You Are Not A Frog

By Dr Rachel Morris | Burnout Podcast

The podcast for GPs, hospital doctors and other professionals in high-stakes, high-stress jobs who want to thrive rather than just survive.

You studied for years, you’re really good at what you do bu... more

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The podcast currently has 357 episodes available.

Best of You Are Not A Frog

The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

Number 1: Try Softer, Not Harder
Every high-achieving leader has a to-do list that doesn't end — it just refills. And the only response most of us were ever handed for that is push harder. Grip tighter. Muscle through. In this episode, Rachel talks to Ellen Coomber, co-founder of the Softness Revolution, about why that instinct — the one we were trained into from exams onward — stops working, and what she does instead. Ellen has a genetics degree from Cambridge; she is not someone who arrived at this by avoiding rigour. She arrived at it because pushing harder had genuinely stopped working, and she had to find something else. This conversation is about that something else: working with less effort, not more, and learning to tell the difference between an instinct worth trusting and fear wearing an instinct's clothes. Getting that distinction wrong is how we end up saying yes to the thing that breaks us, and it will affect the next decision too, and the one after that. We cover:Why "work harder" is the only tool most high achievers were ever handed for pressure — and where that training actually startedThe Softness Revolution: what "soft" means when it isn't the opposite of capableWhat solo-sailing a 40-foot boat taught Ellen about the difference between soft and weakWhat horses know about force that most leadership training never mentionsHow to tell your actual instinct apart from fear when they feel identicalWhy more effort is not always the effective option, and what to do with the effort you're not using This episode is for you if... ...you're looking at a to-do list that never actually shrinks, and your automatic response is to push harder, focus more, try again — even though that's the exact same plan you had last week, and the week before. If some part of you already suspects that working harder isn't the answer but you don't yet have a working alternative, or a language for it, this one's for you. 📩 Join 20,000 professionals: https://youarenotafrog.com/welcome/ 🐸 Get exclusive episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra: https://youarenotafrog.com/members 🐸 Learn more about Ellen: https://thepowerofsoftness.com Mentioned in this episode: 🟦 Permission to Thrive ⭐️ Book Your FrogFest Ticket Now
September 07, 20261h 10min
Number 2: Going Back After Burnout When Nothing Has Changed
Nearly one in three people who take time off for burnout are off again within a year - and over half of them work in healthcare. This episode is about why that keeps happening, and it isn't because anyone's weak. You go back to the same poisoned water, you carry the same responsibility you carried before, and now there's something extra on top of it - a shame tax, the pressure to prove you're fine, to prove the time off wasn't a mark against you. Rachel walks through the Bent Tent Pole - why the same load bends you faster the second time round - and makes the case that the fix was never more resilience. It's changing what you believe is actually yours to carry. We cover:Why nearly 3 in 10 people relapse into burnout within a year of returningThe poisoned water analogy - why rest alone can't fix a toxic systemWhy dropping hours or changing roles often doesn't touch the real problemThe Responsibility Trap: picking up what everyone else dropsThe Bent Tent Pole - why the same weight bends you faster the second timeThe Shame Tax: the extra load you carry just for having needed the breakWhy waiting for the system to fix itself keeps you stuckThe Performance Zone - what boundaries actually look like in practice This episode is for you if... You're a high achiever in a leadership role who's been back at work for a while now and can feel it building again - the same tightness, the same countdown to the next break. You're the one who has to pick up what someone else dropped, who has to say yes because no one else has the whole picture, who lies awake replaying whether you're actually cut out for this. Hard as that is to admit, it's not a character flaw. It's physics, and there's a different way to carry it. The tent pole bent because of the load, not because you were weak. You can do the work without being responsible for all of it. 📩 Join 20,000 professionals: https://youarenotafrog.com/welcome/ 🐸 Get exclusive episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra: https://youarenotafrog.com/members Mentioned in this episode: ⭐️ Book Your FrogFest Ticket Now
August 31, 202620min
Number 3: The 12-Minute Method for Getting Stuff Done
There's a project you've been meaning to start, a conversation you've been meaning to have, or a change you've been meaning to make. You know that you can do it, but what you can't quite find is the moment, the time, or the right conditions…and so it waits. Robbie Swale is a coach and author who has spent years thinking about why capable, intelligent, hard-working people don't start the things they most want to do, and what it takes to change that. In this conversation, we explore the idea that the problem isn't time; it never really was. We cover:The 12 Minute Method: how Robbie wrote 80,000 words in three years by dedicating twelve minutes a week, and why that's not as absurd as it soundsWhy time management is largely choice management, and what that means for the things you keep deprioritisingWhy the internet makes it harder to start, and how to stop comparing your beginning to someone else's middleHow to protect a new idea before it's ready to be criticisedHow to approach a big change without betting everything on it going right the first time This episode is for you if you are the person who does the hard things, who shows up and delivers, but who also has that specific project or version of your life that keeps moving slightly out of reach. This episode may give you a slightly different question about what's actually in your way. 📩 Join 20,000 professionals: https://youarenotafrog.com/welcome/ 🐸 Get exclusive episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra: https://youarenotafrog.com/members Mentioned in this episode: 🟦 [FREE WEBINAR] How to Beat Burnout and Escape Burnout on Repeat 🐸 Enquire Now About Our Training
August 24, 202649min
Number 4: Is Your Dedication the Reason You're Burning Out?
Most of us have been told that burnout is caused by overwork and that the solution is to rest, take a break or slow down. Set some boundaries. But what if that's only part of the picture? What if the very thing that made you good at your job - your values, your drive, your commitment to never letting anyone down - is exactly what keeps burning you out? And what if rest, on its own, isn't enough to get you out? In this conversation with Nick Petrie, author, leadership researcher and burnout specialist, we go deeper than the usual burnout conversation. Nick has interviewed hundreds of leaders across high-stakes professions, and his findings challenge almost everything we think we know about why burnout happens and what recovery actually requires. We cover:Why high values alignment is a burnout risk, not a protection - and why caring deeply about your work can mean you have no brakeThe "outdated success formula" - the beliefs and behaviours that got you here, and why they stop working as the stakes get higherThe burnout curve: first, second, and third degree - and how to recognise which stage you're at before your body decides for youThe 1-1-1 mechanism: a simple, pre-scheduled way to build recovery into a life that otherwise never stopsWhat post-burnout growth actually looks like, and why the version of you on the other side of burnout can be more sustainable than the one before it This episode is for you if the drive that makes you good at what you do is also the thing that makes it impossible to stop. This episode may help you understand why our ingrained programming - the one that says delivering, caring, and never letting people down is what makes us safe - is something we can actually look at and decide whether to keep. 📩 Sign up for our weekly newsletter: https://youarenotafrog.com/welcome/ 🐸 Get exclusive episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra: https://youarenotafrog.com/members/ 💬 Join the conversation: share this with someone who needs to hear it Mentioned in this episode: 🐸 Enquire Now About Our Training 🟦 [FREE WEBINAR] How to Beat Burnout and Escape Burnout on Repeat
August 10, 202659min
Number 5: Doing Nothing Feels Safe - That's What Makes It Dangerous
Note: This is a re-release of one of our most-listened to episodes — originally recorded Autumn 2025. We've given it a new edit because it's more relevant than ever. If you know you need to do something about how you're feeling — but you keep telling yourself "not yet" — this is for you. We are very good at spotting danger in other people. Sepsis, red flags, a patient or client deteriorating. We act fast. With ourselves, we don't. We wait until it becomes catastrophic — a patient or client complaint, an error because our brain isn't working properly, our health going — before we give ourselves permission to act. This episode is about why doing nothing feels safer, why it isn't, and how to make the next step small enough you can actually take it. Not handing in your notice. One doable thing. Download the free Burnout Self-Assessment Toolkit — work through it as you listen: https://youarenotafrog.com/toolkit/ We cover: • Why we spot burnout and overwhelm in everyone else but not in ourselves • The three psychological traps that keep high achievers stuck: status quo bias, loss aversion, and sunk cost — including the thought "I've given 10 or 20 years to this, I can't stop now" • Why our ingrained programming tells us the misery we know is safer than the uncertainty we don't — and how that will affect your next decision, and the one after that • Why waiting has a cost too — your health, your relationships, your character — and why that cost keeps going up and can be devastating • How to decide your line before burnout decides it for you — your "kill criteria" — so you don't wait for catastrophe • How to make the next step small enough you can actually take it: one conversation you've been avoiding, one boundary, one phone call to a trusted person — shame shrinks when you speak it This episode is for you if you are a high achiever in a leadership role who has to have the conversation nobody else will, has to make the call someone disagrees with, or lies awake replaying a decision you had to make — and you can feel the heat building, but you keep telling yourself to keep going. Hosted by Rachel Morris | You Are Not a Frog - for high achievers who want to care deeply and carry less. Get weekly tools and episode notes by email: https://youarenotafrog.com/welcome More resources: https://youarenotafrog.com/ Burnout Self-Assessment Toolkit: https://youarenotafrog.com/toolkit/ #burnout #burnoutrecovery #highachievers Mentioned in this episode: 🟦 [FREE WEBINAR] How to Beat Burnout and Escape Burnout on Repeat
September 14, 202620min