151. Are You Still Lit Up by the Core of Your Work?

What is it about your work that still lights you up inside? At the center of every profession is a core – the reason we chose it in the first place, the part that feels meaningful no matter the chaos around it. When we reconnect with that core, even amid challenge, fulfillment often follows. Sometimes, though, that spark fades. Sometimes the core of what we love evolves, shifts direction, or gets buried under layers of stress and routine. In this episode, we explore how to evaluate your relationship with the essence of your work and how small (or big) recalibrations can realign your day-to-day with what matters most. Finally, we share strategies to clear out the noise, fuel the flame, and shape a career that energizes rather than drains.

The Unburnable Course

​UnBurnable​ is our cohort-based course for EM, ICU, and acute care clinicians who want to stay in medicine without burning out.

We will teach you practical, effective, and real-world tools to make your career last and have fun doing it. No fluff. No wellness theater.

98% of clinicians who’ve taken UnBurnable say their work and lives feel durably better.

The next cohort begins Sept 16, 2025. ​Get more UnBurnable Info​.

We Discuss:

How Do You Feel About the Core of Your Work?

• The central question, How do you feel about the core of your work?, helps strip away distractions like metrics, meetings, and bureaucracy to reveal your connection to what truly matters.
• The “core” is what first attracted you to your profession. It’s the meaningful, energizing aspect that feels like the real job when everything else is removed.
• If the core still excites you, even slightly, that’s a promising sign. But if what remains is disconnection or flatness, reflection may be necessary.
• You can’t always change external circumstances, but you can assess whether your environment supports or smothers that essential part of your work.
• Listen to the tone of your stories about work. Are you describing awe and engagement or routine and resentment?
  

Micro Recalibrations: Adjusting How You Work Within the Same Role

• Micro recalibrations are small but powerful shifts you can make without changing jobs. They improve your experience of your existing role.
• These might involve setting boundaries, optimizing your schedule, building efficient systems, or improving sleep and recovery strategies.
• Predictable overwhelm, such as during the midpoint of a shift, is often a systems issue rather than a personal flaw.
• Ask colleagues who seem to manage similar challenges well. Do they have strategies or are they naturally wired differently?
• Micro recalibrations can include structured documentation habits, energy management techniques, or better approaches to difficult interactions.
• These adjustments are focused interventions that can make your workday more aligned with how you want to operate.
  

Macro Recalibrations: Changing the Environment, Not the Work

• Macro recalibrations are useful when you still enjoy the core work but find the current environment misaligned with your needs or values.
• Some work cultures may be so toxic or unsupportive that they deplete your energy no matter how much you love the work itself.
• Problems like these are often “gravity problems.” You can’t fix them through mindset alone.
• A macro recalibration might mean moving to a new institution, team, or city where the culture, pace, or values better match your own.
• Conduct quiet, informal research by speaking directly with peers who work in other settings. Avoid HR and formal interviews at this stage.
• Ask how they manage stressors, how leadership communicates, what turnover looks like, and how aligned they feel with their work environment.
  

Mega Recalibrations: When the Core Itself No Longer Fits

• If you no longer enjoy or feel connected to the core of your work, a mega recalibration may be appropriate.
• This means considering a full career shift because the work itself, not just the environment, no longer aligns with who you are.
• It can be hard to walk away because of financial security, professional identity, or the years invested in training.
• The sunk cost fallacy often keeps people stuck in careers that no longer serve them, even when fulfillment is absent.
• Leaving doesn’t always mean total separation. You may stay connected in a reduced or adjacent way.
• When you feel, “I’ve gottenwhat I needed from this work, and I’ve given all I have,” that may be the clearest sign a mega recalibration is due.
  

Tools and Frameworks for Career Clarity

• Notice how you talk about work. Is there enthusiasm, fatigue, humor, or frustration? Tone is an early indicator of deeper patterns.
• Ask yourself, If I left tomorrow, what would I miss the most? This reveals what you actually value.
• Use the flame and smoke visualization. The flame is your passion. The smoke is the clutter that obscures it. Which is more present in your work right now?
• Define what a fulfilling workday looks like. Then assess whether your current environment makes that type of day likely or rare.
• Visualize your life five years in the future with everything going as well as possible. Does your current job show up in that vision? If not, what does?