Springing Forward vs Falling Back

The other day, I posted on Facebook that I like being on daylight saving time, but I don't like going on Daylight Saving Time.

This got me to thinking. I bet there are a lot of things that we want, but that we somehow have some resistance to making happen.

Because there's something about making it happen that we don't like, or are afraid we can't do.

For example, we want to lose weight. And we think that we're going to be really liking it when we're thin.

But we're worried about what it will take to do that.

Or we know we have to cut back on our schedule or do something to make it more manageable so that we don't lose our minds, but we're not sure what that is and it feels too scary to figure out what it might be.

Or we think we might be disappointing or angering somebody if we try to make those changes.

Maybe you want to figure out a way to spend less time in the room with your patients so you can run on time.

Of course physicians want to run on time in clinic and have our visits flow as smoothly as they can.

And we understand that our patients don't like it if we run late.

But we also know they want us to spend as much time with them as possible.

Oopsie.

The double bind.

So we have a little trouble getting out of the room, for various reasons.

We're afraid that the patient will feel like we didn't spend enough time with them, they will be angry, or disappointed, or like us less if we don't deal with all 20 things they want to talk about in one visit, or we don't stop to handle the "by the way, doc" question that pops up just as we are leaving the exam room.

A thought like that is sure to stop you dead in your tracks.

Maybe we're afraid that they won't implement everything we recommended unless we repeat it a bunch of times.

Maybe we're afraid we won't feel like we're a good enough doctor if we don't spend more time.

The question is, is all of this true?

Is it possible to be a good doctor and run on time?

Logically, one would think that it must be possible that there are other ways to enhance patients' adherence to our recommendations other than our repeating things a bunch of times.

For example, we could have some written materials, or have another staff member do some of the patient teaching.

Here's the thing though. You have probably already thought of this.

You might admit that it's possible.

You might even have a plan to have your assistant do some of that patient teaching

But you still might not be able to release your own thoughts and feelings that you are the one who has to do it.

And therein lies the problem.

We all have rational understandings about what we have to do or what we want to do.

But understanding something cognitively and rationally with our conscious minds is not the same as being able to let it go with our unconscious minds and take the action.

Having that new rational thought is certainly the first step.

The question is what are you going to do with it after that?

Sometimes that new thought is all you need, an aha moment - why didn't I think of that earlier?

But sometimes that's just not enough.

In addition to changing some thoughts, you're going to need to change some unconscious beliefs and some emotions.

That's a little harder, since they're unconscious and hidden.

One thing I've learned is that you need to feel safe in order to to get yourself to do the things that you think you need to do in order to achieve your goal.

So my question to you is, what do you need to do to make things feel safe?

How do you get rid of a fear or a roadblock you don't even know you have, but that is still standing in your way?

If you know the secret tricks for doing that it's not hard at all.

If you don't, it may feel nearly impossible.

I've got lots of ways to do this.

And if you want to learn more about them so you can spend more time "springing forward" and less time "falling back," let me know. I'm here...