Six Projects

Semiannual planning amid a time of overwork, where one transfers from one urgency to another without regard to importance.  There are patients that need to be seen right now, others in the hospital that need to be seen today, expected to show up at AKSE on Saturday morning, there are deadlines related to my medical license and to closure of my office which still goes on one year after the last patient exited the exam room.  Most of the important things do not have deadlines but are easily deferred to less important things that do.  Each June and December I try to decide which things deserve my attention and creation of some appointment time with myself to do them.  Usually I agonize over this, often spending more effort with the planning than the doing.  It started out that way again but to my surprise, the projects fell readily into place over coffee at the Brew Ha-Ha about two weeks ago.

1. I will pass Endocrine Recertification Boards
2. I will create an estate plan with the attorney
3. My bedroom will be decluttered and redesigned as my personal sanctuary
4. The scale will read under 150 pounds
5. My blog will become an interactive one
6. I will finish the book I bought on how to derive maximum benefit from my iPod

All projects are doable and have identifiable end points where a box can be checked as done or not done.  In the two weeks since its creation, the progress has been less than I hoped but this week I carved out specific time to do some of these things.  Unfortunately I am still often tired when I return home at the end of the day.  The bedroom and estate planning can be done on Sundays, the other stuff probably best to carve out 20 minute blocks during the week.  The trick to accomplishing these will likely be to have finite intermediate points and somebody prodding me along the way.

Overdue Vacation

It's been diificult to stay focused and motivated.  The management has decided that there is too much idle time in the office due to no-shows and responded by overscheduling which leaves me scrambling to take care of the hospital and in a little ongoing conflict with them.  I had some welcome down time yesterday, easy morning at the satellite clinic, no-shows at the office in the afternoon, enabling me to get to consults and hospital rounds earlier than usual.  Last week at the satellite I divided the no-show time between semiannual planning and catching up on medical records.  Yesterday I devoted a welcome hour to commenting on some postings by my electronic friends at AEI and reading about health economics and reviewing some Delaware medmal cases that were posted on line.

There was a fancy dinner at a hotel for employed physicians.  On one of the rare occasions that I could have gotten there at 6PM, I sent my regrets, preferring instead to just get home, work on my upcoming Torah reading and maybe do a few chores.

My last recreational vacation took place in summer 2008.  Since my partner left in February I have not had a beeper free day.  The patients just keep coming at me.  Any escape from that is welcome, even if only for an hour on company time.  I've tried carving out ME days on Saturday and weekends where I just stay home, including the coming one.  But I think the activity has gotten to me, I'm irritible, make decisions a little too impulsively, drop followup balls and really need to get away from this for maybe a whole week.  Scheduled for November.  Need to work on what my highest level of amusement is so that I might seek it.