Have you ever found yourself comparing your achievements with colleagues and co-workers? Or do you sometimes feel stressed and dissatisfied with your work or see it as a tedious pursuit devoid of meaning?
These thoughts can breed a sense of discontent from measuring our achievements either against a standard that isn’t necessarily important nor objectively relevant (another’s performance) or is perhaps too narrow (what about how much of a difference I made to my patients, even if I didn’t earn so much today?). Our cognitive behaviour impacts on our wellbeing, and we choose the lens through which we view our lives. Are we using a healthy lens? Maybe we don’t always need to alter what we do so much as change how we view it?
There are various approaches we can consider when contemplating making changes to our work lives to achieve greater satisfaction or balance. Like all strategies, the secret is in the implementation of the strategy, as this ultimately determines our success or failure. Thankfully, whatever strategy we consider, it shouldn’t add a significant cognitive load. Instead, we will need to reflect and look for simple ways to improve our view of our work and keep it in a healthy perspective.
If we are simply spending too much time at work on tasks we don’t enjoy, then reducing time at work may help. Perhaps this may mean working fewer days each week in practice or just negotiating shorter shifts at the practice.
Here, we might achieve a greater harmony through rewarding leisure pursuits so that, on balance, we feel fulfilled and have a sense of wellbeing. Time might not be the issue in this case, but instead how we view that time spent, and what we spend our play/ rest time doing, when it isn’t possible to change our overall work situation for now.
For example, some of us find the grind of a day full of checkups tedious, yet we know it is through these consultations that further work follows. Often, we can’t change this – it is a reality of clinical practice – so the options left open to us are in what we do the rest of the time we’re working, and also in our leisure time.
Structuring your workday to ensure the difficult tasks are dealt with early in the day is usually best. That’s because those tasks only get harder the longer you leave them. Getting through some difficult root canals or crown preparations while you’re freshest physically and mentally will often reduce the overall tiredness and stress you face, as you’ll perform those services more efficiently and effectively than towards day’s end when fatigue is already setting in. Mentally, you’ll know that the day will get easier afterwards, rather than anticipating increasing loads on you as the day progresses. You’ll enjoy the work more and reduce feelings of dread or drowning.
As health professionals, we encounter significant stress at various stages of our work lives. It’s one thing to deal with what we do each day, but what about throughout the year? Clinical practice can be seasonal with its own ups and downs. It is critical for better health and wellbeing to regularly have some time out from work. An annual holiday is a wonderful thing, but does it come around often enough? Can you wait until next July or December/January to rest? If we don’t rest frequently enough and reward ourselves for our hard work, then there’s a real risk of getting into a place from which it is too hard to recover. Particularly after the winter months, when we’ve had few if any public holidays since Easter and we’ve been at work for more than half the year, fatigue can set in.
Ask yourself why you can’t set aside one weekend a month, or even one weekend a quarter, when you either take a Friday and/or Monday off (to make it a long weekend) or, as a worst-case scenario, simply ensure it is a patient-free weekend. Go for a long walk by the beach, see a play, hop on a plane to see your favourite team play in a city you rarely visit. Treat yourself and make it something for you to look forward to. Set these mini-breaks aside and mark them in your calendar as untouchable. By ensuring periods of recovery occur regularly, it is more likely that balance or harmony will occur. This is why you work so hard after all – to ensure you do have a good quality of life. Use a little time during these breaks to reflect and recalibrate your work life later if you need to. If you’re working too hard and taking too few breaks, then ask yourself why? Who are you trying to please? Are you trying to ‘keep up with the Jones’s’ at the expense of your happiness?
Another option is to mix things up. Spending too much of your working week at one place doing one role can be repetitive and predictable.
In my own work life, I’ve usually found having two or even three roles throughout the working week or fortnight a lot more challenging and rewarding. Spending time across two practices, or a day a week teaching at a university clinic, or perhaps doing some locum work, can all keep work fresh and more interesting. While this isn’t possible for many, it may be possible for you. If you haven’t tried it, why not give it a go? I’ve found that I don’t yearn for rest as often when I’m enjoying a mixture of worthwhile work activity and know that I’m doing something different tomorrow compared to today.
Further, the opportunity to mix with different colleagues/students/patients throughout the working week adds interest and broadens one’s horizons. It can also enable a sleep-in on some days or other variations to your routine, which can be helpful.
Unless you enjoy getting to work really early, perhaps use the early morning for a run, swim or a visit to the gym. This will energise you for the rest of the day, help maintain or improve your physical fitness and even help you do your work better. Indeed, both acute and chronic (long term) aerobic exercise has been linked to improved cognitive function and mood.
Finally, ensure you look after yourself while you are at work. Keep yourself hydrated and make sure you take a break for a bite to eat at least once in each shift. Chat to your colleagues about what is happening outside of work, rather than talking shop. Enjoy the social aspects of the workplace wherever you can and see if there are opportunities to interact outside of the surgery.
I try to go for a walk at lunch to clear my head and get some sunshine on my skin. Others who I know take a power nap in the dental chair with the door closed. This unpaid time is your time, so use it wisely to do something which gives you joy or improves your sense of wellbeing. Don’t whinge around the lunch table about the quality of the dental bibs or the number of FTAs!
It’s been said that you can’t pour from an empty cup. Looking after yourself during the workday means you are less prone to fatigue and the sense of work taking over your whole life. That way, you’ll be in a much better position to be able to help others. Daily work balance can assist with your overall balance and harmony. Like all positive change, it usually involves taking small but meaningful steps. Why not start making a meaningful change today?
References available on request.