We are fools for articles on physician work/life balance because at the end of the day, that’s what we strive for at Clinic Service. By solving physicians’ billing challenges, we hope to give them a shot a good life outside of their practice.
In this vein, we loved this article www.thehappymd.com, Work Life Balance for Doctors – Three Steps to Saying NO with Grace and Power.
While the piece is written for doctors, it really applies to all of us who strive for more fun amidst the work. We love the analogy that a doctor’s practice can be an 800-pound gorilla that can really make a mess of their life if left unchecked. While we believe physicians have special time pressure challenges, we think the same can be said about most folks’ jobs.
The article stresses to doctors that patients can’t always come first if they have any hope of having a life outside of work. While we love to tell doctors that our service allows “doctors to be doctors,” we don’t mean for them to be doctors all the time. Sometimes they need to be husbands, wives, boyfriend, girlfriends, moms, dads, or even golfers, hikers, bikers, painters, weekend wrench turners…you get the idea…
In case you’re too busy to check out the article, the three steps the author suggests are instructive in themselves: 1) The Power of a Positive NO; 2) Prioritize What You Really Want to Do and Put it on Your Calendar; 3) Say NO to the Gorilla with Power and Skill (Own your “NO”).
It all boils down to taking your own enjoyment of life seriously, to understanding that no one else is going to make sure your life isn’t going to turn into a grim slough. That is your job!
When our Vice President Michael Kuehn goes out to talk to potential physician clients, he often says some version of this: “We’ll give you a shot at life balance by getting your practice’s fiscal health in order, but you need to take it from there. Don’t go squandering the opportunity we create for you.”
We’re going to wrap this up now, so we can go for a hike. (We try to practice what we preach.)
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