Why Avoiding Your Inbox Is Making Your Days Harder

Open charts. Inbox filled with tasks. You enjoy taking care of patients, making meaningful connections, yet you do not like to do the charting or deal with the inbox messages. During the day, when you realize that you are running behind schedule, you start to see the next patient before finishing the previous patient’s chart, in an attempt to stay somewhat on time. At the end of the day, you have accumulated unfinished patient charts. As you prefer not to tackle your inbox, you seriously look at it at the end of the day and find yourself almost drowning to many messages and results.

Does this sound familiar? That was me not too long ago, and that is a common story among my physician clients. One of the most common reasons is that they do not want to do those tasks. I did not like to document for two reasons – I thought it was a waste of my time; I did not know how to efficiently and concisely document. If you do not want to do something at work, no matter what the reasons are, it is important to recognize what those are for you. It is natural for you to avoid doing something you do not want to do. Your mind is trying to protect you from the discomfort that may be created if you do it. When you avoid doing something, it piles up. Before you know it, there may be fifty charts or 300 messages in your inbox waiting for you. You become less efficient as you are not finishing the tasks you are supposed to do. The more incomplete charts or tasks accumulated, the more you want to avoid them and procrastinate.

Would it not be nice if you did not have to do anything you dislike? That would not be life, would it? Living and being present includes doing things we enjoy and handling things we do not enjoy doing. It is essential to recognize why you are doing the things you do not want to do. Why do you need to do the things you do not enjoy doing? For example, the charting and handling the inbox messages are part of good patient care. In order to take good care of the patient, those are necessary steps.

Since you understand the task you do not want to do is something you need to do, it is best to get it done. The faster you are done with it, the faster you do not have to deal with it. Before you do your charts or face the inbox messages, remind yourself that you are going to do those things focused, once and good enough. Do not stare at the inbox messages and convince yourself to get back to it later. You are wasting time by looking at the inbox messages more than once. Decide to tackle it and take action right away.

Remind yourself that it is okay to do something you do not want to because of the desired results you will get. It is helpful to add to the results by rewarding yourself. For example, if you finish your work on time, you get to attend your favorite yoga class. At the same time, it may be helpful to think of it from another angle – if you do not finish those things you do not want to do, you cannot take good care of the patients and you will not have time to do things you enjoy.

Be supportive of yourself. Be your own cheerleader, especially when it comes to doing things you do not want to do. I always imagine there is a little voice in my head telling me that “you got this”, “you are almost there”, and “you can do hard things”. I would also invite you to be curious and explore ways to make the task you do not want to do more enjoyable. Is there a way to shorten the time needed to complete it, besides getting better at focusing on it? For example, could you write a shorter yet comprehensive note? Is there a way to incorporate the use of AI, or delegate the task?

There are going to be things we do not want to do yet are needed to be done. Remember why you are doing it – what is the ultimate goal? What is your purpose? Is it a bridge to get to where you want to be? Focus and get it done, avoid arguing with yourself or going back and forth to decide if you should do it right away to waste your time and effort. Prioritize what is important to do first. Be your own cheerleader, especially when it comes to things you are tempted to avoid doing. Make it fun, make it a little game for yourself. Find ways to spend less time doing those tasks without compromising their quality of work. Over time, you will find that you have a more neutral attitude toward those same tasks and are more efficient in completing them.