80. Mastering Mental Focus in Uncertain Times — 7 Essential Tips for Academic Physicians

Feeling mentally scattered, overwhelmed by constant change, and struggling to stay productive in your role as an academic physician?

You're not alone.

In this episode, I’m diving into the real-world strategies I use—and coach my clients through—to regain focus, protect mental energy, and stay on track when the demands of medicine and life feel nonstop. I’m sharing 7 powerful tips that will help you quiet the noise, reduce distractions, and build habits that actually support your goals.

We’ll cover everything from social media breaks and removing digital clutter to the power of your environment and setting intentional, realistic goals. You’ll walk away with practical steps you can implement immediately—plus insight into my Physician Success DNA framework to help you lead with clarity and confidence.

This is your reset button. Let’s get your mind back in the game.

📞 Need support navigating this season or staying focused on what matters most?
Book a free 45-minute discovery call with me to explore 1:1 physician and scientist coaching:
👉 https://calendly.com/ingahofmann/coaching-evaluation-session-podcast

Want to work with me directly and have me personally help you through mentoring and coaching to achieve more success in your career and more fulfillment and balance in your life?

Book a call here and let's chat 👉 https://calendly.com/ingahofmann/coaching-discovery-call

Free Productivity Tool: 5-Steps to increase your productivity and decrease distractions.

Academic Physician and Scientist Leadership Mentoring FB Community

Follow me on Facebook

Follow me on LinkedIn

Follow me on Instagram

https://www.ingahofmann.com/ – My Website where you can learn more about me, get free resources, and find out how you can work with me directly to accelerate your academic career and enjoy life.

Transcript

0:01

Hey there. With so much uncertainty in the healthcare system, the medical environment in the world right now, it can be super hard to stay focused and stay productive and not get distracted with some sort of mental rabbit hole you can drop into. So this is exactly what we're gonna talk about in this episode. So stay tuned for after the music and we'll be right back. Well, hello there and welcome to another episode of the Academic Revolution Podcast. I am your host, Inga Hoffman, and it's been a while and I'm excited to be back and chat with you a little bit with a time of uncertainty these days that we are experiencing, it can be so easy to get distracted and get overwhelmed, and I felt like looking what's going on out there, it's time to do a podcast episode about this and give you some practical tips and frameworks, how you can walk through those uncertain times and still remain productive. This is really a mix of various pillars of the physician success, DNA method, and I would say we are gonna address some leadership. We're gonna address some mental space and even some performance habits. So this is sort of a bit different, but I think it is an important time to address what's going on so that you can actually master. What you need to do in order to fulfill your dreams, to stay productive and achieve your goals regardless of what's going on. Around you. And that's really important. So if you are new to the show, welcome. I'm so glad you are here and I wanna just take a moment to honor you and welcome you and appreciate that you are here. If you are new, please do me a favor or subscribe to the show so that the show will come to you. And you don't have to go looking for it. If you just hit the subscribe or follow a button on your podcast platform, you will automatically have this show in your library. And then it will also pop up when new episodes get released. That also blesses me, Aton. So please do that. Hit the share and subscribe button. And also if you have listened to the show before or if you find this episode helpful, please leave a review. It really blesses me if you leave a five star review and actually share it with others and share how it impacted you. So, let's dive in and talk to you about what is going on in this world and what you can do about it. So right now. It's no secret that there is a lot of uncertainty in the world and it's been going on for a while. And I think that it's really hard as academic physicians to stay focused already with the stuff we have going on, like our clinical work, our administrative responsibilities, our research, whatever you might be doing, maybe on the educational track in your academic institution, and it gets so overwhelming. Not to mention the stuff we have to do at home. You might have. Family, kids to take care of perhaps elderly parents, a various number of things. There are a lot of pieces to juggle already, and then when an external stressor or an additional uncertainty comes in, it's very easy to just fall apart and that's just the reality of it. We have seen that during Covid for sure, and now we another season of uncertainty and the medical system, I don't think it ever really left us to be honest, but it's just another enemy and another beast and another complexity. And it's different than dealing with a health crisis with a disease in front of you versus dealing with sort of uncertainty in the world on other levels. But nevertheless every time we deal with uncertainty, we really have to focus on what can we do to manage all that so that we don't take an emotional toll and we take care of ourselves. What often happens when there is a disruption happening, whether it's on a larger scale in our society, our world, worries about, safety, security in the world about finances, provision job security, grant funding even world peace, right? We tend to get very easily wrapped up into those things on an emotional level and. It can take up our whole entire thought pattern. And then it leads to more fear, more procrastination on the things we actually should be doing, trying to stay focused. And that goes kind of in a visual cycle because then we are feeling guilty of things are not getting accomplished that we know we need to take care of, and it is extremely. Important to manage those emotions and disruptions and try to shield yourself from it to some extent. Now, hear me very clearly when I say this. When I say shield yourself, I'm not saying be ignorant. Put your hand in the sand. Ignore everything, but you have to be able to set boundaries of what is going on outside, in the outside world and what is going on with you, within you.'cause you cannot control what is going on in the outside world, but you can control how you respond to it, your thought patterns your emotion to some degree, and then how you react and actually what you're gonna do. And that's what I wanna talk about. So this is not a political episode or this is what you should be rally for and advocating for. All you listeners have very different opinions probably on things and I wanna really focus on what you can actually control in your own mind and what you can do very practically to set yourself apart and to manage. Your mind in a time of uncertainty and crisis. So whenever we are in a crisis mode or in times of uncertainty, we need to be even more vigilant to focus and not get distracted. As I mentioned earlier, we actually have been down this road before, during the times of Covid, there was a lot of uncertainty, and I remember, I think back in the day. Having a little, I think I ran a little seminar right at the beginning of Covid, sort of an encouragement how leaders lead in times of uncertainty, and maybe I should dust that back off the shelf and share some of those notes. But I wanna focus today on how you can lead yourself. Here are some practical tips that I wanna give you to manage your distraction and your mental chatter the best you can, so that you can save that energy, get out of drama wherever you can to keep your eyes focused on what your actual goals are for your career, for your family, despite the uncertainties. Because as I man mentioned, there are things that you can't control and there are things you cannot control. And you might say, well, Inga, that's great, but I actually don't know if I have grant funding next week. That might be the case. And then even more so, you can get into fear of all the options that could be happening, where you can go into a state of. I am still in charge. Even I don't have control over everything. I'm in charge of my own mindset, and that's what Mental mastery pillar number three of my physician DNA methods all about. So what are some practical tips? I think I have about seven here, so let's go through them. If you have pen and paper not driving, write them down. Otherwise just, take note and pick something in the end that you wanna start with. So, number one, fast from social media and the news, you're like, yeah, right. It is so important. Social media and the news are very easy to get sucked into and you get very easily sucked into. Whatever narrative you wanna listen to, and again, it could be on any spectrum, but here is what happens. Typically, the news cycle and social media, they're never usually positive and they're negative on purpose. It always has been that way because eyeballs make money and crisis attacks eyeballs. So therefore the more crisis, the more drama, the more provocative, the more divisive And the more division it drives it will get more eyeballs. But that also means there is a heightened. Release of anxiety, fear, and uncertainty on that messaging, and you cannot escape it. It will follow you everywhere. Your responsibility is actually to say, no, I'm gonna guard my eyes and my ears and my heart and my mind, and I'm gonna shut things off. You probably knew this already, but let me just restate that. Turning off your social media and news will be very highly beneficial for your mental health and actually will be better than any mental health or wellness thing you can probably do at your hospital. So that is the key part because what you are having on social media is constant drama and constant smoke and mirrors. And that again, is on purpose even on the news cycle. So. That you keep on getting dragged down that negative spiral and it is not serving you, it is not helping us. That means you don't have to be ignorant about things, but don't get excited about stuff and then find yourself scrolling on Facebook for an hour and go down a negative emotional spiral because you have to ask yourself, how do I feel after I. Scrolled there for a while. Do you feel better? And you say, I feel so good. The world is a better place because I feel like I have new perspective after I listen to all these different perspectives. No, usually you feel worse and more agitated, I would just encourage you have a social media fast for a couple weeks. The word is not gonna fall and the sky is not gonna fall. So try it and I bet you you're gonna feel better and you also have a ton more time. To actually get things done. And you can use that time either for work productivity, to take off your own health, to take care of your family, to work on projects or have some fun. So that's the first one. Fast from social media and the news number two. And this is sort of all related, but number two, leave your phone outside your bedroom. Now, this is a big one, and I mentioned this separately on purpose because it is so critical and I constantly struggled with that too. So everything I'm sharing here is real life experience. And something that I had to work through or have to work through and make a choice about every single day. And you, so leaving my phone outside the bedroom is huge because I know that when that phone sits in my bedroom, two things happen Before I go to sleep, I will be tempted to look at. Social media again or my email and see if anything new is there. Usually I'm not looking at family pictures. I should be, that will be better. Or reading something good. No, it's usually something mindless that's not making me feel better. And also waste a bunch of important sleep time. So. Get the phone out of the room. The other thing that happens when you have the phone in your room, guess what? The first thing in the morning, because your alarm probably is on there. Is you're gonna pick up that phone and you're very tempted to again be on email, social media, or you got a bunch of notifications that you see on your screen and you immediately sucked into a device. And it is a big temptation. And when you have it right there, it is very hard to overcome the pull of that temptation to pick it up and look at stuff when you have your phone right there. My excuse used to be, well, I cannot really leave the phone out of my room because my alarm is on there, right? You probably just thought about that. But here's this thing. You can just get yourself an old fashioned alarm clock and do it like we did in the nineties and two thousands we used to be fine without the phone as an alarm clock. We can do it again. So get the phone out of your bedroom, put it somewhere where you will not be tempted to access it until you actually got ready and your workday begins. That will, I promise you, at minimum it will save you 30 minutes per day, probably more likely to be honest and very realistic. For many of you that are listening, and I'm gonna be just real here and I know because I've been there, it might save you actually two hours per day. Go ahead, get that phone booted out of your room. It has nothing to do there. And then you will be able to manage your mind and you will also honestly get much better sleep. Number three. Be mindful who you surround yourself with. Be very careful who are the people that you're hanging out with, either in person or on social media. What is your circle of friends, colleagues, or in influence? What do I mean by that? So you really have to think about what are those daily interactions online or offline? And be mindful of those people's. Impact on your own emotions? Are you gonna find yourself in situations where there's constantly chat or distraction or gossip? That's certainly true on social media. People get in all sorts of conversation. Again, lots of time wasted. That can be true for your social circles and friends as everybody just talking, keep on talking about the same thing. And we of have a dooms and glooms kind of day and venting session. I used to have these a lot as a young faculty and honestly they never went anywhere and I didn't really feel that much better other than, yeah, we vented a bunch how hard it was. But be careful. Surround yourself with people that lift you up and not mull in the same negative conversation is so important. And that's in particular also true for chatter at work. It becomes very unproductive, typically when I went to clinic, I always made a very intentional focus to say, I. I'm gonna be here to see patients, get my notes done, get out of here. At work, even though I love to have little conversations and I did, but If you are not careful, you're gonna either have a side dialogue with your colleague or with the nurses or just chat about things, gossip about patients, gossip about the news, and none of that is uplifting or productive, and it's a huge time sink. So I usually locked myself away and found another little closet somewhere where I can get work done so I can not only manage my mind, but also my time and actually get my job done, and get home to my family, honestly. Save me a lot of time and therefore my notes got done at the end of the day. Number four, spend. Some quiet time. Just have time where you do actually have no input. And I know this is super challenging. This is not easy for me either, but it is important I think, to give our mind a break, no music, no lessons, no social media. No visual or audio input. And I have to say this is super hard for me because I am a freaking productivity geek and I am a constant learner, so I pride myself of that. Over the last decade or so that I really turn every little opportunity of time into a learning opportunity and never waste a moment. So how this looked like for me all these years, and still to some degree I do chores. I usually listen to a podcast, I commute to work. I usually listen to something either a lesson or a podcast or something. I was walking between buildings and dead time kind of walking between buildings from clinic to the hospital to my office, waiting for the elevator. I would always. People actually joked about it. I would always have my EarPods in and listen to something I was learning about coaching, about leadership. I mean, I never wasted a moment. Now therefore, I became a leadership coach and took multiple courses and trainings while working full-time and taking care of a family, and at times even homeschool because I knew how to. Value every moment, but that also has a downfall that you never really let your brain calm down and quiet, and therefore, it actually, over the years, has become harder for me and I have to relearn to turn everything off, to have no phone, no music, no distractions to maybe go on a walk. Without a phone and a podcast or a lesson or a lecture or something, and it's just me and my thoughts, being aware of my surroundings, being aware of nature. So this can be extremely refreshing and it will allow you to calm your nervous system and also just really process in that stillness. And sometimes it leaves you with your own thoughts. And that is a well worth self-examination as well. So I wanna encourage you, turn everything off and give it a try for a period of time. I'm not saying days or weeks, but let's say, let's start there. You go on a walk 15 minutes through the neighborhood. I do that every day at least once, and just go without a phone and you will be better for it. That will be my challenge for today too, when I take a walk later today. Number five, fill your mind eventually with something positive. So we kind of looked at, okay, what can I get rid of, right? The cheddar, the distraction, the social media, the noise all together by having some. Quiet time for the mind. Now, what can I actually fill my mind with, with something positive? So for me personally, and that's just me I'm a person of faith. So my quiet time in the morning, which means I spend time reading my Bible, praying to God. And meditating, not like in a meditation way that you might be familiar with, but more meditating just on the word of God or just sitting there in a quiet space, or even journaling. That is my quiet time and that actually helps me, and that is, I would say, the number one place for me to, number one, connect with God and also the biggest part probably for my mental health. If I wouldn't have that, I will be in big trouble. But you fill your mind with something positive, whether that is perhaps affirmation, whether it's journaling or when you listen to something, again, listen to something that is lifting you up versus pulling you down. Listen to a good book or encouraging podcast like this one, or you know, talk to a friend on a phone. That is a positive conversation. Versus something that drags you down. Number six, be intentional. Be intentional with the extra time that you gain from that, and don't fall easily into distraction traps again. I'm mentioning this separately. Just to highlight, you have to be intentional with any of these things I'm mentioning. These won't come by default. You have to make a decision to decide this is what I'm gonna do, and be highly intentional, focused. Otherwise, it's not gonna happen, especially when you're literally detoxing. And I bet you that most of you listening, you will have to detox from some stuff such as. Social media, your email, your phone, something. And when we are in a sort of a detox environment, I know it sounds very intense you have to be highly intentional. Otherwise, we immediately fall back into old habits. I'm using a strong word here by perhaps by design to say detox. But really what you're trying to do here is. Breaking old habits that are no longer serving you because they're not good for your mental health. And we are also breaking old habits in order to create new ones and to create more time and have more energy. I. And then the last one, number seven, is related to time. Plan your time intentionally. That means you sit down, you plan your goals and be intentional with the time you have each week. I think the last couple episodes are highlighted how I plan my weeks and my month and my quarters, et cetera. And I really encourage you to have a process to every week to systemize how you approach your weeks at work. Your weeks at home, what needs to get done so you're not constantly reinventing the wheel. But be highly intentional. That means now that you may be freed up some mental space. And even if you don't, but I encourage you, free up those mental space. Get rid of the, get rid of the social media for a while. But be intentional with keeping your eyes essentially on the price. Keep your eyes on your goals, clarify your goals. Write them out clearly. And I would just start small one, personal goal one academic physician goal, one career goal kind of thing, and really be intentional. What is the focus of this season? Think about it as a season. We have four seasons in nature. Think about what is your season at the time of this recording? We are still at the end of spring. So what is your season this late spring? Summer season, what are you gonna focus on? What is your main goal? What would you like to accomplish? For some of you, it might be, I wanna get this grant in. Or for others it might be like, I really need to get that manuscript published. Or you're say, well, I actually want to get home at six o'clock and have dinner with my family. Like whatever it might be. Have a clear goal. Set your intention each week. And stay grounded that way. And if we are in a time of uncertainty and don't have a clear goal, it makes it even harder to stay focused and also to stay positive because we just don't know where we are headed and where we are aiming. And then everything becomes. Something that is out of our control and that is really, really really hard to live by. So I really wanna encourage you turn off those distractions quickly to review those. So number one, get off of social media and the news. Number two, leave your phone outside the bedroom. Number three. Make sure you'll be mindful who you surround yourself with who you have a conversation with, whether that's either on social media or in person Number four. Have some quiet time in your lifetime where there is no noise, no distractions, where you just have space to be with yourself. Number five, fill your mind with positive things, whether that's a prayer or whether that's just positive relationships of family or something, you wanna learn something positive that energizes you. And number six, be intentional as you are moving forward and getting rid of some of these bad habits and putting some good ones in. And number seven. Plan your time intentionally, meaning have clear goals and have clear goals for the big picture, let's say for the seasoned life for this next quarter, but also from week to week so that you can keep your eyes on the prize, your eyes focused on what is important to you and to your family. And just stay in your lane because all of these things in this current season is. Basically mastering distraction and mastering your mind. If you can accomplish that, you will rise to the top because a lot of people are not willing to make that effort and actually say, no matter what's happening, I'm gonna stay the course. I adjust where I need to course suggest, but I'm gonna stay focused and not let the outside environment drag me down. So set your mind on the things that matter to you, your family, your loved ones. Don't get distracted on things that you cannot control, but focus on what you can do right now. It all starts managing your thoughts, your emotions, and your behavior. So I hope this served you. Share with me what your favorite tip was. One, tell me one of those seven things. What are you gonna do to make a difference in your own life? And closing down kind of the distractions and stay focused and work on your own personal mental health and focus in these seasons. You can share what your favorite tip was. Either write a review on this podcast or just go ahead and join my Facebook group. There's academic physician and leadership mentoring group. I will put the link in the show notes. You can follow me on Facebook under. Academic physicians, that's my Facebook page. And they also have a LinkedIn profile. Ingle Hoffman, Go there, check it out. Now if you feel like, oh, anger, this all sounds great, but I have so many other needs. I really need some help. I need somebody who's walking alongside me in this season to accomplish some of my goals. Or you just feel stuck and completely overwhelmed. Or maybe you're like, Hey, I need to get this manuscript published, or I'm. Hoping to get this grant in, but I know I cannot do it by myself. Well then. Coaching might be the next step for you. That might be a right step. And in order for you to figure out if this is a good step for you, I invite you just book a free discovery call where we have a, just a informal conversation to get to know each other and see where you are at what you need. And I put the link, how to book a call with me in the show notes as well. It's completely free. If you feel it feels good. We talk about next steps. If not, we had a nice conversation and got to know each other a little bit more, and that's awesome just by itself. So have a wonderful week. Talk to you soon on the next episode where I will be sharing the three key things that you have to master in order to really stay productive, happy, fulfilled as an academic physician. Talk to you soon.