Do This One Thing For A Better Work Life

You are faced with many challenges as a physician. There are certain requirements from work, administrative duties, difficult medical conditions to treat, and sometimes the not-so-friendly interactions with the staff or the patients. Even when you are working in your “ideal” job, not everything is going to be perfect (as it is impossible to be all perfect). You may be working in an environment that is testing your mental and physical well-being.

There are people who start to feel uneasy on Sundays. They are experiencing the anxiety, the dread or even a sense of doom. All those feelings from the anticipation of going back to work on Monday. They start to envision their day to be long and exhausting, or there is a mess to clean up.

Besides changing anything about your job, is there something you can do to have a better time at work?

First, let us explore what your opinion is about your job. If you are dreading to go to work, what is the main reason behind it? Only when you are conscious about your thinking can you realize what you are actually thinking and feeling.

For a long time, I felt stuck because I did not see any other feasible option for me to have a full-time job in the area I want to live in and with a comparable income. To me, the hours were too long. I was spending more than four hours extra to finish the patient charts, and often charting at home in the weekends. Naturally, I felt the dread just thinking about going to work. It was all because of my job, of the long hours, of how trapped I was.

So I thought.

The job itself is a neutral thing. There are a certain number of patients to be seen each day. The job becomes something to be dreaded upon only when you attach an opinion about it that cause you to feel dreaded. It was my opinion of the job – that my work hours are too long, I am stuck to do this (the job) – that causes me to feel that dreadful feeling.

It is okay to have more than one opinion about something. It is normal to have more than one opinion. When we are not conscious of our thinking, it is easy for us to believe our default thinking is a fact. When you think your opinion is a fact – in the example here is that the work hours are too long – you believe that you will feel better if you have shorter work hours. In other words, you are letting your external circumstances dictate how you feel.

What if you can feel better without changing anything about your job? It is possible!

It may sound simple, yet it may take practice to do. The one thing to change for a better work life is if you can feel better about your work. To feel better about your work, you will have to think differently. Adopt a different and believable opinion about your work. It is important for that opinion to be believable, otherwise, the default thinking associated with all the sadness, frustration, dread an anxiety dominates.

By changing your view about your job, you will have a better time a work. Instead of focusing on the belief that it is going to be a long day or anything that brings about the unpleasant emotions, what if you focus on thinking that it is going to be a manageable day? The emotions generated from this belief is likely going to be more pleasant, such as calm, confident and capable.

Our opinions are always available for us. We just have to be conscious of them and choose one that is believable and helpful for us. A situation is neutral until we put a meaning to it. That opinion affects how we feel. To have a better work day, without changing the nature of your job, is to choose what to think about your day. If you are feeling better, experiencing more pleasant emotions, you are going to be more focused and efficient.