From Overwhelm to Order with the Sunday Reset

Sunday is a day of rest for many people, and it is a day when many people dread. Instead of relaxing or enjoying a day of no work, there is a feeling of anxiety and stress from anticipating the week’s impending doom – thoughts about having an unbearable workload, administrative tasks, meetings, etc. The thought that there is too much to do often comes up. This can happen in any profession, and it is no exception for physicians. Some may argue that the Sunday blues actually start on Saturday night.

As a physician, when you are thinking that the workload is too much to handle, it is natural to feel anxious, stressed, overwhelmed – or all of the above. One of the things you can do to reduce those unpleasant emotions and be more efficient is to make a weekly planner. This can be done on Sundays. The time you are spending on organizing and planning your week will save you much more time overall.

Preparation is always the key. Prepare as much as you can, as there are always unexpected situations to handle. The weekly planner is an opportunity for you to write out the things you have to do and plan to do. Before doing, think about what your goal of the week is. If you plan on reading a book a week, for example, you will plan your reading time around your work hours in such a way that you will finish a couple hundred pages of reading in a week. As a physician, the most common goal is to take good care of your patients and go home at a decent hour. Is there a daily goal? Your daily goal may be a smaller version of your weekly goal, or it may be something different, such as to finish a particular project. Writing out your plan helps you stay organized and feel less overwhelmed. There is a structured way to follow.

When you are planning your week, plan it on an hourly basis. For a physician who is working in shifts or who has set office hours, it is fairly straightforward. For example, you can mark 8 am to 4:30 pm as office hours, within that, set aside time for lunch. Ideally, a short break or two in the day will also be beneficial to enhance your efficiency. Allow some flexible time in your day to account for unexpected surprises, such as traffic or an unplanned engagement. Otherwise, do your best to stick with your planned day.

At the end of each day, reflect. What went well? Did you follow your plan well? What can be improved? Did you allot adequate time to finish a task? What can you do differently next time?

Doing a weekly planner is a good habit to enhance your efficiency at work. The hourly structure helps you organize your day and minimize the overwhelm. When you stick with your plan, you will get more things done than to wonder what to do next. You also set yourself a timeline as to what to do when. This also helps with less decision fatigue, more focus on doing what you are doing. Having a clear goal for the week and for each day is essential to plan your tasks accordingly. This will help you eliminate doing busy work for the sake of keeping busy but will not help you accomplish your goal.