Home Podcasts Stimulus - Learn Tools to Crush It in Your Medical Career
Stimulus - Learn Tools to Crush It in Your Medical Career

Stimulus - Learn Tools to Crush It in Your Medical Career

Rob Orman, MD 158 Episodes Jul 20, 2026

Stimulus is a podcast for medical professionals who want to thrive in their careers. Hosted by emergency physician and executive coach Rob Orman, MD, it offers tools, mindset shifts, and strategies to avoid burnout, improve communication, and lead effectively. Each episode features in-depth conversations with thought leaders on topics like staying calm under pressure and practicing medicine without losing your passion.

Episodes

How to Not Lose Your Soul When You Get Sued | Gita Pensa, MD
How to Not Lose Your Soul When You Get Sued | Gita Pensa, MD Jul 20, 2026 55:08 Getting sued, or even just the fear of it, is one of the greatest hidden drivers of physician stress, burnout, and career dissatisfaction, yet almost no one teaches doctors how to survive it. A malpractice lawsuit can shake your confidence, challenge your identity, and strain your relationships long before you ever step into a deposition. The good news is that preparation, practice, and the right
Why Saying "Calm Down" Never Works (and what does)
Why Saying "Calm Down" Never Works (and what does) Jul 6, 2026 22:03 When another person is upset or angry, our instinct can be to help them lower their emotional temperature by saying something like, "Just calm down," or, "Relax," or, "Take a breath," or, "Look at the facts." However, saying those things when the other person is in the heat of the moment can have the reverse effect from what we were hoping for.The reason is simple: People who do not feel heard are
The Most Underrated Clinical Skill with Ron Epstein, MD
The Most Underrated Clinical Skill with Ron Epstein, MD Jun 15, 2026 55:37 The quality of our attention shapes every interaction we have, yet listening is often the first skill sacrificed when pressure, technology, and time constraints take over. Most clinicians spend years learning what to say, while spending little time learning how to effectively listen. In a healthcare system dominated by tasks, metrics, and efficiency, the ability to slow down and create genuine pre
Avoiding Disability Insurance Disasters
Avoiding Disability Insurance Disasters May 11, 2026 01:05:23 Your ability to earn income is your most valuable financial asset. Physicians spend years protecting patients, building careers, and accumulating assets, yet many discover too late that the insurance designed to protect their income is full of loopholes, exclusions, and traps. Disability insurance sounds boring until the moment someone needs it, and then it becomes one of the most emotionally and
Congratulations, You’re a Cog | Reclaiming agency inside a hungry system
Congratulations, You’re a Cog | Reclaiming agency inside a hungry system Apr 27, 2026 01:00:35 Medicine gives you a map. Pre-med, med school, residency, attending. Step by step, no shortcuts. Then one day, the map disappears and you’re there asking, “Now what?”In this episode, Dr. Mizuho Morrison and I dig into what happens after training, when fulfillment, identity, and control are no longer prescribed. We talk about nonlinear careers in medicine, from part-time clinical work and motherhoo
Why Your Job Needs a Better Scorecard
Why Your Job Needs a Better Scorecard Apr 13, 2026 26:14 It’s not uncommon for hospitals to provide clinicians with scorecards. While they may seem like a judgment of your quality of work, scorecards rarely provide data that will lead to flourishing in your career. But what if you made your own scorecard, filled with things that were important to you and fully within your control? If you nailed one of those each day at work, what would your experience b
How to Switch From Self Flagellation to Context Assessment
How to Switch From Self Flagellation to Context Assessment Feb 23, 2026 21:28 If you have ever lost it mid-shift, frozen when you should have acted, or spent the next two weeks asking yourself what's wrong with me, you already know what character assassination feels like.In this episode, we break down a simple and effective reframe that interrupts the self-flagellation shame spiral without making excuses or lowering standards. You will learn how to move from why did I to, o
How to Handle Interruptions Without Alienating Your Team
How to Handle Interruptions Without Alienating Your Team Feb 2, 2026 42:53 Emergency medicine has an interruption-based workflow. There's no getting around some of that, but recurrent interruptions erode quality of care, accuracy of documentation, concentration, and ultimately the ability to leave work on time. While some interruptions are unavoidable, most are predictable and preventable. Reclaiming control over interruptions is more than a way to improve efficiency; it
Why You Might Be Chasing the Wrong Dream
Why You Might Be Chasing the Wrong Dream Jan 20, 2026 26:47 So many of our choices are shaped less by desire and more by expectation. We chase prestige, status, or recognition, only to arrive and realize we were climbing the wrong ladder. Beneath burnout and the friction, there’s often the truth that we were never pursuing what we truly wanted. In this episode, we explore the concept of mimetic desire, how it misguides our ambitions, and how to reclaim our
Dan Millman on How to Practice Life
Dan Millman on How to Practice Life Dec 29, 2025 01:07:20 What if the true test of strength is focusing less on what we feel and more on what we do? In this episode, we explore a practical philosophy of action, presence, and personal agency with Dan Millman, author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior. Finally, we dig into how small mindset shifts can transform both high-stakes moments and the quiet struggles of everyday life.Guest bio: Dan Millman is a world
Supranormal
Supranormal Dec 15, 2025 19:34 Your work world is built on endurance, intensity, and mastery. The culture is 'always on,' and you were trained to perform in conditions no one would call normal. The work is supranormal. It sits at the edge of reasonable and regularly exceeds what is sustainable by most standards. High performers like you often find themselves on an above-the-fray pedestal, expected to be tireless and self-sacrif
How To Not Overthink Simple Decisions
How To Not Overthink Simple Decisions Nov 24, 2025 40:32 What if the best decision is to not decide at all? We waste valuable mental energy overthinking simple choices, especially when the outcomes are nearly identical. That kind of cognitive drain reduces our capacity to think clearly when decisions actually matter. In this episode, we explore how to reduce cognitive load, identify low-risk choices that can be automated or ignored, and recognize when d

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