Ep #375: Improve Your Well-Being Through Intentional Focus

Welcome to the Weight Loss for Busy Physicians podcast. I'm your host, master certified life and weight loss coach, Katrina Ubell, M.D. This is the podcast where busy doctors like you come to learn how to lose weight for the last time by harnessing the power of your mind. If you're looking to overcome your stress, eating and exhaustion and move into freedom around food, you're in the right place. Well. Hello there, my friend. Welcome to today's podcast. I'm so glad you're here. Joining me today. Today is a day where I feel like we should just, like, cozy up, get a cup of coffee, cup of tea, cuppa, whatever you like to drink, and let's just sit down and have a little chat about some things.

I really was feeling very called to do an episode that hits you in the feels a little like seeing you for what you're needing right now. You know, maybe you're listening to this much past when I first published it, but also it might be exactly what you're needing at this moment. In fact, it probably is. And I'm really excited to have this information for you. Before we get started, though, I want to do something that I have literally never done before. So many episodes of this podcast have never done it before, but I decided that it's something that might really help you. And so I wanted to share it with you. So a company reached out to me and asked if they could sponsor my podcast, like do an ad or, you know, do a financial sponsorship in exchange for me promoting it.

[00:01:41] And I don't do that. That's not a thing I've ever done in this podcast. I don't do ads, I don't have sponsorships. I don't do that at all. But I was curious about the company. And, you know, I got a lot of solicitations and basically almost never am I interested in what's being sent to me. But this one piqued my interest. And so I went over and clicked over and had a look at what they offer. And I was like, this actually sounds really, really good. And I still don't do sponsorships. So I'm I'm not going to take any of their money, but I wanted to reach out to them and say, well, hey, I'd be happy to just pass on the information to my listeners.

And then I was like, thinking about y'all and thinking like, maybe I can get something good for them. And I was like, what if I just, you know, talk about it? Like, would they have some sort of special code or something that I could offer the listeners just to help you out? Again, I get zero from this. I don't want anything from this. This is just a genuine idea. Share. I hesitate to even say recommendation as such because I haven't used it myself. But as I was considering doing this, I actually coached one of my clients and she mentioned using a service like this.

[00:02:44] It was a different one and I thought, no, this is really a thing. People are using it, doctors are using it, and it's really helping those who are using it. So I wanted to bring it to everyone's attention, or at least everyone listening here, in case maybe you haven't heard about it or you have and you just have never really, like taken the leap. Like maybe this will be the thing that'll get you going. So what I want to talk about is using a virtual like an AI scribe. So recently I did a podcast where I was talking about different ways to support yourself more, to get more help. And one of the things I talked about was hiring a scribe.

Well, when I was talking about that, I was thinking about like an actual physical human. But there are many, many companies out there who now are offering, like an AI virtual scribe that then, you know, listens to your whole interaction with the patient and then writes your note for you. And so I thought, well, how good can that be? You know, I'm like a natural skeptic, but I went through this website and looked at everything and looked at their reviews and I was like, no, this is really good for people like the people who take just a little bit of time to get it set up and to to train it, you know, it keeps learning and then it gets better and better at writing the notes exactly how you want them.

[00:03:54] So the company is called freed. Freed. Their website is Get Freed II. So get freed. I like I said, there's many other companies out there. It could be that maybe there's a certain one that the institution that you work for maybe is rolling out, and you can use it with your EMR. Maybe it's something like that or maybe not. Maybe you don't know anybody who's using this and you're like, what is this?

I want to check it out. So I'm not saying that freed is like the only one that's good by any stretch. They're just the ones that reached out to me. And like I said, I checked out their stuff and it seemed like people are super loving it. So what I got for you is a discount code because like I said, I was like, well, if I'm going to talk about it, I want to like help you out. And so this is for a free month of unlimited uses of freed. So I think if you used it for a month, you know, unlimited uses, you could really get a good sense of, is this something that actually helps you or not? And, you know, I don't think I need to say this, but I will anyway. You know, getting charting done is a huge challenge for a lot of doctors.

[00:05:00] Not every doctor. There are plenty of people who have it figured out for themselves, and it's going really well without this service. But if you're someone who struggles, if you're someone who's looking for some solutions, clearly what would really help are some systemic changes and solutions, of course. But while we're waiting for those, maybe we can find some things that you can use today, like right now to help you. So like I said, you know, why not try it? The code is wait 99. They have wait written in all caps. I'm. Not actually sure if the all caps matters or not, but why don't you just type it in in all caps just to be sure. So it's WEIGHT99 and that gets you a free month of unlimited uses at get freedom.i. Just check it out. Why not? Like, what do you have to lose?

Or maybe just look at it and see if it's something you might want to consider. But it seems to me like if you were going to be reading things out loud, saying things out loud to an in-person scribe, this would not really be different, right? You might have to explain it to the patient because it could be a little like, why am I saying some of these things out loud? But I think they would really love being able to see you looking at their face and making eye contact while your phone or whatever is listening. To be able to write that note so that you're not having to face the computer and type it all the time, you know what I mean? Or wait and type it later well into the night because you're behind.

[00:06:30] That's what I have for you on that. I wanted to share that with you because I think it's pretty cool. What I want to talk to you about today. Like I said, I really wanted to connect with you a little bit like heart to heart. Hopefully. You know what I mean by that. I get this sense that there are people out there that need that connection, and it could be you, right? Like holding it together, you know, marching forward, but need a little moment to have just like a little heart softness there.

And I was trying to figure out what exactly that was. And then a friend of mine who's actually been on this podcast twice. I'll tell you more about that in just a second. I'm on her email list because her work is amazing, and she sent out an email that literally came out today, I believe, and I was reading it and I was like, oh, dang, that's so good. And that's what I'm going to talk about today, and I'm just going to credit her for it. I'm not even pretend like I came up with this myself because I did not. It's so good. It's so good though. So Shira Gill, she has been on this podcast twice.

[00:07:29] I wrote it down. She was on episode 82 and episode 251. And definitely those are good episodes. She's a great person to interview, great person to chat with, so definitely recommend you check those out. 82 and 251 so Shira is an organizing expert, but the way that we met was actually through the coaching industry because she is also a trained life coach as well. So she doesn't really focus on coaching clients so much, but she understands how brains work because of coaching to help people, to be able to declutter, organize, you know, have the right amount of things for them. She's also the best selling author of two books.

The first one is called minimalist. A second one is called Organized Living, so you're going to definitely want to check those out. Her website is Shira Gill g I l l.com. So you definitely want to check out her work you can get on her email list. I highly recommend it. I find it to be very helpful. And also I just love Shira. She's my friend and I've actually worked with her. I actually this was pre-COVID. I had her come out and help me with my home and she's incredible. So all the credit to Shira here, but she was talking about different ways to take care of yourself. But there's one part in here that really resonated, and it was talking about things that you can control. For me, when I was really thinking about like, what is this actually talking about? It's really more about what I titled this, which is improving your well-being through intentional focus.

[00:08:52] And I think maybe I'm feeling like you need what I need right now, which is that connection to more like of reality. What I mean by that is with what's going on in the world, partly political, but also partly just other world events. It can be a bit overwhelming, it can be a lot and it can be easy to start. Feeling sucked in by those topics, sucked in by the problems and what I've noticed myself at times, just a little bit. Because I try to really do my best to keep this under control, but starting to sometimes wonder, like, are there really solutions out there?

Like, what is this really going to mean for my children? And like, you know, I'm I'm just to be totally honest, I've had thoughts of like, people who are well into the end of their life and like when people pass away, I've literally had like fleeting thoughts of like, well, lucky for them, they don't have to stick around to see what happens, you know, or like things like that, like, wow, that's interesting. That's interesting that I'm having thoughts like that. Okay, okay. And so what I have been doing before I even read this email from Shira, was trying to curate that a bit more. So I'm not at a point where I want to go completely no contact with news.

[00:10:07] I'm not at a point where I want to just completely like delete the two apps that I, you know, or like cancel my subscriptions. There's two papers that I subscribe to. I don't want to do that, but I also want to be on there less. So figuring that out has been helpful. Like, for instance, there were even some podcasts I'd been, you know, dedicated listener to and decided to take a break from those, decided to listen to a few more audiobooks, you know, just decided to maybe expose myself to some things that were a bit more fun and we could maybe argue even like a little bit like frivolous, like, you know, I've gotten kind of into knitting lately and like looking at beautiful yarn online, you know, it just feels like it's actually really a nice thing to do for myself.

So when Shira was talking about that, one way to take care of yourself is to really focus those things that you do have control over. And she has a list of 12 things I was like, yes, this puts into words what I think I've been trying to do for myself. It was so helpful for me to read it, and I wanted to share it with you as well, because I think it will be helpful for you. And I think it's a great list to maybe write down, print out whatever your version is so that you can remind yourself, like, am I doing things that are on this list? If not, you know, do I want to maybe drop what I'm doing and focus on that? So these are things that you can control for sure.

[00:11:33] But I think when you intentionally focus on them, it really does improve your well-being. Right? Like, yes, there are the things that are happening in the world. And, you know, we can spend as much time as we want to or we feel as valuable on them and thinking about them, talking about them, things like that. But then. Actually making a concerted effort to shift away and focus on these things that bring value to us and help us to feel well so that we can contribute positively to the world, like within our sphere of influence. I think it's really, really meaningful.

I think it's really, really meaningful. And before I get into the list, I wanted to just briefly mention that episode 356 of this podcast is titled Peace and Freedom Around Politics, which, if you're having some trouble with political stuff currently, right as this is published or even just sometime in the future, that's a good episode to revisit as well. Or maybe listen to for the first time, but this is really something that you can use really, any time you're feeling like maybe just like pulled in different directions. You know, for me, sometimes I'm kind of like I start to feel like there's a little pessimistic thread in my thinking, like a through line, like, I don't like that.

[00:12:46] Why is that like that? I don't I don't want to live my life like that. I really want to be thinking and feeling more optimistically. And I think focusing on these things really helps. So I'm going to read them all to you. And then I have one extra, and I'll put in my own little thoughts and tidbits as, as I go through them again with those ideas. So just so that you get the list first. So this is Shearer's list, she says. These are the things you can control, right? What you can intentionally focus on my attitude, mindset and actions. Number two, my work ethic.

Number three, how I spend my time. Number four, how I care for my home. Number five what foods I consume. Number six who I choose to spend time with. Number seven what I read, watch and listen to. Number eight who I choose to give my attention to. Number nine. How I spend, donate or invest my money. Number ten. Who I vote for. Number 11. How I treat myself and number 12 how I treat others. Oh so good. And I'm going to put a little lucky number 13 in here. I really thought long and hard, like, what do I have to add to this? And everything that I came up with was actually it could be tied into something that was already there, except for number 13 that I did want to point out.

And it makes sense that Shearer didn't have it on here, but it makes sense for me to offer it to you because you are actually coming here for, you know, some help with your mindset and for coaching tools. And so lucky number 13, I said, was how I utilize the coaching tools I know or that are available to me. Right. Very often we learn a lot of these tools and then we're not actually putting them into action. We're not utilizing them, applying them to ourselves to help us.

So that could be processing your emotions, looking at your thoughts, evaluating them, you know, things like that, like all those things that I teach you, right. Like actually using those things and, you know, putting some intentional focus on that can make a huge, huge difference as well. Okay. So let's just go through each one of those line by line. So the first my attitude mindset and actions I mean this is like really honestly I'm so glad she led with this one because it's kind of like a mic drop moment, right? It's like when we're not happy, it's like, okay, well, if I fix my attitude, if I fix my thinking, my mindset, if I'm making sure that my actions are in line with my values, my priorities, who I want to be in this world, how I want to show up in this world, things start to feel a lot better, just like immediately.

[00:15:24] Like if that was the only thing she wrote, I'd be like, yeah, pretty much right there. So I think that's a really good check when we're like, why is everything the way it is? Why does it have to be that way and wish everyone was different? Maybe what we really wish was that we were different and not like in the bigger picture sense, but in like our attitude in the way that we're thinking, in the actions that we're taking in our overall mindset, the way we're approaching things, particularly with work, it can be a huge part of it.

So this is, again, not anything to be like judging yourself on beating yourself up about, but it's a little bit of that like, aha, come to Jesus kind of a thing. Like where it's just kind of like, oh, okay. Right. Yeah. I do have control over that, don't I? Interesting. Yeah. When my mindset is controlled, so to speak. Right? Is how I want it to be. My perception of everything and everyone around me improves immediately. Right. Our well-being improves immediately. Okay. Number two, my work ethic and I don't think that there's really many people here who have a concern about work ethic. You know, knowing Shearer like it's it's there's not even a lazy cell in that woman's body. Like it's not that at all, but focusing on what you can do right.

[00:16:36] When you're kind of feeling like you're spinning and you're all over the place, it's like, wait, I know how to contribute value to this world. So I'm gonna get to work focusing on getting that done and doing it in an efficient manner. I think that can be really centering as well. Like. I really have something of value to offer here, and I'm just going to get to work and do it instead of, you know, spinning around with all the distractions. Okay. The next one, how I spend my time. This is so good. You know what I noticed a little bit was like, sometimes because, you know, I don't do social media, right?

So sometimes those news apps can scratch that itch, give that little dopamine hit of like, oh, like, I wonder what happened now. Or, you know, I've already read the paper in the morning and then at night, like, I'm kind of thinking to myself, well, I wonder what happened today. Going in there and looking at things, is that how much time I want to spend on the paper? I mean, I think we could argue like no one would criticize me for that. But when I look at. How I want to be spending my time. It's not that much, you know, whatever happened during the day will probably be there tomorrow morning, too, you know, if it's important enough. You know, sometimes I get a little bit of scarcity, like sometimes there's some articles that I find really, really interesting that aren't necessarily like news as such.

[00:17:43] And by tomorrow they won't be there anymore. So I get a little bit of a FOMO kind of thing. Well, let me just see. And was there another article? And, you know, sometimes it's not so easy to find something that you saw before. I just decided, like, I none of that's actually that important, right? How do I want to spend my time? Do I want to be spending it on things that maybe don't always make me feel so great? Well, maybe. But maybe just a small portion of that and spend more of my time doing other things, like finishing the shawl that I'm working on. I've been hooked. Any of the fiber arts people I think may know a couple years ago, I never in a million years would have thought this would be me, but it is me.

It's something I'm really enjoying. Okay, how I care for my home. You know, our surroundings are important. I don't think that we need to make this, like, a pressure kind of a thing of like, well, you can't feel like you're in control or have this feeling of well-being until you've completely straightened your whole house up. It doesn't mean that at all. But again, understanding what your priorities are, what your values are, and putting some of your time and effort into creating a home environment that is in alignment with that, I think is really, really important and something that does help us to feel better when we're just in our homes.

[00:19:02] When you look around and it's not calming or esthetically pleasing or it's just difficult for you in whatever way, it might be time to make a little shift in that. And, you know, even if it's just some small things. They're not always that hard. Like we don't have an attached garage and so we have to go outside to get to all our recycling bins and garbage and all that stuff. And sometimes it's cold and I've got some recycling, you know, piling up cardboard laying around and, you know, it just it's like so like just go outside in the cold for 20s and put it out there so that it's gone. Like, this is what I'm telling myself.

And then it looks so much tidier and it just, you know, it feels better to be in my home. Okay. What foods I consume. I don't want to spend too much time on that. We talk about that a lot on this podcast, but it is important to remember that, you know, like it's easy for us to tell ourselves we don't have time or, well, I had to eat whatever was around. Not really true. You actually have a lot. You have full control over what you put in your mouth. I mean, unless somebody's force feeding you, which I don't hope is not happening for you, right? So what foods are you consuming, being thoughtful about that, having some focused intention on that, particularly then choosing foods that make you feel good in your body, that help you to create the results that you want.

[00:20:17] Okay, next, who I choose to spend time with. I think this is really huge because often what we find ourselves doing when there's not intention on this is we spend time with a bunch of people that maybe we don't want to be spending so much time with them, and then we're not making sure that we spend time with people we do want to spend time with. We're kind of mixed up on what our priorities are, or we're making choices that are out of alignment with those. And so getting clear on that again, like, who is it that I want to be spending time with and then making sure that I'm doing that or making some moves to do that?

Okay. What I read, watch and listen to, I mean, enough said. So huge, right? Like I'm, I'm definitely not ready for like no news at all, but really, really dialing it back a lot. And I am open to just canceling the subscriptions if I need to, I might. I'm just, you know, always on the table as an option. Don't think I'm quite there yet. I also have to say, like for me, I don't currently right now have a lot of time to watch very much.

[00:21:17] But you know, I decided to I've never been someone who was really like someone who rewatched shows, but what I found recently is that I found it really, really nice to rewatch some things that I know I enjoyed rather than trying something new. It's stressing me out, even if I really enjoy it, but it's like a stressful thing sometimes. That's nice too, you know? I remember the show from like the 90s called Northern Exposure, and I remember enjoying it back in the day and I found it. It's actually on Amazon Prime Video. I think you have a Prime subscription. It should be free. I know I'm not paying for it. It does have a couple ads, but it's not too bad.

And I was like a little bit of it has not has not aged well. But overall the concept is is the premise is still something that is entertaining. And it was, you know, it's just like it feels like wholesome and it makes me feel good when I watch it. So making sure that what you're doing is helping to facilitate that. What you're reading, watching and listening to. Okay, who I choose to give my attention to again, like if you are upset by something that's happening in the world and not actually taking action in the moment to help in any way, do you need to continue to give it your attention right now? Not to say that it doesn't have to be all or nothing, like you're giving it all your attention or you're giving it no attention.

[00:22:42] But does it need to have as much attention if it's not feeling like it's contributing to your well-being or your ability to feel good in your life? So same for that. Same for actual people who are in your life. Your attention is really, really valuable. It's really, really important. And I think it's something that is underrated and under talked about. So definitely something to think about. Then how I spend, donate or invest my money. This is a really good one to think about as well.

This is something again, I feel like I don't hear people speak of too much, but especially if we sometimes use spending as a way to not feel our feelings. Something really to think of. Does this really help me to feel well in my life? Something that might be good to intentionally focus on? Okay, next, who I vote for. I think this speaks for itself. You have control over that. That is to say that you have and it can be a good idea to exercise that, right. Okay. How I treat myself so good, right? Not only in actions, but also in how you think, what your self-talk is, you know, do you shove and stuff your emotions down, or do you find a way to process them so you can let them move through you in a way so you can really feel better, like you can stay afloat.

[00:24:02] Like you're not dipping down, feeling horrible underwater, bobbing back, you know, getting shot back up again for a little while, then getting pulled under with the undertow of emotions. Are you taking care of yourself well? Are you treating yourself well? This is so, so, so important. And then the final one was how I treat others. And I think that's really important too. You know, we think about the golden rule like we treat others the way we want to be treated.

It's a good way to live life. It's something to strive for. None of us is perfect. We're not always going to do it right, but it's really something that we can focus on when we treat others well. I think we also feel better about ourselves, you know, it's just more enjoyable being us in our lives. And then finally, my extra one, how I utilize the coaching tools I know and that are available to me, you know, and this is like no judgment whatsoever because all of us have done it. But sometimes, you know, we're kind of in a consumption mode or we're hearing things and learning things and yeah, that's so good. And like, oh my gosh, I totally should do that. And then we're not actually utilizing those tools. We're not actually putting them into action. And like everyone has done this I've totally done this as well. So this is just like a friendly nudge to actually try it out, to actually do it, let it work on you in your life, in your mind.

[00:25:19] Allow that time that you've invested into learning these tools. Pay off by applying them in your own life, and hopefully integrating them so that it just becomes the way that you approach things moving forward. So those are the things that you can control. Those are the things that if you intentionally focus on them, it really will improve your well-being. And these are things that we can do. Like if we're not careful, I think we can start to feel a bit overwhelmed by it. But I would just suggest like just pick one thing. Maybe focus on that. Maybe that's the thing for today.

Maybe you have some extra energy, you know, one evening or on a day off or a weekend day and you're like, you know what? I am gonna declutter and I'm gonna take those donations out and I'm gonna I'm gonna just do some general, you know, reshifting of things in the house so that it feels how I want it. So it's kind of reset back to the way I want it. Those are great, great things that you can do. And there's absolutely nothing that is indulgent about doing that. There's no reason not to. You feeling good in your life and feeling well does not detract from other people. It does not make people who are suffering feel worse.

[00:26:31] But it certainly doesn't help anybody. When now more people are suffering when more people are feeling unwell. So that's why really, the call to action for each one of us is to take ownership of our own wellbeing and do what we need to do to get ourselves to that functional place and hopefully even ideally, even better than functional. So what am I going to do? You know, as I was listing this all out, I'm like, what's my next thing? And I was thinking, you know, I have a decent car drive this weekend, I'm going to reach out to one of my friends and see if she's going to be available to maybe have a chat on the phone so we can catch up during that time, because it's important who I choose to spend my time with, right?

And who I choose to give my attention to. And she's someone that I would love to get my attention to. So all of us, we can use this as a filter, right? We can all use this going like, okay, what thing can I focus on? What's going to be something that's going to improve my well-being? You know, again, course and medicine. There's a need for some systemic shifts and changes of course. Absolutely. But in the meantime what are we doing? We can't just be suffering along and blaming it on others entirely. We have to take ownership for our part, the part we're responsible for.

[00:27:42] And these are all things we're responsible for. All right. Well, thanks, Shira. Thanks for putting out this amazing, amazing email that could inspire me. And, you know, I always love sharing Sherry's work because it's super good. She's also on Instagram. Her stuff's gorgeous. Don't let it make you feel bad though. Your house doesn't have to look like hers. It's just all like very serene. Anyway, check her out sher-gil dot com. You can get on her email list for free.

You can also check out her books, Minimalist and Organized Living. And if you're interested in trying out a virtual AI scribe, check out Get Free AI the code one more time is weight 99 white. In Caps 99, you get a free month of unlimited use. Give it a try. I mean, imagine if it changed your life. If it made charting so much easier, it would be so worth it. And if it's not for you, then cool. It's not for you. But at least you know, right?

Well, thanks for your attention. I just want you to know I haven't told you in a while. You're doing a really good job. You're here, you're listening. You're doing the best you can. I totally get it. And I appreciate you. And I'm sending you tons of love. Have a great rest of your week. I'll talk to you next time. Bye. Ready to start making progress on your weight loss goals? For lots of free help, go to katrinaubellmd.com and click on Free Resources.