Work-life balance: Know what kind of life you want and build your career around it

When many people hear the term “work-life balance,” they tend to think of it in terms of a physician’s schedule and how the hours in the day, week, or year are divided among work, family and personal endeavors.

But this is a narrow, somewhat inaccurate definition, according to Iris Grimm, president of Atlanta-based physician coaching and consulting firm Master Performance, Inc., and creator of its Balanced Physician Program. Rather than being strictly about time, work-life balance means having a feeling of satisfaction with one’s life.

“Work-life balance is feeling at peace with where you are in your career and your personal life while still striving for advancements and promotions; being content in your relationships at work and at home and dealing with a minimum amount of problems and challenges,” Grimm said.

Heed warning signs

Because physicians are generally extremely driven and workaholic by nature, it’s critical that they be tuned in to signs that their personal and work lives are out of balance. Warning signals of a problem include:

• Declining relationships with family
• Frequently running late or falling behind with deadlines
• Rude or abrasive behavior
• Frequent feelings of anger of frustration
• Appearing tired or absent-minded
• More prone to make mistakes
• Declining performance or productivity
• Possible substance abuse

Ignoring these red flags can have serious consequences for physicians as well as their patients.

For starters, physicians know all too well how adversely stress can affect the human body, yet they often push themselves past the limits they’d recommend for their patients.

“Physicians are, or should be, role models of health, and they will be more convincing to their patients when they practice what they preach,” Grimm said.

And setting a poor example is not the worst disservice an overworked physician pays his or her patients.

“It is proven that tired, exhausted, overworked physicians make more medical errors and negatively impact patient care,” Grimm said. A potential malpractice suit or accusation of wrongdoing puts even more stress on the physician, she added. “In order for physicians to provide great patient care, they need to have a sense of balance in their lives.”

Attain the right tools

In order to maintain this sense of balance, physicians must develop the following skills:

• Find a true definition of success. Many physicians look at success one-dimensionally, often in terms of how much they earn. Who is more successful—the physician who makes $700,000, lives in a big house but the family is gone, and the kids don’t care about him—or the doctor who makes “only” $300,000, has a great job, a great family, and enjoys life?
• Set a routine that works. This includes making time for favorite non-work activities. 
“The best strategy to keep a commitment to themselves is to be in integrity with the commitment,” Grimm sad, “meaning that if they say, ‘this is what I will do,’ to honor that word to themselves.” 
To make the most of the hours in the day, physicians should always keep a critical eye toward improving their productivity and efficiency. Part of that means automating processes at home and work, whenever possible.
• Speak up. When it comes to setting limits and occasionally saying no, remember that guilt is a feeling we often put on ourselves.
• Create and maintain strong boundaries and withstand possible seductions to do more and take on more. For example, many physicians have two cell phones—one for work and one for family and friends—so they’re not tempted to get caught up in work-related messages during their time off. Even if time with family and friends is tight, what matters is that when physicians are home, that they truly leave work and focus on the people who they’re with, Grimm said.
• Live way below their means. “Many young doctors buy the big house, big car, and fancy toys—and then they become slave of their toys because they have the financial pressure to produce every day,” Grimm said.

Conclusion

Finally, remember that attaining work-life balance is not one-size-fits-all. For example, needs will differ according to where someone is in their personal life (married, single, with children, etc.) and for what they are striving (e.g., to build a practice). These factors contribute to every physician’s personal path to balance.”

“Work is part of life but not life,” Grimm said. “What I often tell my clients, particularly young physicians, is to know what kind of life you want to live, and build your career or your practice around it.”