Time Blocking As A Practicing Physician

Long hours. Unpredictable schedules. Life-and-death decisions. The need to keep learning to stay ahead in your field.

Throw in the pressure cooker of a once-in-a-generation pandemic and no wonder physician burnout is skyrocketing. According to the American Medical Association, in 2021 nearly 63% of physicians reported symptoms of burnout, up from 38% in 2020.

Time blocking can help overworked and overstressed doctors take back control of their schedules and achieve better work-life balance. Here's a quick three-step intro that could add more balance to your workweek.

What is time blocking?

Time blocking is a time management technique that involves dividing your day into blocks of time, with each block dedicated to a specific task or group of tasks. By prioritizing tasks and scheduling them into designated time slots, you reduce the chances of becoming overwhelmed by a never-ending to-do list. The result is a more structured and efficient workday.

What are some potential benefits?

Time blocking allows you to take control of your day, rather than being controlled by it. By scheduling your tasks and activities in advance, you'll spend less time trying to decide what to focus on and more time getting things done.

A study by the American Medical Association and Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system also found that doctors spend almost twice as much of their time on health records and desk work as they do seeing patients. Creating time blocks could help you get through these kinds of tasks more quickly so that you have more time to do what you do best: give people the care that they need.

Without decision fatigue clouding your judgement and sapping your energy, you'll be able to focus better on what needs to get done next. And when you've crossed everything off your checklist at work, you'll have an easier time clocking out at the end of the day and focusing on the people and activities that you love.  

How can I get started?

There's no one way to block your time. Some people assign specific tasks to specific days of the week. Others group similar tasks together into context batches. Or you might look at your daily to-do list every morning and create time blocks that work for that specific list on that specific day.

Work through this quick three-step process and then tweak the results into a time blocking system that works for you.

1. Identify Your Tasks

Include everything from patient appointments and administrative tasks to personal responsibilities and self-care – like exercise or a lunch break.

2. Prioritize Your Tasks

Rank your list based on importance and urgency.  If you get stuck, try running your list through the Eisenhower Matrix, which categorizes tasks into four quadrants: important and urgent, important but not urgent, not important but urgent, and not important and not urgent. Take a good hard look at any tasks that fall into that fourth quadrant. Do you have to do these things, or have you been doing them out of habit? Could you assign them to an administrator or resident?

3. Schedule Your Tasks

Make sure to allocate adequate time for each task and include buffer time to accommodate transitions or tasks that take longer than expected.

Stick to the plan.

Perhaps the most powerful tool in your arsenal as you try to commit to time blocking is the word “No!” If you’ve done a good job identifying key tasks and prioritizing them, then you’re already putting your time to its highest uses. Table potential additions for another day. And if you do find yourself off-task or distracted, refer to your schedule and get back on track.

Variations on time blocking can also be a very powerful tool as you approach major life transitions, especially retirement. Make an appointment to work through our Life-Centered Planning tools and we can put together a plan for your time, money, career, and life.