Epi 54:

Does your workday often involve feeling overwhelmed, mentally exhausted, or stuck in overthinking?

In Part II of this neurodivergent series, we move beyond awareness and into practical, real-world strategies you can actually use in clinical practice.

Whether you identify as neurodivergent or not, these tools will help you reduce cognitive overload, improve focus, and make your day-to-day work feel more manageable.

From workflow changes to nervous system regulation, this episode is packed with actionable ways to decrease stress.

 

What You'll Learn In This Episode:

• • [00:00:00] Why neurodivergence may be more common in veterinary medicine than we think

  • [00:04:00] How diagnosis works and why it can be missed (especially in women)

  • [00:08:00] The hidden strengths of neurodivergent veterinary professionals

  • [00:13:00] Why cognitive overload makes everything harder (and how to reduce it)

  • [00:16:00] Simple systems (like checklists and visual tools) that improve focus

  • [00:17:00] How time blocking and task batching reduce mental load

  • [00:21:00] Structuring your day (appointments vs surgery) for less overwhelm

  • [00:23:00] Environmental changes that improve concentration and efficiency

  • [00:26:00] How to close “open loops” to free up mental capacity

  • [00:28:00] Quick nervous system resets you can use between appointments

  • [00:30:00] Why unclear job roles increase burnout (and how to fix it)

 

Key Takeaway 

• Cognitive overload (not lack of effort) is often what’s making your job feel harder

• Small workflow changes (like batching tasks) can dramatically reduce stress

• Your environment plays a huge role in focus, energy, and efficiency

• Clear roles and expectations reduce both burnout and workplace conflict

• You don’t need to change careers to make your work feel more sustainable

•  

A Truth You Need to Hear:

“Not one thing is going to make or break it, but all of these little things together…can make working a lot easier.”

 

Links mentioned:

Click HERE to apply for your complimentary Burnout Breakthrough Session!

 

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www.thestressandburnoutcoach.com

 

S2 Epi 54 Transcript:

You’ve Been Calling It Burnout or Stress… But This Might Be What You’re Missing (Part II)

 

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome back to another episode of Stop the Burnout. Today is part two of a two part series on neurodivergence in veterinary medicine. But if you're not neurodivergent, please still listen because there's a lot of good gold and information, especially in this EPIs episode. We're gonna go into like real.

Practical tips and ways we can make clinical practice easier for ourselves so we can reduce stress, overwhelm, overthinking, perfectionism, all the things. So last week we talked a lot about neurodivergence, specifically A DHD, and autism. How my working theory is that we have a lot more of this in veterinary medicine than we know, and reason being is I was late diagnosed autistic and A DHD at the age of 42, but I also found that a lot of the things that I experienced were those things that I had been dealing with my whole life and I see a lot in my colleagues and coworkers.

And it's actually something I was talking a lot about in coaching a couple years ago, and everyone resonated with it, but it's actually also part of me being neurodivergent. So I'm like, I think there's a lot more neurodivergence in veterinary medicine, and I think our younger generations are getting diagnosed earlier, which is great. But I do think there's a lot of us that haven't been diagnosed. It's not even on our radar, and it is contributing to our burnout truthfully.

---

[00:04:00]

So before we jump into that, we have to realize like, how do I get diagnosed? Maybe you're listening, you're like, yeah, I think I am. Or have some of those traits of being neurodivergent. So there are tests, from my understanding, there's a variety of ways. I mean, obviously the, like gold standard would be to get tested. I took a test that was two or three hours long.

There's another person there that kind of walks you through the whole process. And so I think that's the gold standard. I have heard people get diagnosed based on just conversations with their doctor. Now I think it's important to, if you can, if you have the opportunity to have the tests that are done and financially you can do that.

I was lucky enough that my insurance covered it, but it's important because it can uncover certain things like learning challenges that maybe you didn't know about, but you've had your whole life. So that's really, I think, the only way you can diagnose those other nuances like dyscalculia and dyslexia.

I wanna put this out here too, because I’ve almost felt like I gaslit myself, but I had a therapist that I saw every other week for going on eight years… and not once did it ever come up in conversation that I might be neurodivergent ADHD or autistic.

So if you're seeing a therapist and you're like, well, they never brought it up, that doesn't mean that you don't have it. This is becoming more mainstream. So if you think it, have that conversation… and if it doesn’t feel right, seek a second opinion.

---

[00:08:00]

Okay, switching gears, how do we take this neurodivergence… because we always think of the challenges, right? But we have a lot of really awesome benefits to being neurodivergent.

Some of those are things like pattern recognition. We see patterns well before anyone else does. Especially in vet med where our patients cannot talk.

We tend to be very empathetic people… and very good at out-of-the-box thinking.

I feel like vet med is like MacGyver. We don’t need the bells and whistles… we can still get the result we need. We find creative solutions.

So we have to remember that there are a lot of positives.

---

[00:12:00]

But here’s the challenge… a lot of us stay in jobs that maybe aren’t designed for us.

We like the job… but we hate everything around it.

And now we’re stuck there.

So how do we make it doable?

Now what I'm gonna share with you, you might say, I can't do that in my practice… but I don’t want you to discount that it's an option.

---

[00:14:00]

So first… cognitive load.

When our brain is overloaded, everything becomes harder.

Chronic stress → amygdala goes up → prefrontal cortex goes down.

So decision making, memory, focus… all harder.

So if we can reduce the cognitive load… everything improves.

---

[00:15:30]

So things like… organizing your workflow.

Color-coded systems, checklists, writing things down.

Stop saying “I’ll remember that.”

Because you won’t.

Having things visually in front of you reduces mental load.

---

[00:17:00]

Next… batching tasks.

Instead of switching back and forth…

Do phone calls → then records.

Not call → record → call → record.

That task switching adds to cognitive load… especially with ADHD.

---

[00:19:00]

Time blocking.

Having dedicated time for:

Appointments
Callbacks
Records

Instead of trying to squeeze everything in between.

That constant interruption… is exhausting.

---

[00:21:00]

Structuring your day.

All surgery vs all appointments.

Not bouncing between both.

Because that creates chaos, delays, and stress.

---

[00:23:00]

Your environment matters.

Noise. Lighting. Interruptions.

Noise-canceling headphones.
Turning off phone rings.
Using a desk lamp instead of fluorescent lighting.

Even small changes can make a huge difference.

---

[00:26:00]

Closing open loops.

Anything you “have to remember” takes up mental space.

So write it down. Delegate it. Create a system.

Don’t rely on memory.

And don’t leave things hanging.

---

[00:28:00]

Nervous system resets.

Box breathing.
Grounding exercises.

Bringing yourself back to the present moment.

Because anxiety pulls you into the future.

---

[00:30:00]

Clear job roles.

This is huge.

When roles are unclear → burnout increases.

When roles are defined → stress decreases.

It reduces confusion, conflict, and mental load.

---

[00:34:00]

So those are a couple things that I came up with today.

You don’t have to disclose that you’re neurodivergent to implement these.

Small changes can make a big difference.

And no one likes fluorescent lights anyway.

---

[00:35:00]

And if you're listening to this and you're like, okay, those sound good, but I still struggle with overthinking, catastrophizing, and perfectionism…

That’s exactly what I help my clients with.

You can apply for a burnout breakthrough session…

And we’ll map out your next steps.

---

[00:36:00]

And if I feel like you're a good fit, I might invite you into one of my coaching programs.

If not, I’ll still point you in the right direction.

So again, you can apply in the show notes or on my website.

---

[00:37:00]

Alright guys, I will see you on the next episode.