Falling Behind Again Does Not Mean You Are Broken

Dr. A is amazing. She went from spending extra hours in the evenings and on the weekends to finishing her charts and the inbox tasks at decent hours. Her clinical work became much more manageable. In a recent coaching session, Dr. A shared with me that she had around 150 inbox tasks to complete. She has not accumulated this number of tasks since our coaching started.

Dr. A explained that after her vacation, with jet lag and caring for her children, she was too tired to catch up with her work. She felt like a failure because she changed her ways with the help of our coaching sessions. She felt discouraged and frustrated.

Sometimes, we take one step forward and two steps back. Growth is not necessarily linear. When you take time to develop new ways and new habits to do things, you are becoming a different person. However, other factors may affect and interrupt the new version.

Identify the cause. What happened? For Dr. A, it was the travel with time change that affected her and her children. With inadequate sleep, it is difficult to focus and efficiency plummets. What is the change or the stressor that triggered the change for you?

Once you identify the cause or several causes, be kind to yourself. Whatever it is, it has happened. You were operating with no more than 10 inbox tasks on a regular basis and now you have 150. You cannot change this starting point, but you can stop beating yourself up. This is the time you need to cheer yourself on even more. This is the time to give yourself a hug. This is the time to remind yourself that setbacks happen and it is okay. We learn from our experiences and we become even more amazing.

Remind yourself why – why did you change your ways in the first place? Why did you become more efficient at work? For most physicians, it is to spend more time outside clinical medicine to do things you enjoy. Maybe it is to spend more time with your family, or take a class or to exercise. Whatever it is, remember why you decided to change in the first place.

If you have done it once, you can do it again. You know what triggered the backward steps. You understand why you want the change. Now it is to remind yourself how you did it last time. What worked? Start with small steps. Get your mind and body ready to return to that version you prefer.

Always remember to take breaks. Give yourself a break. A break is a good point to reset. Being harsh to yourself and making yourself feel unworthy is not helpful. Be uplifting. Be kind. And let yourself rest, physically and mentally.

You may need to spend extra time, initially, to get back to where you were. What are ways you can streamline? Schedule blocks to work on similar tasks. Delegate whenever you can. Plan your day and week such that you include the extra time to catch up on the work you are behind on. The daily goal, besides working on finishing up those inbox tasks, is to avoid adding more unfinished tasks to your inbox.

Setbacks may happen at any time. When you have developed new ways to work and you are more efficient, you are still susceptible to changes which may affect your efficiency and productivity. An unexpected patient’s illness, your own health, your family’s situation – anything can change the way you work. Identify what triggered the setback at work. Give yourself compassion. Be loving and uplifting. Remind yourself why you changed your ways in the first place. What worked before? Prepare your mind and body to achieve it again. Remember to take breaks. Allow yourself to rest your mind and your body. Remind yourself that growth is not linear, and that setbacks can happen at any time. You are amazing. You can do hard things. You will get back to where you were and even better.