There are many factors that can contribute to burnout among surgeons, doctors, and other medical professionals. It is not all about diet, exercise and sleep, but these three are basic foundations that increase our ability to go after the other factors. This article will offer four tips for conquering surgeon burnout and its related symptoms.
Try to Practice What You Preach
If you notice, many of my articles point out the simple practices of diet, sleep and exercise. I am not a perfect example, nor is anyone for that matter! If we are going to restore our passion and strive for performance improvement, we need to abandon perfectionism, and just get better. I have made tremendous progress in diet and exercise by using baby steps. I preach performance improvement, not perfection. How can you do better at something you tell others to do?
Set Realistic Goals
Each successful achievement makes it much easier to reach the next. There is little harm in overachieving on a goal that was a little too easy to reach. However, when we fail to reach a goal, usually one of two negative things results:
- Our motivation to reach the next goal is decreased.
- We make excuses that justify the failure, therefore making it easier to justify a failure each time.
Create momentum with success, by reaching your goal and maintaining it.
Say No
Surgeons tend to overexert themselves at work. If only we could do everything we wanted! Unfortunately, that’s just not the way we’re built. Saying yes to everything at work will likely lead to excess stress, exhaustion, and burnout. Know when and how to say no at work and you will become much more successful.
Diet, Exercise and Sleep
We’ve talked about these three factors at length, and they are important to understand. If any of these three are managed poorly, the results are lower energy levels and higher stress. Use each of the first 3 ways above to attack all three issues.
All of these tips tie into my burnout prevention methodology – The 8 PRACTICEs of Highly Successful Surgeons. I developed this system after dealing with burnout first hand in my own practice. It can be applied to any physician in any specialty. Focusing on finding your rhythm in your work and home life is the ultimate goal to conquering burnout in the long run.