Avoiding Procrastination At Work

Is there something you know it is your duty to do, yet you put it off at work? For a long time, I put off one of the most important things in patient care – charting. To me, direct patient care has always been my top priority. That is, seeing and evaluating the patient, ordering the appropriate tests and coming up with the best treatment plan. Charting to me was a chore and it was not something I enjoyed doing. Patient documentation was set up in the healthcare system that required a certain way of recording medical information to justify the level of encounter to be billed. Although I agreed that patient documentation was necessary to share medical information, I did not agree with the fact that most electronic medical systems were set up to gear toward easier billing rather than being user friendly for clinicians.

The best excuse to put off writing the patient charts right away was time, or lack thereof. As I was noticing that the subsequent patients on the schedule were waiting longer and longer, I abandoned writing my charts so that the patients would be seen as close to their scheduled time as possible. That ended up not to be an efficient solution. At the end of the clinical day, the charts which were piled up. Exhausted from a whole day of working and making decisions, I was slowing down. The result was that it took me longer to complete each patient chart. The more this happened, the more I wanted to delay writing the charts.

Procrastination can be very sneaky. One excuse that seems to be legitimate and reasonable is enough for you to delay what you are supposed to do. Our undisciplined mind can be easily swayed by anything that will decrease our discomfort, either from fear or anxiety. There may be a sense of too much for you to handle, which leads to overwhelm.  A sense of doom may also come up. It is at the point that you do not believe you can handle the task that you decide to put it off to avoid it.

When you find yourself procrastinating to do something because you are avoiding it, acknowledge it. This is different from when you are strategically procrastinating to do one thing so that you can do another task which you prioritize to achieve your goal.

Understand why you are avoiding. In other words, what is your fear or the discomfort you are running away from?

Be curious and be open to trying different things. Even though I did not think that I could spend less than three to four extra hours to finish my patient charts, I was open to trying something new to approach it. I was willing to face the situation head on. Realizing delaying to write the patient charts was not the best way, I tried to approach it differently, with the guidance of my coach. A big part of facing the situation head on is to realize what your fears are and what you are avoiding.

Be kind to yourself in all circumstances. We are not perfect and that is okay. There is always opportunity to learn and grow.

Remind yourself what your goal is. Why is that task on your to-do list? Is that something that is best for you to do now, or is there something else to do to achieve your goal faster? Prioritizing is the key.

Plan your day ahead. Ideally, plan it by the hour. For physicians who are seeing patients in the outpatient setting which is usually more predictable than inpatient care, set yourself time limits. For example, if you are scheduled to see a patient every fifteen minutes, be mindful of the time. Your immediate goal is to see the patient, complete all the orders and the patient chart all within the fifteen minutes.

Cheer yourself on throughout the day. That serves as an encouragement to keep you going. Celebrate throughout the day. Celebrate anything you like, such as making a patient feel better or completing a patient’s care within the assigned time frame.

Everything outside of what you plan to do is a source of distraction. Keep your focus and minimize interruptions or distractions.

With all these strategies, I am able to complete each patient chart after seeing the patient, and going home by 5 pm while seeing the same number of patients as before.

To minimize procrastination, it is important to take scheduled breaks. A break serves as an opportunity for you to rest and recharge, so that you have more physical and mental energy to continue with the rest of your work day.

Procrastination can happen to anyone at any time. Recognize and acknowledge when you are procrastinating. Find out the reason behind it – what is it that you are avoiding? Be mindful of your time, set goals, plan your day and remember your goal throughout the day. Focus and minimize distractions. Plan for scheduled breaks to rest and recharge. Celebrate any big and small wins to keep your day going.