One Goal A Day – The Secret to Getting Out of Clinic on Time

There are many parts in clinical medicine. Take a typical outpatient clinic practice. I will use mine as an example. There are usually twenty to twenty-seven patients on the schedule. Patients have different diagnoses and different personalities. Some patients will require more time for discussion. If I am not mindful, what means well – listening to the patients and addressing their concerns – may turn into an extended encounter. Two such patients are enough to cost my time and energy. That used to be what happened to me. The fifteen-minute appointment turned out to be forty minutes, because I was explaining in detail regarding a new imaging finding and the planned new treatment. Besides the strong desire of wanting the patient to understand the diagnosis and treatment plan, the question of when the encounter would be over became louder and louder, to the point that I just wanted to rush to finish up. When the patient asked another question, I had a sense of helplessness. Why? I would ask myself. I was doing my best; I wanted to move on. It was exhausting to spend the extra time and energy with the patient, especially with the burden that there were many more patients to see.

At that time, I kind of had a plan but not really. I thought that taking good care of the patients and finishing my work was a good enough goal. Yes, I was taking good care of the patients, but with the expense of my time and mental energy.

If you plan on using extra hours, meaning the time after you see your last patient, to take care of your clinical work, then what you are about to read is not for you. If you plan on being more efficient while taking good care of your patients, I invite you to keep reading.

Preparation is always key. Prepare yourself physically and mentally. The basics of having a healthy diet, exercising and adequate sleep are essential steps to maintain your physical help. To prepare your mind, the most effective way is to keep things simple. Stick with one goal a day at work. Our results are driven by our goals. If your goal is not clear, you are probably not getting the results you want. Set one goal for your day. Make it specific and measurable. Make it concrete. For example, the goal “to have a good day at work” is very vague. What does “good” even mean? Instead, decide your goal to be taking good care of all your patients and finish your work by 5 pm.

It is important to believe that you can achieve it. It may be a little stretch for you. If you are finishing your work usually by 9 pm and you set today’s goal to finish by 5 pm, you are not going to do it because you do not believe it is possible – at least not for today.

Once you have a simple but detailed, concrete and measurable goal with a time frame, ask yourself who you have to be to make it happen. If I am seeing twenty-five patients in eight hours, with an average of fifteen minutes for each established patient, and a half an hour lunch period, I need to keep as close to on schedule as possible. Not to mention all the phone calls and inbox tasks. In other words, to finish your work in the time frame you set, you have to be someone who is focused. Do one thing at a time. Eliminate distractions by constantly reminding yourself to focus on one thing at a time, and by minimizing external distractions. Your mind will come up with ways to minimize distractions from your staff. When a nurse comes to you with a question that is not a life and death situation, you can choose to acknowledge the nurse and finish up what you are doing first. You can also put on the silent mode for instant messenger and email notifications.  

Your goal drives your actions. Keep your goal in mind throughout the day. This is especially important when there are unexpected events happening. In medicine, no matter what specialty you are in, surprises happen on a regular basis. You can almost say that it is a surprise if everything is going as expected. Let those things happen. As your focus is to take good care of the patients and leave work by 5 pm (or whatever time you decide), put your focus on handling the situation rather than questioning why it happened. The goal is to remind you to eliminate noise – things which may distract you from achieving your goal. The goal is to redirect you. Therefore, it is important to keep one specific goal a day.

Besides having a goal a day, which can be the same goal every day, it is important to allow yourself to be okay with not doing it all. Yes, you have the ability to do everything and that does not mean that you have to do everything. Do what matters, do what helps you achieve your goal. Having a goal a day keeps it simple. It directs your focus to one point and it is clear what distractions to eliminate. Be prepared for any surprises in life. Redirect your focus (which sometimes also means redirecting your patient’s focus). Prioritize with your goal in mind. You will find that with one goal, one purpose, your day will have more of a direction, and you will be more efficient.