1.Think about whether you could make changes.
In order to improve your work-life balance you will need to make a difference to your working practice. You need to adopt a mindset for change and decide that you are willing to try something different. If your respondent to any thought for change by immediately rejecting it because you believe that everything has to continue as before, then you will find it difficult to achieve the work-life balance you would like.
2. Do things you hadn’t considered previously.
There is an old saying which reminds you that if you continue doing what you’ve always done then you will continue to get the results have always got. Another saying is that in order to get out of the box you have to read the instructions written on the outside of the box. This means it’s important to be open to new ideas and be willing to try something quite different. For example you may think you have to stay working until a particular time when actually if you announce that you are leaving earlier, it won’t be as difficult as you imagined to set new boundaries.
3.Keep on track with your projects.
Of course, as a busy doctor, you will have all sorts of tasks that you have to complete, not only in relation to patient care, but also completing your research projects, keeping up-to-date with journal reading, interacting with colleagues, admitting patients and dealing with emergencies.
Having a perfect work-life balance means that it’s important to allocate time for all these things and also having time for a life outside of medicine.
4.Only promise what you can actually do.
This is a really important boundary to put in place. The trouble with being a doctor is that you may find that during the day you are bombarded with requests to do this or see that patient or speak to someone on the telephone. It’s really important not to agree to every request. Just say yes to what you can do immediately or in the near future. With other requests suggest that someone else could fulfil what is required, or that the request comes back to you at a later time when you’re not so busy.
5. Energise yourself.
It ordered to get all your tasks done and have the energy and motivation to do other things apart from medical work you must look after yourself much more. As always, this means eating healthy food on a regular basis, and not poisoning your body with excess alcohol, and high-fat food with little nutritional value.
When you start to follow these five Golden rules, you will begin to notice how your work-life balance improves.
