WEBVTT - Keep it Hot: WORK Edition! EP 432 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:09.720 Hi. 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:13.840 I'm Laura Vanderkamp. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist, 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:14.440 and speaker. 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:19.120 And I'm Sarah Hart Hunger, a mother of three, practicing physician, writer, 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:22.280 and course creator. We are two working parents who love 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:24.000 our careers and our families. 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:27.360 Welcome to best of both worlds. Here we talk about 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.360 how real women manage work, family, and time for fun, 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:33.360 from figuring out childcare to mapping out long. 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:34.200 Term career goals. 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:39.320 We want you to get the most out of life. 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:43.640 Welcome to best of both worlds. This is Laura. 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:47.160 This episode is airing in sort of early mid November 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:49.840 of twenty twenty five. We are going to be talking 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:54.480 about rekindling the work flame, so long time listeners may 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:56.720 recall it. A few months ago we had an episode 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:01.480 called keep It Hot, which was about long term romantic 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:05.240 partnerships and how one could keep the flame live there. 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.800 And it turns out that there are some parallels with 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.399 work as well. If you've been in your job for 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.240 a great many years, sometimes things can start to feel 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.800 a little bit stale, less exciting than you might hope. 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:20.720 But there are things that you can do to make 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:24.800 your work life more exciting and interesting for you as well, now, 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:29.240 obviously there are some key differences between your marriage and 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:33.040 your job. One is that you should definitely change jobs 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:34.680 if you get a much better offer of something you 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.720 would rather do where there are a few more repercussions 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:41.840 doing that. With your marriage, you probably really want to 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:44.400 think about that with all the trauma that what we cause. 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:47.240 But you know, the grass is not always greener, and 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:49.320 so sometimes when people think we need a different job, 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.240 you know, all jobs have their issues. I've definitely seen 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:54.920 people in yours report to me that they're like, Oh, 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.200 this job is so stressful and terrible. My coworkers are 0:01:57.200 --> 0:01:58.720 awful and you can't trust them. And then you're like, 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:00.280 I'm gonna get a different job. It's like great, great, 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.680 go do that. And then within the first year at 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:04.520 that job, they're like, oh, it's so awful and stressful 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:06.080 and I'm working all the time and my coworkers are 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.880 tarable and I can't trust them. It's like, hmm, there's 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.799 a similarity, one thing in common for sure, between these 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:15.840 two jobs. So we need to sometimes look at ourselves 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.679 as well. But anyway, Sarah, you've been in your job 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:21.520 for a great many years. Sarah, maybe you can talk 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:23.880 about how you've come to think about this. 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:26.840 Sure, Yeah, I have been in my clinical job for 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:30.760 twelve years now, very exciting, really kind of getting up there. 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:32.720 I feel like once maybe in the upper teams, I'll 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:34.720 really feel like, Okay, I am old guard. 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:36.280 I feel like I'm mid guard right now. 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:40.360 So, but recently I was just having some nothing specific, 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:43.160 just like minor job angst. I think everyone knows. Healthcare, 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:46.040 you know, has a lot of stuff going on right now, 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.320 especially like insurance types of issues and things like that. 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.400 And I just found myself wondering, like, are there things 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.960 I can do to feel more engaged at work and 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.120 to maybe embrace the positive things about it, and like 0:02:58.160 --> 0:02:59.720 see if I can enjoy my day to day a 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:01.320 little little bit more. And I thought of it as 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:04.480 kind of an experiment, because really, if I was continuing 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:06.560 to feel down about certain things, then maybe it would 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:10.440 have been time to think about different situations. And I 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:12.680 actually did find that some of the things I tried 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.160 ended up helping me, Like, I feel more content than 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:17.160 I did even a couple of months ago, with no 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:21.360 real change in the other the things that were bothering me. 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:25.320 I guess, so I guess this kind of inspired some 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:27.920 of these tips, and this episode as well as of 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.320 course are keep it hot episode because everyone should go 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:31.480 back and listen to that if they. 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.440 Haven't, absolutely, so, yes, we're going to keep it hot 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:35.040 at work. 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:35.920 So one of the. 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.040 Things you can do, I mean, obviously in many situations 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.520 that feeling a bit stale is you can reflect on 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:43.040 what you actually like about it, right, So, I mean, 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:43.680 there are the things you. 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:45.560 Truly love about your clinical job. 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:49.040 Yeah, you should sit there with a pen and paper, 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:50.960 and even if you are in one of those moments 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:53.200 when you're thinking about fire or you're thinking about some 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:57.160 dressed career pivot, think about what you would lose if 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.680 you were to do a change. And that is going 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:02.960 to basically be a list of the things that you 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:07.680 do like about your current situation. Because we can tend 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:09.760 to be biased towards you know, what's wrong, what's the 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.160 thing we want to fix, you know, what's that nagging 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.120 situation or something like that, But maybe there's also some 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.200 great things about going to work every day, whether it 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.520 is seeing colleagues that you like. Maybe your work hours 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:23.920 are actually pretty darn reasonable. When you do your time 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:25.880 tracking and you look at it and you're like huh, 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.680 my hourly pay, my work hours are manageable. I don't 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:30.040 feel stressed outside of work. 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:30.920 Things like that. 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:32.520 I mean, maybe those things don't apply to you, but 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:35.120 I think it is important. And it can be tangible 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:38.760 stuff too, like again, your compensation or your paid time off, 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.320 or even things like opportunity to learn or opportunity to 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:44.719 feel like you have meeting at certain points during your job. 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.200 Might not be every minute, but maybe there's like a 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:49.239 moment per week where you feel really good. You should 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:51.920 reflect on those things, and I highly recommend like literally 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:52.600 writing them down. 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.159 Yeah, what do I love about my job? What would 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:58.240 I miss if I weren't doing this? And even if 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:00.920 you do wind up finding something else, having a list 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:03.479 of what you really like will be helpful. 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:04.200 As you go into the search. 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:06.279 You're like, actually, it really is important to me that 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:08.520 I have some flexibility over my hours. And then you know, 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:11.400 when you're negotiating your next position, you're like, look, I 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.599 need this, see this list. These things have to happen 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.320 here for me to leave. What is a reasonable situation 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:20.120 to go do something else? So, yeah, you definitely want 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.600 that list. You also might want to consider trying a 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:28.160 few things. One is engaging more with your colleagues, right, Sarah. 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:30.039 Yeah, I feel like if you are in a down moment, 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:32.960 your instinct might actually be to pull back. I don't 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.440 feel like responding to that group chat, I don't want 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:36.320 to go to that party. 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:38.360 What meetings can I get out of? 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.640 And sometimes I think that can really really backfire because like, 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:43.960 the less engaged you are, the less engaged you will be. 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:48.520 So perhaps forcing yourself to like put your opinion in there, 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.719 if you have experience and you know you have something 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.600 to add or make sure to attend that gathering, that 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:58.760 can actually paradoxically help. Now, of course, if you're just 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:00.880 burned out and you're dispending way too much time at work, 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.320 I'm not like advocating to add a bunch of extras, 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.000 but look to see if there are things or like 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.120 little ways in which you can maybe participate, because you 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:12.479 actually might find that igniting rather than adding to the 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:13.440 burden side of work. 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:16.720 Yeah, you also want to notice little good moments, right, 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:18.560 like a work love of the week as it were. 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:22.640 Yeah, I mean, if you have a day where something 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:25.400 went really well, like write that down somewhere or like 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.320 actually think about it or reflect on it and if 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:31.000 you can't find any Like if a week goes by 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:34.760 and you're like, I cannot think of a single positive 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:36.800 thing that I did relate it to my work, that 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:41.000 actually probably is something that needs to be thought about. 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:44.880 Either are there ways to maybe alter your situation to 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:48.280 add in more of those small winds, or maybe you 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:50.240 do need to make some kind of change, because I 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:53.080 think we're going to talk about how, yes, your job 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:54.640 is not all of your waking hours, but it's a 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:57.560 sizeable enough chunk of your waking hours and energy that 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.800 if there is literally nothing you can pull out that 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:04.160 brings you a little bit of satisfaction or joy, I 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:05.000 do think that's. 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.080 Kind of problematic. Yeah, I don't know, Like, can we 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:08.440 think of some examples for me? 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:11.000 I had a call week recently and it was a 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.320 totally stressful call week because I have never seen a 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.559 list this long. But I ended up having a case 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:19.920 where I kind of figured something out in a very 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:23.160 rare type of a condition and I felt so good 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.320 about that, and I could tell the parent felt really 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:28.120 relieve that we figured something out, and she felt like 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:30.720 I was very much trying hard to figure it out. 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:32.720 And then I like ended up seeing her the week 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:34.600 after and like, I'm following this patient really closely, and 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:37.880 I'm like, yeah, wow, this is what I did this for, 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.960 not focusing on maybe how some other patient was very 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.680 upset at us because their insurance didn't cover a certain med. 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.720 So what about you, Like, are there good. 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.960 Moments that you reflect on sometimes maybe at the end 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.680 of a week, like a great interview or I don't know. 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:56.120 Yeah, I mean it's a little different. 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.160 Just because you know, you run your own business over 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:03.560 long years, you tend to least I do, orient it 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:06.760 toward things that I actually want to do. So I 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:10.160 have a very low tolerance for things that I don't 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:14.960 want to do, and that means that there's a lot 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:17.680 of love of the weeks. Right I'm enjoying recording this 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:23.160 right now. I'm you know, like writing things. I'm always 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:27.120 excited when I get nice feedback from people on something 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.520 that they've read of mine and it was impactful in 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:30.720 their life in some way. 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.640 So there's a lot it. 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:36.640 Must have been fun to get those images. I don't 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:38.320 know if you can share a lot about that. But 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:41.000 the actual physical way that your book is going to 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.120 look is starting to take shape, and that's exciting. 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:44.760 Yeah, yeah, you know. 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:48.000 I mean, well there's obviously things that like there's annoyances 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.320 in every job, right, Like I'm going through the copy 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:52.280 edits of my book and something was changed that now 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:57.040 all needs to be changed back, which is just extra time. 0:08:57.240 --> 0:09:01.280 But we're making the best possible book, so it's good 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:03.960 to ask these things. And you know, again I also 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.880 remind myself like if we're arguing over very very tiny details, 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:10.200 like that's a good place to be in, Like there's 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:12.719 not big stuff that's being changed with anything. But yeah, 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.480 I got to see covers, which is was just really exciting, 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:18.040 Like when you have a cover you're excited about and 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:22.240 you can actually picture a version of this in bookstores 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:24.280 that you're like, that's what the book is going to 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:26.720 look like. That's this idea that I had years ago 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:29.880 is now going to be this physical thing. I mean, 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.160 it's just a very exciting. I'm using that word way 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:35.640 too much, but you know, I do like it. And 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:37.920 when there's things I really don't like that I do 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.240 my best to get rid of them, which we'll get 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:40.800 to in a moment. 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.320 Yes, And I just want to add to as we 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:46.960 were talking about engagement, I had a special note to 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:51.160 just bring up like participating in the social extras, because 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:55.600 most jobs do have things that are entirely optional. And again, 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:57.720 if you're in that like burnt out mode, you're going 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:01.040 to skip the baby shower or not organize the lunch. 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:04.200 But sometimes those are like some of the most rewarding. 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:05.920 Parts, depending on where you are in your career and 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:07.640 what you're doing and how hard the rest of it is. 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.680 So I very much encourage people to say yes to 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:12.559 those little. 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.800 Extras yeah, or come up with them your own if 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:19.520 you are working by yourself, which over the past few years, 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:24.400 I've definitely been more proactive about building work relationships and 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:28.040 sort of recurring things that you see people that you 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.280 work with. You don't really work with them, you both 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:32.240 are doing similar work, but they become sort of like 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:36.160 colleagues because you see them and talk with them frequently 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:38.600 and they know what's going on in your working life, 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:42.280 and you can create those and that can definitely make 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:46.320 work feel more exciting for sure. Now, obviously, if there 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.680 are people who are toxic, we want to get away 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:50.679 from that, right Sarah. 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:53.680 I mean, that is something that can make I've talked 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.440 to multiple people who it sometimes can just come down 0:10:56.440 --> 0:11:00.559 to one person, and maybe even an interurn move where 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.000 you're almost doing the same job, which but just with 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:06.760 a different supervisor or different coworker. 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:08.440 Might make all the difference. 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:10.640 So I do feel if you can pinpoint a ton 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.560 of your angs to one person, sometimes that is a 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:15.880 situation that it's like, no, I would focus on changing that. 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:19.000 You don't have to change jobs per se, But I 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:20.760 don't know the one thing. You know, if you can 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:22.280 get rid of the one pain point, that would be 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:24.400 really helpful. We're going to take a quick ad break 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:26.599 and then we would be back with more on rekindling 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:27.760 the flame at work. 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:41.479 Well, we are back. 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.600 Talking about how we can rekindle the flame at work. 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:47.600 You know, it's the keep it hot version for not 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:49.800 a marriage, but a job that you have been in 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:54.040 for many years, if not a decade or more so. 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:56.960 One thing you can do is we talked about making 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.360 a list of what you enjoy at your job, the 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:02.439 things that you like. Are there ways you could craft 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:06.040 your job to spend more time on the things you like, 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:08.080 And again, it doesn't have to be much. We don't 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:10.480 have to say, well, I was spending two hours a 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:11.920 week on this and now I'm gonna be spending twenty 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:13.280 five on it, And if you're gonna pull that off, 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.760 great more power to you. But if you are spending 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:18.240 two hours a week on it, could you spend three 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.760 or four? Right? Is that something that you could get 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:24.160 to Would you be able to trim other things, maybe 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:26.920 be a little bit less responsive on the email in 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:30.640 order to carve out some time for this, or delegate 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:32.880 a meeting to somebody else to spend a little bit 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:35.880 more time on your favorite work. That can be the 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.640 equivalent of putting in a date night into your long 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.240 term partnership. That makes it feel a little bit more 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.040 like this is something you are excited about totally. 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:46.880 And I feel like I've engaged in that sort of 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:50.000 career crafting on both sides of what I do, whether 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:54.560 it's emphasizing certain types of specialty clinics or on the 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:58.199 creative side, like, oh, I really like talking about planning 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:00.720 and teaching about planning, you know what, I'll go hard 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:02.760 in that direction because it's so much fun for me. 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.120 I mean that no one was like, hey, I think 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:07.160 that is what you should do, but like I really 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:11.559 enjoyed it, and so that both ended up resonating and 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:14.360 ended up being like a really satisfying part of my job. 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.560 Sometimes efforts of this fail. Fun fact, my Giant Health 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:19.800 System at one point was like, we're starting a podcast, 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:22.319 and I'm like, I should host the podcast. You guys, 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:24.400 I didn't even get a call back, which is hilarious, 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:25.679 Like what insulted? 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:27.960 I mean, why why? Why didn't they? 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:30.600 It's okay, I actually don't even know if they move 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:32.400 forward with the project. To be honest, this is like 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:33.960 a few years ago, and it might have just been like, 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:37.120 never mind, we're not really doing this. But I look 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:40.040 to see, like, oh, has this podcast like hit the charts, 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:42.360 like who's doing it? And I couldn't find it, So okay, 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:43.600 it might have just been that they moved on. 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:46.360 Maybe maybe it never happened, but yeah, yeah, no, that 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:48.600 was the hot thing for a while, Like every organization 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.360 has to have their own podcast, but you don't. 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:53.199 I don't know how hard this is. Okay, they don't, 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:57.920 they don't. In fact, you appreciate your own podcast. You 0:13:57.920 --> 0:13:59.560 should think long and hard about that. 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.880 But with trying to add more time of the things 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:06.280 that you want to do, there's also the case to 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:08.920 be made for spending less time on the things that 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.439 you do not want to do now done right, Delegating 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.280 and outsourcing is not so much just about getting rid 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:17.000 of things you don't want to do. It is about 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.480 recognizing what is the highest value of your time, and 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:23.920 even if you can do something really well, sometimes that 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:26.680 is not the best way for you to be spending 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:30.800 your time. So Sarah can give an excellent checkout for 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:35.680 her her patient visits, but as you might imagine, it 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:37.360 would be best for her to move on to the 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:41.160 next patient and start seeing the next patient to write Sarah. 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.120 Correct or things like you know, I'll get a message 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:45.440 in my inbox. It's like, can you print these lab 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.840 orders that you've already ordered and send them to this box? Like, 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:52.600 I will happily for that to someone who will help 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:54.640 me do that so I can do something else. 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:56.360 Yeah, even though I'm sure I'd be pretty good at. 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:59.640 Yeah, or I mean all of the things with the 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.320 not getting into it much both insurance, with the various 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:06.680 box checking and organization level skills required for this, it 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:09.400 turns out someone like Sarah is excellent at that. But again, 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:11.880 is it the best use of a physician's time to 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:13.000 be doing those things? 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:17.760 So looking for opportunities like that, right, Sarah, definitely. Yeah. 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:20.360 Well, and if you are doing any sort of work, 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:23.600 really you can think about, well, Okay, I could do X, 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:26.360 but could I find somebody else to help me with X? 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:28.960 And so certainly over the years, you know, I have 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:33.360 a virtual assistant. Now I have some help with drafting 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:36.920 and coming up with ideas for different things, certainly with 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:40.680 the statistical aspects of my challenges, and that's made it 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:44.000 possible for me to spend more of my time actually writing, 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:48.880 which turns out that the content creation part of my 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:52.560 job is what I love doing most. So the more 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:55.440 time I can spend on that and the less time 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.480 I spend on other things, the better off we are. 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.320 I've never edited up podcast track. I have no idea 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:05.360 how to do that. And I also hire a designer 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:07.960 to make all of my kind of PDF workbooks and 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.760 things because I know she does it so much better 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:11.640 than I would ever do it. 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:12.360 Yeah. 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.120 Now, with that, there might be some new technologies that 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:19.000 can help make your work easier or more interesting. I 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:21.960 mean you're leaning into that with sort of the medical 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:24.200 literature search concept right now. 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:25.800 Yeah. 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:28.680 Open evidence if you haven't used it is an awesome 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:33.360 tool that is sort of like chat GPT mixed with PubMed, 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.960 so it actually like pulls the sources of the information 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:38.720 that it spits out, but it spits it out in 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.480 very digestible form, and it's really good for answering very 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.600 specific questions, like you're like, well, how often do patients 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:46.840 with this condition not test gene positive? Like that would 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.960 take a little time to dig out, but open evidence 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:52.360 can find that very very quickly and give you citations 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.160 so you can double check. So I do feel like 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.880 we're like, yeah, we're in a sweet spot right now 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.200 with AI, where like your job isn't eaten yet, but 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:05.800 you can possibly benefit, so yeah, definitely better. 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.840 Yeah yeah, yeah, Well, I mean I don't use AI 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:14.920 to write for me, but in many cases sometimes. 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:16.800 AI writes better than some people. 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.320 So uh, that could be a thing that would be 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:24.679 helpful if you don't find writing fun creating first drafts 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:28.040 of things, having a system create a first draft within 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.240 your parameters that you didn't go in and make better. 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:33.080 What if I was like I do that with every 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:37.560 blog post. I never write them anymore. There are certain 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.720 context where it's just so like no, please. 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:45.359 No, like the whole time or enjoying writing my you know, yeah, and. 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:47.760 Like that personal angle, like this came from a human 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:50.919 who is having these real human thoughts that they're putting 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:51.320 out there. 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:53.800 Like I guess we're just saying be. 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:56.920 Judicial, but I mean, like, obviously, you know, it could 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.040 make your resume look better or whatever. You know, there's 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.040 all sorts of things that like you or you know, 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.879 if you have to answer a couple quick questions for 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:09.160 a conference prep work, like, you know, there's all sorts 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:12.159 of ways that you can use it as your assistant 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.840 and make life a little bit easier for you, which 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.960 might help you spend more time on the favorite kinds 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.840 of work that you do enjoy. And then you can 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:26.399 obviously do things like take good breaks. So people have 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:30.000 varying amounts of control over what they spend their work 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:32.199 time doing, but we all have some control over the 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.320 time at work when we are not working, and everyone 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:38.439 takes breaks. It is just a question of whether they 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:42.160 are intentional or not. You know, I've had people tell me, oh, 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:44.280 I don't take breaks. I just read email newsletters here 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:46.560 and there. When I get a few minutes, I'm like, okay, 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:47.240 that's a break. 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:47.800 That's a break. 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.040 Yeah, but maybe that's not the most rejuvening thing. I mean, 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:53.760 I love email newsletters. You should definitely read mind you 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.320 would probably find that a great break. But if that's 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.920 not making you feel rejuvenated, then think about what can 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:02.920 I do, Like, what are two ten minute many vacations 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.199