Transcript:

April Jasper, OD, FAAO: Hi everyone. I'm Dr. April Jasper. I'm excited to be joined by Dr. Dori Carlson, a good friend of mine. We're going to have an awesome conversation today about burnout and what it means to us and what we can do about it. Dori, it's so good to be here with you. It's such an honor.

Dori Carlson, OD, MAL, FAAO: Nice to see you again. It's always fun to visit with you.

AJ: I think there may be a few people who don't know about your background. So if you don't mind, I just think it's incredible what you've done in the past and continue to do in the future. But for those of you who don't know Dori, she's not only American Optometric Association (AOA) past president, and the first female AOA president, right, Dori?

DC: Right.

AJ: But you then found it to be important, which I think is incredible, to go back and continue to learn. And you then achieved your master's in leadership, correct?

DC: Correct.

AJ: And then tell them about your John Maxwell certification and what that means. I think all this is so important because it really does put you in a place where you're one of the best people I think I could ever talk to about this topic. So tell us a little bit more about that.

DC: Well, thanks April. When I was done being AOA president, I wondered, "What next?" Should I just go home, see patients, and just kind of disappear? Or what did I want to do? I was blessed with having met a bunch of people while I was AOA president and had connections in a variety of places. And so I served on a bunch of things. I was asked to do different things. I said "yes" to many things because I was afraid I would never be asked to do anything again.

Granted, I did everything to the best of my ability, but I really started paying attention to what got me going, what made life interesting, what I became passionate about, and the topics kind of centered around leadership. And so the John Maxwell certification was the first thing because I always loved his books, and it was about reading his books first. And then I found out that you could actually go to a certification course and learn about coaching and public speaking and being a better coach and a better leader in general. And so I spent some time becoming certified with the John Maxwell Group and going through that part of it. That was great and I learned a lot of things from that.

But then that's how I ultimately made the decision to find a program that was a mix of being in person and also online for a master's in leadership course that was here in North Dakota. I spent Saturdays driving 2 hours each way to go to class and had a blast. In fact, I have 2 sons, and so all 3 of us were in college at the same time.

AJ: That's really cool. I love that. Well, you've spent a few years, I won't say how many, but you spent a few years not only leading your state and the nation in so many areas of optometry, but also running a multilocation practice. And so if anyone has ever experienced burnout, it could have been you. And I'm just speaking out of turn. I don't have any idea if you've been there. But where does the leader's sense of responsibility make burnout harder to admit when it happens, or even recognize?

DC: I think sometimes you get caught in a loop that you know that you need to put one step in front of the other and you just kind of keep going and keep going and keep going. And for some people, they just kind of hit rock bottom. I'll give you an example. I had 2 young kids. I was on the AOA board. I think I was in the office of vice president. I wasn't president-elect yet, but I remember sitting in this very room with my husband saying, "I am so done. I am just done. I am not running for reelection. I'm not going to do this anymore. Life is just too chaotic and it's too much." And my husband looked at me and he said, "Dori, I think that ship sailed a long time ago." It's like you pick yourself up and you just go, "All right, we'll get through this."

And so I think sometimes, you're right, it takes a bit to realize that you are getting burned out. And there's all kinds of other examples in life and other people and what life circumstances are. But I think part of it is just being cognizant of the fact that you can stop, sit, reflect, and realize, "Wait, something has to change."

Continue Dr. Jasper and Dr. Carlson's conversation here.