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.

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.

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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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're halfway through 2026. And if your year has been relentless with very little genuine recovery built in — this episode is your reset.

The most downloaded episode of this podcast ever is "How to Recover from Burnout" — over 2,100 listens. That question never stops being relevant. So today we go deeper.

I share the four signals your mind and body send before you crash, and one concrete reset for each. No grand overhaul. Just tools you can use this week.

📸 Screenshot this:

SIGNAL 1 — "I'm tired even after I sleep"
RESET: 5 minutes of intentional rest before you leave work. No phone. No to-do list. Just stop.

SIGNAL 2 — "My brain feels like it's running too many tabs"
RESET: 3-minute brain dump. Everything unfinished out of your head and onto the page.

SIGNAL 3 — "I'm doing everything and resenting all of it"
RESET: One boundary this week. You know which one.

SIGNAL 4 — "I don't remember why I chose this"
RESET: Write down one moment this week where you made a difference. Just one.

Start with the signal that made you uncomfortable when I named it.

🔗 Free 25-min consultation call: https://drjobraid.com/coaching 
🔗 The Sunday Long Game newsletter: https://drjobraid.com/subscribe 
📲 @theburnoutrecoverydoctor | Dr Jo Braid on LinkedIn
🩺 Doctors Who Coach Doctors | https://www.doctorswhocoachdoctors.net/

Supported by MIGA: www.miga.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

High performers are exceptional at supporting others. They are often much less exceptional at being supported themselves.

In this episode, Dr Jo Braid unpacks why professional isolation is so common in healthcare — and what to actually do about it.

You'll hear: Why medical culture trains us to see help-seeking as weakness - The neuroscience of social connection and what chronic isolation does to your decision-making - The difference between a mentor, a coach, and a peer — and why you need all three - The three-column support audit tool - The debrief walk and why movement + connection is a different thing to either alone

Research referenced: - Dr Matthew Lieberman (UCLA) — the social brain and reward pathways - Dr Amy Edmondson (Harvard) — psychological safety and team performance - JAMA research — one trusted person and burnout outcomes in physicians Action step this week: Do the support audit. Three columns: Mentor / Coach / Peer. Five minutes. Honest answers. Pick the most depleted column and identify one name.

This podcast is supported by MIGA: www.miga.com.au

Connect with Jo: 🎙 Newsletter — The Sunday Long Game: https://drjobraid.com/subscribe 📞 Free 25-min coaching consultation: https://drjobraid.com/coaching 📲 Instagram/Facebook: @TheBurnoutRecoveryDr 💼 LinkedIn: Dr Jo Braid

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You've been told that high performance means giving everything you've got. But what if that's exactly what's burning you out?

In this episode — part two of the four-part series The High Performer's Paradox — Dr Jo Braid unpacks the 80% rule: the counterintuitive idea that deliberately leaving something in the tank isn't a sign of weakness or laziness. It's one of the most strategic things a high performer can do.
Drawing on sports science, neuroscience, and real-world clinical examples, Jo explores why chronically running at full capacity quietly destroys the very cognitive resources that make you exceptional at your job — and what to do instead.
Whether you're in the emergency department, the boardroom, or building your own business, this episode will change how you think about capacity, reserve, and what sustainable high performance actually looks like.

In This Episode:

The Japanese concept of hara hachi bu — and why a 2,500-year-old eating principle has everything to do with burnout recovery
Why operating at "100%" is often not 100% at all — and the patient safety implications that follow
The neuroscience behind why cognitive decline under chronic overload is gradual, insidious, and easy to miss
The Yerkes-Dodson performance curve — what it tells us about effort, output, and the ceiling we refuse to acknowledge
How elite athletes use the 80/20 training split — and how it directly applies to your professional life
Practical tools across all four pillars: Sleep, Support, Mindset, and Movement

Thanks to MIGA for sponsoring this episode: www.miga.com.au 

Connect with Dr Jo:

Instagram / Facebook: @TheBurnoutRecoveryDoctor
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/drjobraid
Newsletter: The Sunday Long Game — weekly evidence-based strategies for burnout recovery → drjobraid.com/subscribe
Free 25-minute coaching consultation → drjobraid.com/coaching

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Dr. Jo Braid kicks off a special four-part series exploring the patterns that drive high performers toward burnout - starting with one of the most confronting realisations in high performance: the qualities that make you exceptional can also be the ones that exhaust you.

Drawing on personal experience in medicine and coaching, Jo shares how strengths like reliability, analytical thinking, and empathy each carry a shadow version that emerges under pressure - rigidity, emotional absence, and avoidance.

The episode explores the neuroscience and psychology behind why this happens, referencing research from Dr. Ryan Niemiec, Dr. Thomas Curran, and Dr. Amy Arnsten. You'll walk away with a practical Strength-Shadow Mapping Exercise to identify where your own strengths are sitting right now - and the early warning signals that tell you when you're sliding past your optimal zone.

This is the foundation episode of the series - don't skip it.

Resources mentioned in this episode: VIA Character Strengths Free Assessment – www.viacharacter.org Dr. Ryan Niemiec – VIA Institute on Character, research on character strengths and the golden mean Dr. Thomas Curran – London School of Economics, research on perfectionism and burnout Dr. Amy Arnsten – Yale University, research on stress and the prefrontal cortex Connect with Dr. Jo Braid – @burnoutrecoverydr on socials Weekly Newsletter – https://drjobraid.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.