Recontracting Midway Through Coaching and Exploring Burnout: Coaching Session #6 with Dr. Mary

Shownotes For Podcast Episode 19: Recontracting Midway Through Coaching and Exploring Burnout: Coaching Session #6 with Dr. Mary

In this episode of The Holistic Physician Coaching Podcast, Dr. Jessica Singh continues her coaching engagement with Dr. Mary, a family medicine intern and first-time mother. Dr. Mary begins by reflecting on the progress she has made since coaching began. Many of the worries she once had about returning to work, failing as both a mother and an intern, and balancing work, life, and family are “nowhere near as loud” as they were before. She describes feeling more grounded in her identity as a mother, more confident as a physician, and empowered by how those identities can interweave and support each other.

Because Dr. Mary does not come into the session with one “burning topic,” they spend time debriefing her midpoint reflection and exploring where to go next. They discuss accountability, keeping track of insights from coaching, future career exploration, physical activity, meal planning, and burnout. Dr. Mary also reflects on what to do when her ideas feel repetitive or when she is unsure what topic to bring to coaching.

With the remaining time, Dr. Mary chooses to begin exploring burnout. She describes it less as feeling burned out and more as fatigue, loss of momentum, and loss of enthusiasm after months of demanding work schedules. 

Together, they explore her motivation to continue learning in residency and what it might take to move from a motivation level of “one” to “three.” Dr. Mary identifies a simple, actionable change: choosing topics she is actually interested in, keeping a list of those topics, and spending at least five minutes learning during each workday.

She closes the session feeling renewed motivation, recognizing her need for accountability and writing things down, and expressing gratitude for how far she has come since the beginning of coaching.

This conversation offers a window into how coaching can evolve across an engagement—and how meaningful insight can emerge even when a coachee initially feels like there is “nothing” in particular to talk about. This session also highlights how reflection, curiosity, and small, actionable changes can help uncover a way forward when motivation feels low.

Timestamps:

00:00 — Midpoint Reflection: Recognizing Progress

07:22 — Recontracting: Clarifying What Would Be Most Meaningful Going Forward

18:00 — When “Nothing Comes to Mind”: Finding a Meaningful Coaching Focus

33:51  — Takeaways 

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