I used to be someone who completely pooh-poohed the idea of burnout. Every time I heard a colleague talk about self-care or mindfulness, I’d feel an almost visceral frustration. Someone could recommend that I start meditating, and I would roll my eyes and walk away. After all, wasn’t the real answer to just work harder, be tougher, push through?
So you might reasonably ask: how did I become someone who now coaches, writes, and speaks about burnout and well-being?
I often talk about this turning point because, at its root, my frustration wasn’t really about wellness itself. It was about what all those conversations signaled to me. Back then, it felt like being “well” was being offered as an alternative to being excellent. As though excellence was unhealthy by definition, and that if I truly wanted to care for myself, I had to step away from the drive to do great work, show up fully, and make a difference.
And for someone like me (and I suspect for many of you reading), excellence isn’t an optional accessory. It’s core to who we are.
Over time, and with a lot of reflection, I’ve come to accept something I hope other high achievers can also embrace. Being well and being excellent are not mutually exclusive. In fact, for many of us, they are deeply connected.
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Redefining what it means to be “well”
When your purpose, like mine, is to show up for your community, your patients, your residents, or your family, you want to do that excellently. You don’t want to be half there. You want to do your best work, not because someone told you to, but because it matters to you.
This doesn’t mean living in perfect balance every single day. I still work hard. I still put in long hours at times, and yes, sometimes do things outside of the typical business day. There are moments of self-sacrifice: choosing to go to an event to support someone else, even if it wouldn’t have been my first choice; choosing to keep working when I’m tired or under the weather (while still being safe and not exposing others).
Here’s the difference: these choices are intentional.
I’m choosing when and how I work. I’m deciding what gets prioritized. And when I do show up, I’m able to offer the best parts of me—my attention, my compassion, my creativity. That is what being well looks like for me. It isn’t about doing less for the sake of doing less. It’s about aligning my energy and time with what truly matters.
Some would respond, “But if you’re still working late, still putting others first, isn’t that the opposite of self-care?”
I disagree. It isn’t about rejecting hard work. It’s about rejecting autopilot. It’s about being awake to why we’re doing what we’re doing, and making sure it still fits our purpose.
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Excellence is still important, especially in healthcare
In healthcare, excellence isn’t a luxury. It’s a responsibility.
We have people’s lives in our hands. Being thoughtful, intelligent, and diligent in our work is non-negotiable. But let’s be clear: excellence doesn’t mean chasing perfection. It doesn’t mean burning ourselves out until we can’t stand the sight of the work we once loved.
When I perform a procedure well, when I make a patient feel genuinely heard, those moments are excellence. They also contribute to my well-being. They reinforce my sense of purpose. They remind me why I chose this work in the first place.
I see this again and again when I talk with other physicians. Their well-being isn’t threatened by their desire to do great work. It’s threatened when systemic or personal habits push them into unsustainable patterns, when they’re forced to choose between caring for themselves and caring for others. But at its core, wanting to be excellent feeds our sense of meaning.
Finding harmony, not balance on a scale
Whether you feel most comfortable in well-being culture, hustle culture, or somewhere in between, know this: everyone needs some harmony of the two. They do not have to be opposites fighting for dominance.
It’s not about strict balance—working exactly eight hours, sleeping exactly eight hours, playing exactly eight hours. Life rarely fits into neat boxes. Some weeks require late nights. Others invite rest. What matters is that over time, we stay aligned with our deeper purpose.
For me, the shift wasn’t about giving up excellence. It was about giving up the belief that only sacrifice counts, that exhaustion is a badge of honor, and that rest is weakness.
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From skeptic to advocate
I didn’t come to this overnight. And I still struggle sometimes. I still catch myself wanting to say yes to everything, or falling into old habits of measuring my worth by my productivity. But now, I catch it. And I choose differently, more often than not.
If you’re someone who rolls your eyes when you hear “burnout prevention” or “mindfulness,” I get it. I really do. But ask yourself: what do you really want? To stop caring? To do less? Probably not. You probably want to keep doing what matters, to keep being excellent, but without losing yourself in the process.
That’s possible. Not because excellence and wellness live on opposite sides of the scale, but because, for many of us, they are deeply intertwined.
Being well is what helps us keep being excellent. Not just today, but for years to come.
In healthcare, excellence isn’t a luxury. It’s a responsibility.
