Balanced service to others during sickness or crisis is not a source of burnout for clinicians unless it is at the expense of their own well-being. Neglecting one's health, relationships, love, self-care, faith, and spirituality while solely focusing on assisting more patients leads to negative outcomes. It is crucial to prioritize self-care and well-being by putting on one's own oxygen mask first before helping others. The happiest individuals focus on four elements daily - faith, family, friendships, and work that benefits others.
We spend — on average — 90,000 hours of our life working. So it’s no wonder we want our jobs to bring us happiness. Yet, all too often, work doesn’t make us happy. Why is that? And is there anything we can do about it?
In this episode, we discuss just that.
You’ll hear from social scientist and New York Times bestselling author, Arthur Brooks (Harvard). Arthur talks with Dean of Harvard Medical School, Bernard S. Chang, about happiness, vocation, faith, and physician burnout. They discuss Arthur’s empirical research on happiness, explore the role of transcendence in a happier life, and how to best set expectations about the role of work in our lives.
This Forum was held at Harvard Medical School in February of 2024. Thank you to the Forum planning team at Harvard Medical School for making this event possible.
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