111. Dr. Erica Howe's Walk Down The Hall of Strategy

Jun 1

If you’re feeling burned out and overwhelmed, you are not alone. Women physicians across the country have so much pressure, both in the clinical setting and at home, and it is so important that we start talking about it. Dr. Erica Howe, Physician and Founder of the Women Physicians Wellness Conference, joins me to talk about how she dropped her facade, started talking about how she’s really feeling, and created something incredible for women physicians.

Key Takeaways

Use your burnout and frustrations to spark conversations with other women in your workplace.
You are not alone. If you’re feeling like this, other women are, too.

Listen to Episode 111 Here

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About Dr. Erica Howe, MD, FSHM

Dr. Howe is a board-certified Hospitalist and a nationally known educator, wife, and mother to three crazy kids. As a prolific speaker and lifelong advocate for improved wellness in medicine, she has given hundreds of talks both nationally and internationally on topics like conflict management and boundary setting.

In 2018, she founded the Women Physicians Wellness Conference—a 3-day event hosted in Aruba, Grand Cayman, and Amelia Island exclusively for women physicians--as a way of bringing them together to share their struggles and their strategies for success.

She believes that women are stronger together and wants to inspire them to find the courage, clarity, and community to succeed on their own terms, instead of someone else’s.

The Power of Dropping the Facade

Dr. Erica Howe is one powerhouse of a woman, but it wasn’t long ago that she felt burned out, overwhelmed, and frustrated. It became rote for her to say she was fine whenever a colleague asked, even though that isn’t how she felt. One day, Dr. How decided to drop the facade and be honest with how she truly was.

What happened next changed the course of her life. After dumping all her emotions on her colleague, her colleague replied, “me, too.” She wasn’t alone; other women had the same overwhelmed frustrations and they, too, were just barely holding it together.

Dr. Howe explains how she turned this Hallway of Shame into the Hallway of Strategy by talking to other women physicians. They started sharing advice on how to cope with the overwhelm, and each time this happened, Dr. Howe’s mindset shifted. It was time to take action.

Creating Change Through Burnout

Based on these conversations and using her extensive knowledge from working in the hospital, Dr. Howe decided that more women physicians needed to have access to these helpful words. She decided to start The Women Physicians Wellness Conference.

Dr. Howe explains the process she went through starting with shame, and that hallway, to taking risks and developing a strategy to create something new. She now helps so many women work on their professional and personal goals.

Dr. Howe is a great example of stepping into a new role in the face of severe burnout!

Are you feeling burned out and overwhelmed? My friend, you are not alone. If you can’t make it to The Women Physicians Wellness Conference, I really encourage you to start talking to the other women in your workplace about how you’re feeling. Let me know in the comments below how this process goes for you!

In This Episode

What happens when you stop putting on a facade [5:30]
The power of sharing your experiences with other women physicians [9:00]
How to take action through thought shifts [11:30]
How to use your existing knowledge to create something new [20:00]
The process of embracing shame, risk, and strategy [24:00]
How your leadership skills can develop out of a place of burnout [25:30]

Quotes

“In that minute and thirty-seven-second walk, instead of a Hallway of Shame, I unloaded. She said two really powerful words to me at the end of my brain dump on her. ‘Me, too.’ This was so powerful to me.” [6:32]

“If at the end of your life, are you going to look back on this moment and say, ‘I just wish I had done it?’” [14:40]

“There is something super powerful about putting an out-of-office reply in that says you are had left the country.” [17:39]