Reclaim Your Time: How Physicians Can Thrive in a World Full of Distractions

Most physicians will agree that any work day is far from boring. There is always something new, something unexpected. Depending on what specialty you are in, you are bound to have more excitement and more interruptions than others. You are working hard. You are doing your best to get things done. How do you reclaim time at work?

Everyone’s work situation is unique. Yet, there are some general principles and strategies many of us can utilize. A distraction is anything that pulls you away from having the full attention of doing what you are doing. There are two main kinds of distractions: external and internal distractions.

External distractions are caused by an outside source. As physicians, the most common distractions are due to interruptions by other people. The front desk staff, the nurse, the patient, a phone call – anyone who is interrupting you while you are focusing on doing something else. Internal distractions are caused by yourself. When you are thinking about another patient while seeing a patient, when your mind is wandering off to thinking about non-work-related issues, or when you are allowing yourself to dwell in negative emotions – those are all internal distractions.

This topic is so important that I have shared it several times in different posts. The better you can handle distractions, the better you can focus, which means the more efficient you are. Being efficient is saving time and energy.

It is important to be clear on what you want to focus on. This seems to be something simple, yet if you are not clear on it, everything will seem to be a distraction. To be able to set your focus on something, first, set a goal in mind. For example, your goal for the day is to take care of your patients and be on time. In order to achieve that, you need to be focused while seeing the patient and ordering labs or medications for that patient.

This requires you to focus on one thing at a time. Trying to do multiple things simultaneously divides your focus, and you are naturally distracted by the other things you are trying to do at the same time. If you try to do three things all at once, you will end up spending more time to complete them than to do them one at a time.

It is impossible to completely eliminate all distractions. Be prepared to be distracted. When you are interrupted, you will not be surprised by that. An unexpected interruption can easily become a distraction, starting with your mind questioning why it happened, believing it should not have happened, and you keep arguing with the fact that it happened. By expecting any kind of interruptions and distractions, you can focus on dealing with them.

Which takes us to handling distractions. For external distractions, it is important to examine the workflow. Do you have set protocols and guidelines for your staff to follow, so they know when it is appropriate to interrupt you? Or do you have measures to have your staff members handle certain phone calls so those calls are not directed to you first? Is there room for improvement – there always is. It is important to always examine and reflect on your work situation and see what is going well and what can be improved.

Another big distraction is any type of notification – be it on your personal phone, instant messaging at work or email. Turn your phone on silent mode, otherwise, every time it gives out an audio signal that you are receiving a text or an email, your mind is drawn to the desire to find out what it is about. That is enough to distract you. Mark yourself “unavailable” or “busy” on work messaging. If it is something urgent, people will always have a way to find you.

Be a guardian of your own mind. This means that it is important for you to pay attention to what your mind is thinking. You are responsible to bring your mind back to where your focus was if it is drifting away. The more awareness we have, the easier it is to manage our mind.

As physicians, we are always busy. We are always challenged with different interruptions which become distractions. The better we can handle distractions, the more efficient we are, the more time we can reclaim. While being clear on having a goal in mind, it is important to focus on doing one thing at a time. It is always important to be prepared to be distracted, yet believe that you can tackle the situation. Examine your workflow and set standards and protocols for your staff to follow, so that you can minimize unnecessary distractions. Turn off the notifications from your devices and mark yourself unavailable. Be a guardian of your mind and know when to pull your mind back from distractions. It is possible to reclaim more time in the day.