Have you ever wondered how some physicians maintain their passion for medicine amidst the demands of their profession? In this week's episode, Dr. Mikel Segal shares how her innate sense of creativity led her along the path of continually searching for more. She discusses how this mindset allowed her to discover the realm of coaching, prompting immense fulfillment and purpose. Join us as Dr. Segal invites listeners to align one's work with their innermost drives, crafting a medical career that resonates with personal fulfillment, meaning, and joy.
"I had to nurture it outside of medicine for the most part initially, but I think that’s what sort of come more into my life in the past five years like since I’ve been doing coaching and facilitating that I’ve been able to incorporate that more into my career because that type of work allows that creativity with the coaching like there’s just more flow and you can add more creative aspects to it. So it’s sort of revitalized my job in a way within sort of the confines of traditional medicine. There is not a lot of room for creativity, so I kind of had to nurture it outside of that but it’s been nice to sort of incorporate it a bit more with my wellness work and leadership work." -Dr. Mikel Segal
My special guest is Dr. Mikel Segal.
Dr. Mikel Segal is a certified life coach and family medicine physician who is committed to guiding individuals toward a life of fulfillment and purpose. Her signature program serves as a guiding light for those seeking to transcend the limitations of burnout and embrace a future imbued with vitality and joy. Dr. Segal works to assist individuals in embarking on a journey of self-discovery and transformation. She stands as a testament to the profound impact of coaching in fostering wellness and resilience.
In this episode you will be able to:
The resources mentioned are:
Connect with Dr. Mikel Segal and visit her website:
Have you ever wondered how some physicians maintain their passion for medicine amidst the demands of their profession? In this week's episode, Dr. Mikel Segal shares how her innate sense of creativity led her along the path of continually searching for more. She discusses how this mindset allowed her to discover the realm of coaching, prompting immense fulfillment and purpose. Join us as Dr. Segal invites listeners to align one's work with their innermost drives, crafting a medical career that resonates with personal fulfillment, meaning, and joy.
"I had to nurture it outside of medicine for the most part initially, but I think that’s what sort of come more into my life in the past five years like since I’ve been doing coaching and facilitating that I’ve been able to incorporate that more into my career because that type of work allows that creativity with the coaching like there’s just more flow and you can add more creative aspects to it. So it’s sort of revitalized my job in a way within sort of the confines of traditional medicine. There is not a lot of room for creativity, so I kind of had to nurture it outside of that but it’s been nice to sort of incorporate it a bit more with my wellness work and leadership work." -Dr. Mikel Segal
My special guest is Dr. Mikel Segal.
Dr. Mikel Segal is a certified life coach and family medicine physician who is committed to guiding individuals toward a life of fulfillment and purpose. Her signature program serves as a guiding light for those seeking to transcend the limitations of burnout and embrace a future imbued with vitality and joy. Dr. Segal works to assist individuals in embarking on a journey of self-discovery and transformation. She stands as a testament to the profound impact of coaching in fostering wellness and resilience.
In this episode you will be able to:
The resources mentioned are:
Connect with Dr. Mikel Segal and visit her website:
Welcome to the Revitalizing Doctor podcast. We interview trailblazers in medicine that embody the Revitalize Women vision. To empower women to innovate and influence medicine to value authenticity, respect and work-life harmony. We recognize the challenges in medicine and we're committed to providing coaching-informed strategies to help you go from surviving to thriving. I'm thrilled today to have Dr Mikhail Stigl with me. Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Hey, thank you so much and I'm so excited to be here. Well, tell our listeners a little bit about yourself. Okay, well, I am a physician. I'm rarely trained as a family doctor, but I work in the hospital setting and long-term care facility, and I also coach and facilitate various different workshops, and I'm based in Vancouver, british Columbia, canada.
Speaker 1:Oh, I was supposed to go to Vancouver. It's one of those COVID vacations that got thwarted, so I need to get it back on my list and I want to save some time at the end for your top Vancouver tips.
Speaker 2:Definitely. It's a beautiful place in the world, so there's lots of fun things to do around here. Should definitely make it up here.
Speaker 1:Well, let's spend some time talking about why did you become a physician, and then explore a little bit if those are the same reasons that you're practicing medicine today. It's interesting.
Speaker 2:I have reflected on this quite a bit in the past. I naturally excelled in sciences and in high school and I was always interested in sciences. So I went into sciences for my undergraduate degree at university and it just seemed like everyone was gunning for med school. Most people were. It seemed like that was the tract in the sciences. It's not like I didn't want to do medicine and I had thought about it to seem like it was a good fit for someone with my areas of interest. But I feel like I didn't allow myself the chance to really explore other options.
Speaker 2:Not that it was easy to apply to med school and get in, but it just sort of it was the track that most people were doing. So I kind of went along with it. It was the track that most people were doing, so I kind of went along with it and in retrospect I wish I would have allowed myself a little bit more time to consider other options. So that's kind of how I ended up and it just seemed like the natural progression of sort of being interested in sciences and what would be a good career path. And medicine was the one that seemed like it was a good fit and it was as I said. I was kind of surrounded by people who wanted that, so I just kind of kept along in a way.
Speaker 1:It's very common, right? Yeah, I grew up in a really small town and I really only was exposed to teachers, police officers, medical police officers, medical. I didn't have a wider view of some of the things that people can do when you live in a metropolitan area. You see there's all sorts of different creative career paths. So now you're an established physician and I think we all reach a point in our career where we know we're smart enough. We don't have to do this. We made it through medical school, which is a rigorous thing. What keeps you practicing medicine today?
Speaker 2:It's kind of been a journey for me, like even from the start. So even when I finished medical school, I was always feeling like there's got to be like something more that I can do. It's not like I didn't enjoy like practicing medicine, but I was always looking for something else. I guess in a way it wasn't allowing me to express myself. I needed more out of what I was doing. So I was always, oh, maybe I could do this on this side or maybe I could do like.
Speaker 2:Even before, back before, like side gigs were a thing, I was always kind of looking for a side gig. I guess Now I think they've changed so much. There's so many different options. But I think, like I did go into family medicine, which did allow me the opportunity to do a lot of different things. That's one of the nice things about family medicine is there's so many different roles that you can take on as a family doctor, and I do appreciate that. So I think one of the things that's keeping me in medicine is I do value that being able to kind of create your day the way you want to. So like finding the things in medicine that you really enjoy and bring meaning to your life and making that part of your day. And then the things that you don't necessarily enjoy. Doing some of it obviously you have to do like billing and things like that, but just trying to create the type of day that brings meaning and professional fulfillment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of the things that really struck me in the prep for today's interview is you mentioned that you value creativity, and that's something really important to you. Tell us more about that. Was that something that you knew you were always a creative, or is it something that you started to discover along your journey?
Speaker 2:No, I think that was always something that, especially as a child, people were always telling me how creative I was. I don't know if I really appreciated it, but I did enjoy doing sort of creative things like music and arts and drama and things like that. And then I felt like I mean, for me that was a big loss like going into, like especially in undergraduate, just with the amount of work that was involved in all those science courses and then med school too, it just really stifled my creativity at least, and you just have to basically spend so much time focused on doing your work. So it was always something that was important to me and I felt a loss for sure, especially like in the early days of, well, undergrad and med school, in the early days of my career.
Speaker 2:How did you rekindle your creativity? How did you rekindle your creativity to my career? Because that type of work allows that creativity. With the coaching there's just more flow and you can add more creative aspects to it. So it's sort of revitalized my job in a way. Within sort of the confines of traditional medicine. There's not a lot of room for creativity, so I kind of had to nurture it outside of that. But it's been nice to sort of incorporate it a bit more with my wellness work and leadership work.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I think one of the key parts for me with recultivating that sense of creativity. It's hard to be creative when you're tired and depleted, and one of the things I've had to work on with other people in my life is I actually need a certain amount of quiet, introversion, time doing things outside, things that look like I'm just yes, I am relaxing, but a lot of my creativity happens in those moments and then if I am going to go into my office and work, I needed that time to do something creative, and so I've just found that to be really the fast pass to creativity the last couple of years is setting down some really firm boundaries, that this is what I actually need to do creative work.
Speaker 2:I'm also like that I definitely need to do creative work. I'm also like that I definitely need my quiet time. I like to spend time on my own and sort of that's like I get energy from that and definitely spending time in nature.
Speaker 1:Well, tell us about how you found coaching.
Speaker 2:So that's another story. So, like I said, I was always kind of sort of interested in sort of different things I could do within medicine. I'm like the ideas there are just amazing and just people are bringing all sorts of new concepts to medicine. And I think through that conference I found American College of Lifestyle Medicine Conference and I attended one of those and there was a speaker there who was a physician and she was a coach and she was talking about coaching and it just like blew my mind Like I had never heard of coaching. I don't think I'd even heard of coaching. I mean, I had maybe heard it in passing but hadn't really paid much attention to it and it didn't even cross my mind that a physician could actually be a coach as well. So that was when I first kind of discovered it and I could totally see myself doing something like that. So then I started doing all the research on what type of coaching programs that were out there, who was doing what, and went from there.
Speaker 1:And tell us about your coaching practice now.
Speaker 2:I do some one-on-one coaching and I run a few coaching programs focused on burnout, wellness and resilience, mainly like dealing with stress and burnout, and I do run quite a few different workshops. So I've done some training in emotional intelligence, joy in work, and now I've just completed in an immersive meditation program that I'm really excited about getting that up and running. So it's kind of fluid, constantly changing, but those are the main things, and I've also just finished a leadership coaching program too. So I'm hoping to kind of incorporate that into my coaching as well.
Speaker 2:Wow, with the meditation, were you a lifelong meditator? When did you find that consistent with it? But they were definitely interested in that kind of world. But I'd say like I don't know if I actually ever kind of had a real time when I was completely burnt out. But I would say like when I finished medical school and residency I was moderately burnt out and I think it was like a chronic burnout basically. But I think when and then when I had my kids, that's when I really kind of felt like I'm just exhausted and that's when I kind of started exploring, got into the A4M and the lifestyle medicine. So I didn't start a regular routine practice, I'd say about until about four years ago when I really delved into the coaching and the wellness work. But I have been consistently doing since then. I do like 15 minutes a day, but I really enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I also started meditating about a year and a half ago and it was really the evidence that swayed me. For better or for worse, that is our upbringing in the physician community. And then it was like well, if you look at the neuroscience research on meditation? And then it was like, well, if you look at the neuroscience research on meditation, it's very clear that there's huge cognitive, emotional, all of these types of benefits. And then I go through starts and stops. I'll stop doing it for a while because I'm too busy the favorite excuse of many of us. I start to notice, oh, wow, okay, so now I'm starting to get short with people again, the old patterns start to take over. So now it's like do I really not have time to meditate? Just like, do I not have time to eat? I'm trying to put it on that level that it's so integral. Do you have any other tips for people that are trying to develop a meditation practice?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I do it on the. I think finding like an app that you like would be important. Obviously, like you have to make it so you're not dreading doing it because you're not going to do it otherwise. But I agree with you, like knowing the science, for me again also was sort of just the added push that I needed. But finding a good app that you like, someone's philosophy that you like and try to make it as fun as possible, and again, it doesn't have to be long.
Speaker 2:So I find I think the stays are like 12 minutes a day or something like that. So I would say those are the main things and I do it in the morning because I find that's the easiest for me. I just get up and do it. But I agree with you, it's hard. I've been trying to also do a morning journaling and I've never been a big writer, so I keep it very short. I just list a few things gratitude, like a goal for the day, but that's the thing for me. That kind of falls off once in a while. I don't have time for it, but it really doesn't take that much time. It's those routines that are hard to continue.
Speaker 1:On that note, with the meditation I've developed some flexibility that there's actually the app that I use, which is 10% Happier, has walking meditations and I almost always walk my dogs and I'm fortunate to live in San Diego and the weather's almost always such that walking is very accessible. So walking meditation, especially on a day that I'm already feeling a lot of anxiety or extra energy, that's an easier way to get a meditation in. And then on the days that I'm depleted, before bed, the sleeping meditations, and so then I feel like, okay, well, I got it in, even if I wasn't able to go sit in my room that I usually meditate in on the floor with meditative posture. It still happens Whether it's the exact same brainwaves that you get, who knows, but I think it's that promise to myself that I'm trying to keep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's also really good advice. Yeah, just kind of try to incorporate it into your daily routine as best you can. That's what's so great about the ZAPT.
Speaker 1:So one of our favorite questions on the podcast is about these revitalization moments so you've already maybe mentioned a couple when you had your kids, when you finished residency, but can you think of a story related to you? Have this inflection point in your life and then you finally hit some of the clarity about what you needed to do keep practicing medicine or to find more fulfillment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I'm not sure if there was there's sort of an aha moment. I think it was more like what I kind of already said, like I was always kind of searching. Definitely, when I found coaching, that was probably the biggest moment for me. I kind of realized that I could incorporate something more into the medicine that would make it more palatable for me. I kind of realized that I could incorporate something more into the medicine that would make it more palatable for me and just make it give me more balance and what I was looking for. So, and it has worked in that way because I actually used that in terms of the health authority I'm at in the hospital I'm at, I'm on the wellness committee now. So I joined the committee and I've been able to kind of make some changes and bring some programs to the whole hospital, which has been great. So I've kind of incorporated it into my work.
Speaker 1:Well, I love that answer because I think sometimes it is big moments for people, but sometimes it's the amalgamation of all these small moments too, and it gives people different perspectives. We're all different, our lives are different, and this process of revitalizing, of finding what our true essence is and how are we going to continue practicing medicine in a challenging environment, unfolds differently for all of us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you. Yeah, and I just when you're saying that it made me think of because the other thing that kind of tied in was with me having my kid is I became very interested in nutrition, more sort of thinking of it from their perspective. Like I did kind of delve deep into nutrition, which tied into sort of the lifestyle medicine aspect, so it kind of brought me there through that. So it was kind of like a slow movement towards where I am now, but it was sort of all sorts of pieces in my life that kind of brought me there.
Speaker 1:Coaching is becoming more well-known, at least in the United States and the physician community, but I still find that people have a lot of resistance to the word coaching, that it's often been linked to physician remediation. It's something that problem physicians need or should seek out. How do you respond when you hear things like that?
Speaker 2:That's funny. I actually haven't heard that. I don't. Maybe it's not used in that way as much here, but or maybe I just haven't come across it. But I would agree that there is definitely resistance to coaching or people don't really understand it or they don't see how it could benefit them. So there are definitely are barriers to for people accepting coaching. I think talking to people who have done it is is is a really good way for people to get an idea of how it can help them. So testimonials or speaking to people that have gone through it and have really benefited from it, and then just talking through all the common misunderstandings about coaching, about what it's not coaching, about what it's not like it's not counseling, it's not therapy all the things it's not can sometimes be helpful as well absolutely.
Speaker 1:What are you excited about in 2024? So for 2024.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to continue working with the coaching and, as I mentioned, the putting together a guided meditation program. That's my big project for 2024. But just continue running workshops and doing facilitation and coaching and seeing whatever anything else that comes across my plate and looks interesting.
Speaker 1:And, with your focus on nutrition, what's your top nutrition tip for our listeners? I love making smoothies.
Speaker 2:I've got my own smoothie perfected and that we have almost every day in our house. But I think again, it's sort of the same thing, Like you have to find foods that nourish you, but also that you enjoy eating. Because it doesn't, you're not going to enjoy it and you're not going to stick with it. So I think sort of finding a few key things that you enjoy eating that are really nutritious.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm a big smoothie fan too, because they're great for when you're on the go, and I make mine I don't know whip it enough that I can drink it through a straw, especially if I'm like on the go or going on to a shift in the emergency room. Even if we wash our hands a ton, I still don't want to touch any food at any point during my shift. And let's turn a little bit to where you live. So tell us again where you're from and give us some advice for when we visit your area.
Speaker 2:So I'm in Vancouver and we live lucky enough to live right near the ocean, pacific Ocean, so we're just right above you a little ways. So we have the beach, so if you like any kind of beach activities, it's a great place to come. And then we're right near the mountains too, so skiing in the winter, skiing, snowboarding, and then in the summer doing all the different hikes there's just so much to do, especially if you like the outdoors. It's really a beautiful place. All the cherry blossoms are just starting to come out, so I think even they say like even some areas of Japan doesn't have quite the same amount that we have here. So that's just, it's just beautiful.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, that's such a wonderful travel tip because I've always associated traveling to Japan or Washington DC with the cherry blossoms. But to know now I should go to Vancouver and much easier flight, especially for us in the US on the West coast. Wow, that's a fantastic tip.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they're just coming out now, so, like early April, I usually count on them being around.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, I'm very excited for that. If our listeners want to connect with you for coaching, learn about your group programs, what's the best way to connect?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I can be found on LinkedIn just with my name, mikkel Siegel MD. I'm also on Instagram same thing, mikkel Siegel MD. And I do have a website same thing, wwwmikkelsiegelmdcom. So any of those ways you can connect with me and I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1:so, yes, this has been a delight having you on the podcast.
Speaker 2:I really enjoyed talking to you and thank you again for being so open and having me on here. Thanks, Mikael.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Revitalizing Doctor, a project of Revitalize Women Physician Circle. Our mission is to connect women physicians and allies through innovative, value-based coaching methods to ignite the courage and clarity necessary to create change and thrive. If you are interested in working with us, check out our website peoplealwayshcccom. Slash revitalize. This podcast represents the views of our hosts and guests. It does not reflect the views of any institution we work for or with. Podcast production assistance is provided by Caitlin Dinh and Allie Dingus. Sound editing for this podcast is brought to you by Better Podcasting Services. You can find them at betterpodcastingservicescom. Thank you.