Busy over the summer

Hi everyone, long time, no talk.  I hope you all are well.

I am sorry not to have written for a while.  I have been busy with my family and getting a bit of time off over the summer.  One of my colleagues has taken an extended vacation, so when I am actually at work, I am very busy, because there are less doctors for all the patients to see.  It is busy, but manageable.

Certainly in a busy field like healthcare, there is a tendency to overwork.  I find I have a good balance in my life, but I am constantly being pulled in different directions.  After direct patient care there are a lot of committees I serve on, my research and teaching interests, and then there is the office to run and my business side of things to run – I am now going through the joy of my first corporate tax return and discovering that I was supposed to keep a ledger of transactions the whole year!  Great!  Although my book-keeping actually looks pretty easy so I think I can take care of it.  But these are all extra things beyond working 60+ hours a week on patients.  I do need to see my family sometime!

Overall I sure like my job.  Private practice, with the control I have over my working arrangements, is great!  You definitely have to be good at time management though!  Sometimes less important things have to wait and some tasks have to be turned down or pushed back.

Many of you of course have busy lives too!  Do you have any time management tips or advice?  I would be interested in hearing from you!