Lisa Yeung MD and CEO of her coaching business, explores the journey of coping with her stress and burnout. She now helps clients deal with career and life stress with scientifically proven methods.

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Business Dynamics: wwwshelbyjolong.com

Lisa Yeung website:https://lisayeungmd.com

Lisa Yeung workshop : LisaYeungMD.com/StressWorkshop

https://youtu.be/3QQpXhrT1i8

Hi, everyone, welcome to the podcast. I'm Shelby Joe long Senior Vice President of the strategic advisory board and CEO of business dynamics. And I love getting into the podcast and talking to entrepreneurs that have created a business out of their genius, and today is no exception. We our guests, Lisa Young MD coaching is going to tell us all about her journey of how she developed her own business and stepped into her genius to really have this great grounding in her entrepreneurship journey. So Lisa, welcome to the podcast. Excited. Hi,

thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. Of course.

Why don't we start with just tell us about you and tell us about your business and then the conversational flow from there?

Sure, of course. So my story is maybe a little unusual. And a typical when people hear it, they're usually like, really? And so my story, the short version is that basically, while I'm a first generation Chinese immigrant, I learned very quickly work hard push harder achieve do and I did, so I actually seated and I achieved many different things, including the first to go to college, then accepted early into medical school, one of the top in the nation as well as then becoming a family physician, primary care doctor and serving as a medical director in the Bronx during the pandemic and an accomplishment

and you're so young to that's an incredible accomplishment. Yes.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And all along this journey of the career path, right doing and achieving and pushing and striving. There was a period of time in residency when essentially, I was hit with a set of totally unexpected life circumstances. And I don't know if anybody has experienced that before, right. You had this plan and mine was laid out for over a decade, right? This plan really laid out and then all of a sudden, everything felt like it was falling apart, including I was diagnosed with an incredibly rare medical condition that didn't have a known cure and the medical world and essentially, I instead of really taking the time off to take care of myself, I just tried to push harder, stretch myself better fit everything in right. How many of us do that? Right because yeah,

especially your career woman. You have to do all the things you have to prove you have to be there. Absolutely. Absolutely. With the health stress on top of that, that's incredible.

Right, so suddenly, I was trying to do it all being a patient also training to be a doctor and doing all these different things, not taking time off or slowing down just pushing harder. Cutting down on sleep great on all these things and essentially prioritize everything and everyone else first for so long that I one day I found myself completely depleted. Oh geez, I physically could not get out of it. Yeah. And that, thank you. That in that moment, it really was I mean, I could not I felt like such a failure in every aspect of my life. And I could not believe me, but I have a degree in clinical psychology too. And I'm a doctor and I'm supposed to take care of other people. And all of a sudden I'm in bed totally depressed, totally burned out. How How could I? How did I get here? Right. And so that really, on the outside, I was achieving lots of success. And really it was that journey that has led me to create my business here that it was that journey, that moment, even though it was so incredibly hard. It was that moment that was the turning point in my life because really, I had one of two choices. I could totally give up and just be like, You know what, I give up on life. This is this is it. And I was close to that right? And the other option was, well, maybe there's something else out there. Some other way of living that I haven't learned from my family, from my culture, from societal standards and expectations. And so essentially, I went into a super deep dive, researching, learning everything I could about personal development and fulfillment and healing yourself from within and I learned so many things that I didn't learn. Sure in my traditional training, right like healing myself with all sorts of different modalities, getting really deep to the core of the issue, and essentially got to the point of being so healed, so fulfilled feeling much more alive than I ever have in my life. And I just realized I meant for more.

Absolutely. Oh, that's such a powerful story. And I'm not trying to cut you off. I just want to piece together some of the themes that I see that that I'm really resonating with, and I'm sure many people many people in our audience would resonate with to that we spend and, and my journey is similar that's you know, you're trained in a profession, you're in a profession, you're in the silo if you will, you operate here you climb the ladders of success, you do all the things, but then it's then then you reach a point where you're like, maybe I want something else but I really don't know what that is. I want something more fulfilling I want to I want to achieve for other people and also have that balance. And I think there's there's some really interesting, the, I believe that those themes resonate with quite a few people because there's a we invest so much of ourselves into building that career, and to building that reputation in that career that we maybe ignore even our own needs or our family's needs and our relationship needs and those things are all of those themes or our I'm sure resonate with a lot of our listeners, particularly entrepreneurs, you know, but that because an entrepreneurship you throw yourself into your into your career, and then sometimes we ignore the things on the outside of it, but in your case it sounds like taking that deep dive was something that was was fulfilling and it was a journey and that in a similar way for me to that yes, the entrepreneur doership journey is up and down and there's it's not all static and it's there's lots of changes. But even that is fulfilling. So sounds that is that. Yeah. Can you talk more about that a little bit? Well, I

feel like it's such a common theme like you pointed out many people listening I'm sure can relate to it because a lot of it is sort of what we pick up and learn as what we should be doing. Right, right. Based on society standards. This is how you achieve success. You push hard, you grind harder, right? And these these are these external measures are working to determine whether or not you're successful, and that sort of subconsciously like, well, if I'm successful, that must mean I'll be happy and fulfilled but those two are not the same things right? And I feel like that's why it's so sad. But we hear so many highly successful people, even celebrities that end up committing suicide and people don't understand it's because we've gotten so good at achieving but we've then lose sight of what's really important in terms of who we are and what's important to us and taking care of ourselves first and foremost. And so that was a huge turning point for me in terms of it was my rock bottom right and I could not believe I was there and think I'm so thankful that I found a way to figure it out that there is another way and I healed myself on a really deep level to then when even though I was serving, I really loved my job as a family physician. As a medical director working on the Bronx is working in the Bronx, especially in the frontlines of the pandemic. I really helped a lot of people and yet I kept having this voice and this feeling within me like there's something else out there for me where I truly believe I will help even more people in an even more deeply life changing transformative way. And then I can within the confines of how conventional medicine has been practiced. And so that's how I then left my position as a medical director to start my own business become an entrepreneur which is not anything I ever thought I would be doing that was in the heart of the life plan. Right. Right. And so that I could then help people in an integrative way in a holistic way where I bring in my medical expertise, the scientific background, and training I have as well as my degree in clinical psychology, with also alternative modalities that are maybe less understood, more esoteric, more spiritual, energetic, and to bring those two worlds together. So it's really magical to see how deeply it can really change someone's lives.

Yeah, going through that journey yourself. And, and I commend you because you you took a big step, that's a that's a step way out of a comfort zone that you built for yourself and this genius area where you're respected and you have your degree and you have a position and you've climbed up the ladder, but then taking that step outside of that there's a lot of people that will go back to that and taking a step outside of that and jumping into the world of entrepreneurship, which is a journey in itself. You know, you have the journey of the career ladder and the fall and then now you're transitioning that into an entrepreneurship journey. Both of those journeys can be extremely powerful for people so and your experience gives you such a amazing background for your coaching so that's amazing. Yeah.

Thank you. It's so honestly, it's so I loved what I was doing as a doctor and in stepping out of the box. To now become an entrepreneur and essentially craft my unique way of helping people whether it's my one on one clients or people that I lead through workshops, or companies and organizations that hire me to come in to help with managing stress and burnout so that their staff their leaders can perform even better results without burning out. It just it's honestly so much fun and I it's not easy being an entrepreneur, right. And I you know there are the ups and downs and it's so worth it for me because now I feel totally aligned with who I am and the journey the ups and downs are worth it because I feel more alive, more passionate and really call to do what I am doing now. And so

that's amazing. That sounds like I this is not a plug for me, but I just published my book called I see your genius. And it sounds like you have really, at what I talked about is like when you're truly operating in your genius zone, genius zone. You're integrating all of your backgrounds and experiences and that's how you interpret the world and that's how you move forward. And that's how you influence other people. And it sounds like you are completely operating in your genius and providing that transformative experience for other people and guts. That's incredible.

Yeah, thank you. It really is I pray anyone that's listening. I feel like I It's brave and it's vulnerable. To try to step into your genius like you're talking about because often our genius I believe each we each and every one of us has a very unique flavor of genius. And often it may be out of the box. It may be something that you never have heard of before doing something different. And it really it's been quite a journey for me to be able to step into that and own it and find faith and certainty within myself even though there may be uncertainty outside myself to actually keep going and trust and believe in myself because it's not a path that has been that as far as I know that has been taken exactly the way that I feel called to take it I haven't seen there's no playbook for this, right? No,

it's the you're you're on the Creator side. Now you get to create it and and, and leave that journey for other people. That's amazing. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit more about that entrepreneurship journey. I imagine many of our listeners are either in the journey or they're thinking about getting into the entrepreneurship space. What were some of the biggest challenges that you overcame? Hmm you've learned it Yeah. They kind of are synonymous.

I feel like one of the biggest ones that I hear a lot also a for fellow entrepreneurs that are honestly taking the leap of faith to go down this journey. Right of entrepreneurship is self doubt and questioning yourself. And then on top of that, there could be potential doubt or questioning from people outside of you to write for, for people who in my world and my family and culture, don't understand what I'm doing. And like why why ever you like most people dream to be a doctor. You're not only that you're a medical director and you're doing what are you doing? Right is what I hear. And it's also the self doubt or the questioning that comes up in your mind. And I really do this. Right? Is this kind of work?

Imposter syndrome? Sure.

Exactly. Yeah. And so I would say I imagine most of us experienced that. Especially, I'm throughout the journey, no matter how successful we are actually and to be able to recognize that that's one of the voices in our minds that we might have learned from and absorbed from other people growing up, but also, it's our mind. In my workshops, for example, I talk a lot about the physiology behind all of these things which is really fun for people to understand. Our mind basically is create our brain or especially the primitive brain is created to protect us. And so the mind can come up with all sorts of reasons and excuses to try to keep you safe, so that you don't do the thing that they don't do that is brand new, that is uncomfortable outside of the comfort zone. Right and for me, there's doubt and questioning even though I've been able to help so many people and achieved a lot of success already. Those voices are still there and to be able to then hear them. acknowledge that there are there are records and bring yourself back into your body and then feel feel what feels most aligned to feel what the truth is within you. That's what's helped me overcome the self doubt because it's not about necessarily getting rid of it entirely because it'll pop up every once in a while. It's just part of human nature. And it's really about finding that almost stillness or peace and calm within you where you the truth. You can feel it and it resonates in your body whereas the chatter in your mind it's often very noisy and not grounded.

Ah that. That's good advice to think about because I I would imagine most entrepreneurs go through that. Gosh, and there's just so much this conversation just helps me discover there's so much synergy between what both of us do so we'll have to explore that a little bit further. But that's yes. Tell it tell me about this upcoming workshop you have you have this new this workshop coming up.

Yes, thank you. So I have I've been running a few workshops and it's really been a lot of fun because I love the one on one coaching that I do right and my clients that I coach one on one we go so incredibly deep and typically, they're people that have achieved really highly are super successful in many ways and yet find themselves somewhat depleted and kind of lost that sense of fulfillment and art. They come to me looking for what you know what is missing. And you it's really fun to work with them and help them basically reignite their passion and have an even greater impact and just feel more like themselves. And I was doing that in the beginning of my journey and focusing solely on that. And the reason why I started holding workshops is because I want to be able to reach more people, right? My mission is to heal the world of chronic stress, depression and burnout so that everyone can be their best selves, live their best lives and have an even greater impact in the world. And I realized I can't do that necessarily one person at a time i i want to be able to reach more people and harassment. Yeah. And so now I've been holding workshops, and it's a stress relief workshop, right? Because in order to even find our fulfillment and passion, we have to first be able to better manage our states and so many of us nowadays are so stressed out. And it's not your typical stress relief workshop because my focus here is the five mistakes that even successful and really, especially successful people, the five mistakes that even successful people make that creates even more stress and even more problems. And all of these are mistakes that I've made. All of these are mistakes every time I hold the workshop like everybody Oh yep, I can relate to that. It's and so I help people just like little shifts, little ways of here are the five mistakes. And if you're making these mistakes, what are the tiny little shifts that you can make that can prevent you from creating more stress and problems? And I go through my four a framework to really shift people from stress to feeling totally at peace and things like that. And so it's been really great. It's been so fun to see people's breakthroughs and our highs and people have messaged me afterwards. So I'll give you the link and a code for the group in the in for the show loads but we have a few have a couple coming up in February and then in March so the next one is Saturday, February 11.

Great well we'll be sure to get that in the in the show notes and all that. Where can people find you if they're curious about your offer program?

Well, the My website is Lisa Young md.com. So Young is spelled y e u n d dot y e u n ng. And the workshop is just Lisa Young md.com forward slash stress workshop. And you can always find me on LinkedIn to and follow me there as

well. I still need to friend you on LinkedIn. I haven't done but I will do that and I'll make sure the LinkedIn and your and every and your website is in the note so people can find you when when they want to relieve their stress. Well Lisa was a tree talking to you today today. What piece of advice can you leave our budding entrepreneurs for? How to relieve their stress and to be more fulfilled in their journey?

I would say give yourself permission to pause pause every once in a while and just check in.

pause and check in to see how you're feeling. And whether you're feeling if you're feeling stressed and you can implement some of the tools I'll teach you at the workshop and pause and check in to see if what you're doing. What you're working on is aligned with where you want to go. And aligned with your bigger picture missions and goals. I I feel like one of the things that happens in entrepreneurship, it's so easy to go down all these rabbit holes that then we get stuck, but it's actually not helping us achieve what we really want and it can end up being busy work, right? So don't confuse this busyness for accomplishment and making progress towards your goal. And so I want to keep it simple. Everything I teach is super simple so that people can implement it. Just pause, pause periodically just to check in how you're doing what you need. And also if what you're doing right now is helping you further towards your goals of wherever you want to go.

Sometimes it's the simplest advice that is the best advice. So I look forward to learning more about you and what you offer and your programs and workshops. There's we're gonna have some discussion about some future synergy and what we do and the clients that we work with. Because there's there's a lot of potential there. Please I'm so glad you joined us in the on the podcast today and let us know about your business and your vision and you have huge ambition and I wish you all the luck with your business.



Yes, of course. And to our listeners. I look forward to the next interview when I introduce another genius entrepreneur that has created a business out of their genius to inspire you to think about your genius in a different way. We'll see you next time.