For most of us, spring cleaning means getting rid of the clutter that’s built up over the year and doing some serious scrubbing. While we’re accustomed to organizing our homes every spring, why not also take this opportunity to address how you organize while at work? And I’m not just talking about where you place your patient files and other paperwork – but yourself.
What I mean by that is simply how you organize your calendar and what you spend your time on throughout the day . . . the week or month. Each of us has a limited amount of time to dedicate to the things that require our attention. How you determine what or who gets your time and attention can have a direct impact on your team, the satisfaction of your patients, and the success of your practice.
A simple technique that I’ve found to be useful is to do a quick “audit” of your time. Here’s how the exercise works!
Time Audit Exercise
- First, grab a pen and paper and create a quick list of the top 10 things that you do in a day (addressing patient problems/issues, administrative tasks like email or paperwork, holding staff meetings, and so on)
- Next, think about the amount of time you spend on each of those activities and mark that next to the activity (i.e., 10% on email)
- Finally, think about how important each of those activities are and rank them from 1 “most important” to 10 “least important”
After completing this short exercise, what I typically find is that I spend the most amount of time on things that are least important, and my top (#1) task usually gets a minimal amount of my attention. The process of identifying and adjusting how your time is best spent can help you stay organized and be productive!
Does your “most important task” tend to get neglected throughout your day? Do you have any tips for staying organized? Let us know in the comments below!
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