With the signs that healthcare reform is going to happen, the industry may face even lower reimbursements and a larger physician shortage while physician burnout reaches more than 60%.  With this, the struggle for work-life balance becomes more difficult, yet all the more important.

Many healthcare professionals want to experience more work-life balance, but battle with its implementation. In the previous newsletter, we defined what work-life balance is.  Now, I want to explain why so many healthcare professionals and executives strain to realize this vital part of their professional life.

Comparison with colleagues
It is human nature to constantly compare ourselves with others and their accomplishments, contributions, and the luxuries they have manifested, but also their business practices.

Last month I spoke with a physician who feels he is at the brink of burnout. He told me that some of his colleagues spend 12 hours and more each day in their practice; therefore, he feels the pressure to spend just as much time in the office, so that in the case of the failure of the practice, he could not be blamed.

Definition of success is one-dimensional
When we talk about success in life, many professionals limit their definition to financial outputs and professional accomplishments.

Career is just one part in the mix that supports our life so we can enjoy and do what we want with the remainder. However, many physicians and executives put their career in the center of their life, then build family, health, and relaxation around it. The problem is that career cannot sustain itself without the proper time for relaxation, great health and time with those who are important to us.

Lack of priorities
Work-life balance is the integration of work and family by setting goals through understanding personal values so that neither work nor family consumes the other.

In my work I hear many clients tell me that their family is a priority. However, if family was truly important to them, why don’t they show it through their daily actions?

Providing the family with financial support is a great way of showing that you care, but it is obviously not enough. For example, anytime you prefer working another hour in your practice rather than coming home and having dinner with your family, you could be telling your family that work matters more to you than they do.

Lack of strong boundaries
A practice, hospital or other healthcare organization can be a demanding and greedy entity that takes anything it can get. Most of you could probably spend 24 hours, 7 days a week, and the work still wouldn’t be completely done. You have to determine how much time and effort you want to put into your career so that it supports your life.  Most importantly, you have to claim it; otherwise you will be taken advantage of.

More time doesn’t equal greater productivity
Many physicians think the more time they spend within their practice, the more they get done. However, statistics have shown that after an 8-hour day, our productivity level takes a dive, and the work takes twice as much time to complete.

Life and work have become unmanageable
Work-life balance demands a pace that is manageable. If a physician cannot manage the pace of their career and life, both will suffer from the lack of clarity that is needed to maintain the necessary focus for the journey. When one loses their focus, it is replaced with confusion, which will wear any physician out.  That tiredness will be passed down through their behavior to those they work for and with. There is a choice to make:  either manage the pace of your life or the pace of your life will manage you.

A sense of balance doesn’t come on its own. It is not something that appears magically, showing up by itself. Instead we have to work for it and fight for it just like we do for success, health and fulfillment. Many professionals share the opinion that career success and life balance cannot be combined, but rather believe they are mutually exclusive. However, with the right intentions, skills and support, you can have both.