To give you a cleaner way to read wha...

You may have been counting down to summer all year, telling yourself that you just need to survive until your next holiday. You may have been looking forward to taking a pause and getting a chance to finally breathe. But when you get to your holiday, instead of feeling rested, you feel more exhausted, more overwhelmed, and more behind. And somewhere underneath the busyness, you might be thinking:...

If you've always felt like everyone else got an unwritten handbook about how to behave at work - and you've had to figure it out yourself, one interaction at a time - this episode is for you. This week, Rachel’s in conversation with Kirstie Pickles: vet, autistic ADHD professional, and EDI advocate. Kirstie was diagnosed as an adult - after years of masking in a high-stakes clinical role, performi...

Burnout in high stress jobs isn't always about doing too much; sometimes it's about a belief you were never taught to question. You finished your day, finished (most) of your tasks, and you still can't switch off. Most people assume that's a workload problem, but the reason people in demanding roles like medicine can't genuinely rest isn't about how much they've done - it's about what they've been...

Getting a complaint from a colleague is one of the most destabilising things that can happen to a high-achieving leader. Not because of the process, but because of what it makes you ask about yourself. In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Pallavi Bradshaw, Medical Director at the MPS, to talk about something that doesn't get named nearly enough: a complaint from a colleague isn't a patient or client...

Imposter syndrome is something we often don’t talk about openly, and the standard advice - build your confidence, reframe your thinking, remember your achievements – rarely addresses the real cause. In this Quick Dip, Rachel shares a piece of feedback she received years ago that still stings and uses it to unpick what imposter syndrome really is: it’s not a confidence gap, it’s not a skills defici...

If you constantly find yourself picking up tasks that nobody else will do, staying late to cover gaps, or slowly absorbing more and more without anyone asking you to - this episode is going to name exactly what's happening. Occupational psychologist Leanne Elliott joins Rachel to unpack why over-responsibility isn't a personality flaw; it's what happens when you don’t have absolute clarity on what...

You know something needs to change, but you just have no idea what, how, or where to begin, and your lack of a plan may be starting to feel like failure. In this Quick Dip, Rachel unpacks why the belief that you need everything mapped out before you're allowed to move is the very thing keeping you stuck, and introduces the AB-Z method: a simple framework that replaces the impossible task of knowin...

If you have ever ended a clinical day exhausted not from the medicine itself but from the weight of everybody else's feelings, this episode might hit home. Josh Connolly, resilience coach and author of ‘It's Them Not You’, joins me to explore why many healthcare professionals take on so much of the emotional load for everyone - and how that pattern almost always began long before medical school. K...

If you’ve ever thought to yourself ‘if I don’t do it, no one will’ this episode is for you. You tell yourself something important will go wrong if you don't do it all - but what if that's not what's actually driving your decisions? In this Quick Dip, Rachel suggests something uncomfortable: that the decisions running your workload might less to do with patient safety than they are to do with who y...

You're working hard, doing excellent clinical work, and genuinely trying to make things better for your patients - so why does it feel like no one's listening? So many healthcare professionals hit a wall where their ideas get talked over, their proposals stall, and their careers plateau, even when their track record is strong. In this episode, Rachel is joined by Sam Pearce and Sally Powell, co-fo...

Every day in healthcare, a meeting ends, and a problem that was never formally handed to anyone lands on the person who cares most - you. If you've ever walked out of a room carrying something that somehow became yours without anyone asking, this Quick Dip Episode gives that experience a name, explains exactly why it keeps happening to people like you, and gives you the language to start pushing b...

How many times this week have you thought, "I just don't have a choice"? About your rota, your inbox, the extra patient squeezed in at the end of clinic? That thought feels true, and it can feel like a fact... But what if it’s actually a story, and that story is costing you your peace of mind? In this episode, Rachel sits down with Robbie Swale, coach, author of ‘The Power to Choose’, and creator...

Have you ever had someone ask for “a quick bit of help”… and somehow ended up owning the entire task? In caring professions, requests for help can feel less like requests and more like responsibilities landing on us. We’re trained to notice problems, fix things and support colleagues - which means it can feel incredibly uncomfortable to say no. In this Quick Dip episode, Rachel explores the moment...

The founder of the National Association of Sessional GPs on whether the grass is always greener, and the changes you can make in your career without feeling like a frog forced to jump out of the pan. Get more episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra Mentioned in this episode: 🌞 [FREE DOWNLOAD] Summer Recharge Checklist for Doctors 🌞 The Summer Reset for Doctors

Have you ever looked at a task on your plate and wondered when it became your responsibility? Nobody asked you to do it. Nobody assigned it to you. But somehow it landed on you, and now you're carrying it. In this Quick Dip, Rachel explores the responsibility trap - the pattern where capable and conscientious professionals automatically pick up unclaimed problems. Over time, these responsibilities...

Mindset shifts to help you explore difficult feelings and find solutions without falling into rescuer mode or getting overwhelmed. Get more episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra Mentioned in this episode: 🌞 [FREE DOWNLOAD] Summer Recharge Checklist for Doctors 🌞 The Summer Reset for Doctors

There’s more on your plate than you realise, and most likely you’re trying to cram 25 hours of work into a 24 hour day, not counting sleep and time away from work. Here’s some practical advice to help you see what’s on your plate, and what you need to sacrifice. Get more episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra Download the Overwhelm SOS Toolkit Download the Thrive Week Planner Mentioned in this...

What happens when we need to raise a serious concern that could affect patient safety? And what happens if someone raises a concern to you? Get more episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra Mentioned in this episode: 🌞 The Summer Reset for Doctors 🌞 [FREE DOWNLOAD] Summer Recharge Checklist for Doctors

What does it mean for a doctor to be “good”? Can you be “good” and still take care of yourself? And how can we rescue ourselves from the trap of thinking that asking for support is somehow a moral failing? Get more episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra Mentioned in this episode: 🌞 The Summer Reset for Doctors

Practical questions from a clinical psychologist to help you assess whether you’re in a harmful work environment, or one that doesn’t align with your values or strengths. Get more episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra Get more links and show notes via our website Mentioned in this episode: 🌞 [FREE DOWNLOAD] Summer Recharge Checklist for Doctors 🌞 The Summer Reset for Doctors

And what BBC’s The Traitors can teach us about trust, group-think, and truth. Get more episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra Find more links and show notes via our website Mentioned in this episode: 🌞 The Summer Reset for Doctors

Practical techniques to help you respond when someone makes demands on your time, from an expert in mediation and team coaching. Get more episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra Mentioned in this episode: 🌞 The Summer Reset for Doctors 🌞 [FREE DOWNLOAD] Summer Recharge Checklist for Doctors

How to reframe impossible choices into doable decisions, using a tried-and-tested framework and a simple power mantra. Get more episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra Get more links and show notes via our website Mentioned in this episode: 🌞 The Summer Reset for Doctors