Balance

David D. Vega, MD FAAEM
YPS President

Finding the right balance between my personal life and my professional life has always been tough. Like many younger physicians, I continually want to develop my career by getting more involved with a variety of projects at work and with EM organizations.  However, this has to be carefully balanced with my personal interests, family needs and other activities outside of the hospital. Trying to maintain this balance can be very difficult and stressful at times. This article contains a few tips on finding a balance in your life.

When deciding on a good balance, the easy answer might seem to be to just do the bare minimum in your professional life and focus most of your energy on your personal life. This may be right for some people. However, your total enjoyment of life includes your fulfillment with your employment. Being personally involved with non-clinical activities at work is associated with job satisfaction and career longevity. On the other hand, continually burying yourself in work comes at the cost of fully enjoying your personal life. Finding the right balance will not only improve personal well-being, but will also be beneficial to the well-being of others in both your personal and professional lives.

It is important to remember that there is no one balance that is right for everyone. Even your own priorities will vary throughout your lifetime. At any point in time, each of us has our own idea of what a successful career and life entails. One of the first goals in finding a balance in your life should be to examine your definition of success. Don’t just focus on achievements in defining success. What level of enjoyment and satisfaction of your life with family and friends are you shooting for? Do you have time for those people and activities in life that are important to you? In deciding what your balance should be, you need to first define your personal and career goals so that they reflect your true life priorities.

Here are a few tips that I have compiled to help you make the most of planning a good balance in your life:

• Plan and manage your time more efficiently. No matter how you look at it, you only have 24 hours in a day, so don’t over extend yourself. But, the more efficient you are in performing the less enjoyable tasks in life, the more time you have for the enjoyable things. Don’t be afraid to say “No” if your plate is already full. Plan ahead as much as possible, and prioritize your responsibilities so that important deadlines are not neglected. Don’t forget to use your time management skills at home as well as in the hospital. With families, it is very helpful to have a master calendar of important dates. By including deadlines and meetings from work, conflicts with family activities can sometimes be avoided. Time management is such an important concept that we will be devoting an entire article to it in an upcoming issue of Common Sense.
   
• Avoid procrastination. If you attack a project head-on and get it done, you won’t spend as much of your time and energy worrying about getting it done. Procrastination also leads to accumulation of unfinished projects which can increase your stress. Just get it done and then you can better enjoy the things you really want to do. If you truly don’t have time to get it done, you may have to delegate projects or parts of projects to other people. The same applies in your personal life. Maybe you find it therapeutic to paint your house. If not, hiring someone else to do the work may be worth the cost in terms of your freedom to spend time doing something else.
   
• Relax. Find time to relax doing something you enjoy every day, whether it’s just hanging out in the backyard watching the kids, reading a book or listening to music. Keep it simple. Taking some time out for yourself will refresh you and can entirely change the tone of a day that began with a tough shift in the ED.
   
• Take care of yourself. Eat right, get adequate rest and exercise regularly.  You’re a physician -- you know you need to, so just do it. You’ll enjoy life more if you’re not worn out and dragging yourself through each day. Caffeine is not a substitute for adequate sleep. Enough said.
   
• Invest in duct tape. What helps to hold it all together for you in life? Is it a spouse, friend, or family member? Maybe it’s your faith or being involved with a special interest group. Devote an adequate amount of time and energy to supporting relationships and activities in your life that serve as your support system. When the unexpected arises, duct tape can usually help out; but make sure you have some on hand.
   
• Limit your “stuff”. That new boat can help you relax on the lake, but it also will take some effort to take care of it. Remember that the more toys you collect, the more time and money they will take in upkeep.
   
• Recognize your limitations. Trying to be a perfectionist in either your personal or your professional life is only setting yourself up for eventual failure. You can have high expectations for yourself, but remember that nobody is perfect. Realize that there will always be areas where you are stronger and others where you are weaker. You may need help from other people from time to time in your weaker areas. You may also gain some enjoyment from helping others in the areas of your strengths.
   
• Give back. Your enjoyment of life and your personal and career satisfaction will be much better if you commit some time to your community, teach or give back to society in some way. Yes, society is already better just having you as a doctor, but you know what I mean.

The right balance between career and personal life can be difficult to achieve and your definition of that balance will likely change many times throughout your life. However, by examining your life goals and prioritizing your enjoyment of life as highly as achievements in your career, you can reduce stress and improve your quality of life.