"The secret to permanently breaking any bad habit is to love something greater than the habit." ~ Bryant McGill
Habits are powerful behavior patterns with predictable results. To change your practice, your quality of life and avoid physician burnout, you must change your habits.
Repeat the Same Action => You will always get the Same Result
That is a Habit and that is also Einstein's Insanity Trap.
Some Habits produce desirable results.
We call those Good Habits.
Some Habits produce undesirable results.
We typically call those Bad Habits - weaknesses, foibles, character flaws, "the human condition", addictions, Achilles heels.
These are both habits of DOING
Things You DO that are either good or bad
Consider this deeper way of understanding Habits ...
-- Habits of Things You DOThe good and bad habits above are both habits of doing. They are Acts of Commission, highly visible and right in your face.
-- and Habits of Things You DON'T Do
Hang on a minute here. Let's get clear.
Anything you DON'T DO routinely
is something you have a habit of NOT DOING.
These are Acts of Omission, missing pieces and blind spots.
If you started doing that good thing you are habitually not doing, just think of the difference it would make. You are looking down the barrel of a Good Habit Gone AWOL.
To build a more Ideal Practice and a more Ideal Life, you must step out of Einstein's Insanity Trap. To do that you will need to take new and different actions. You will need new habits.
- Some of these New Habits will be things you will STOP Doing
Bad Habits you are aware of that you will finally release and stop.
- Some of these New Habits will be things you will START Doing
Things you have a habit of Not Doing that would give you positive results if you started them.
Examples:
Stop:
-Worrying about things you can't control. Breathe, release and become the eye of the storm in your practice day
- Being a Lone Ranger and Working Too Hard - take your Doctor Hat off and use your leadership skills
Start:
- Build Life Balance with the weekly Schedule HACK
- Schedule regular meetings with your boss to "stay on the same page"
- Get Home Sooner with a quality Team Huddle before you start seeing patients
You might even want to make a pair of lists in the coming several weeks - you can keep them in the folder with your Ideal Job Description. One is the things you want to stop and the other, the things you want to start and keep doing.
What actions and tools are on your lists?
What do YOU want to Start Doing?
What do YOU want to Stop Doing
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REMEMBER PLATE SPINNING:
Whenever you want to change something remember how a plate spinner gets all those dishes going at once
The secret is One Plate at a Time
For you it is One STEP at a time
Recognize and release your Doctor Programming to want to do everything all at once! (Yes, that is another thing you can Stop Doing!)
Action Steps Right Now:
1) Make the list of things you want to Start and Stop Doing
(two or three items will do for now).
2) Then PICK JUST ONE TO PLAY WITH.
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PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT
What's on your Start and Stop List??
What is the first thing you will Start or Stop?
When will you take that first step?