Before You Change Your Workflow, Question the Beliefs Behind It

What if your workflow is not the real problem? Before you add another productivity strategy to your workday, ask yourself: What belief is making my current workflow necessary? When physicians find themselves staying late to finish charts, answer messages, review test results, catch up on unfinished work, their first instinct is often to look for something practical to change. 

Perhaps they need another template, a better task list, a different schedule, or a new time-management technique. 

What if the problem is not simply how you organize your work?

What if some of the beliefs behind your daily decisions are contributing to the very workday you are trying to change? Lasting efficiency begins not only with changing what you do, but also with understanding why you do it.

There is a sneaky productivity trap: adding more strategies without examining the root cause. Physicians often try one strategy after another - creating more templates and shortcuts, arriving earlier to prepare for the day, blocking time for documentation and inbox management, making longer task lists, trying to work faster, or even attempting to multitask. These strategies can be helpful. However, if the underlying beliefs and thought patterns remain unchanged. Physicians may continue falling into the same habits. For example, you can create an inbox management schedule, but if you believe every message must be answered immediately, you may continue to interrupt yourself throughout the day. You cannot consistently create a different workday if you continue making decisions from the same unexamined beliefs.

There are four beliefs that may be keeping you at work longer.

Belief #1: “I need to answer every message as soon as it arrives.” This affects your workflow, sometimes more than you realize. The constant interruptions make it hard to maintain focus. I invite you to be curious and ask this question: Does every message truly require an immediate response? You can prioritize messages and establish intentional times to review and address them.

Belief #2: “I cannot move on until everything is perfect.” This is a big one. It affects your workflow by committing you to spending excessive time refining notes, documentation, and other tasks. Ask yourself: Does every note need to be perfect, or does it need to be accurate, clear and complete? Good enough can be good enough without compromising quality of care.

Belief #3: “If I don’t do it myself, it won’t get done correctly.” When you are holding on to tasks that someone else could appropriately handle, you are spending extra time and effort that you do not have to. What to question: Am I taking responsibility for things that could be delegated? Explore the new possibility that you can build trust, communicate expectations, and use your team’s support more effectively.

Belief #4: “Taking more time with every patient is the only way to provide excellent care.” This belief easily derails your schedule. You have difficulty in maintaining a manageable schedule and keeping the day moving. Question yourself: Does excellent patient care always require more time? It is possible for you to listen attentively, show compassion, and provide excellent care while being intentional about how you use your time. 

These beliefs often come from good intentions - wanting to be thorough, responsible, compassionate, and available to patients. 

The goal is not to become a different kind of physician or abandon your values. It is to recognize that there may be more than one way to honor those values.

I want to invite you to do this exercise with curiosity and not with judgment. 

Ask yourself:

• What recurring behavior is contributing to my unfinished work at the end of the day?
• What am I telling myself that makes me continue doing things this way?
• Is this belief always true?
• Where did I learn this belief?
• Is it helping me provide good patient care?
• Is it also making my workday longer?
• What else might be possible?

Choose one recurring behavior that keeps you at work late. Perhaps you repeatedly check your inbox, spend too long on documentation, or take on tasks that someone else could handle.

Write down the belief behind that behavior. 

Then ask yourself:

• What if this belief is not the only way?

You do not need to have the answer immediately. Start by allowing yourself to consider another possibility. 

Your mindset creates that foundation for lasting workflow changes. When you begin questioning your beliefs, you create room for different decisions and behaviors. You may become more comfortable with prioritizing instead of responding to everything immediately. You may become more comfortable with completing documentation without unnecessary perfectionism. You may start to delegate appropriately, and manage patient encounters more intentionally.

These changes may seem small individually, but together, they can transform how your workday unfolds. It is important to realize that you do not have to sacrifice excellent patient care, compassion, or your values to become more efficient. You can care deeply about your patients and have a workday that allows you to leave on time. You can finish your charts, manage your inbox, and complete your responsibilities without routinely bringing work home or spending your evenings and weekends catching up. It starts with recognizing that another way is possible. 

What if your workday could be different? Perhaps you have spent years believing that staying late is simply part of being a physician. Perhaps you have tried countless productivity strategies and still find yourself sitting at your computer long after your last patient has left. 

What if you do not have to accept that as your normal? What if the first step toward leaving work on time is not another template, another shortcut, or another hour of working harder?

What if it starts with questioning the beliefs that have been shaping your workday?

You deserve to enjoy practicing medicine without sacrificing your evenings, weekends, and the life you want outside of medicine. You do not have to choose between being an excellent physician and leaving work on time. A different way of working is possible.

If you are a physician who feels overwhelmed by unfinished charts, an overflowing inbox, and hours of work after seeing your last patient, you do not have to figure everything out on your own. In my 1:1 Physician Coaching Program, I help physicians examine the thought patterns and habits contributing to their long workdays, identify opportunities for change, and develop practical strategies to complete their work more efficiently.

Together, we work toward a workday where you can finish your responsibilities, leave work on time, and enjoy your evenings and weekends again - without seeing fewer patients or compromising the care you provide. 

You became a physician to care for others. You deserve a life that allows you to care for yourself, too. If you are ready to explore what is possible, I would love to help you take that next step. Reach out to learn more about working with me.