Why Work So Hard?
My normal working schedule is Monday thru Friday 7AM to 5 PM with a lunch break in the middle, I travel to Arnold every other Saturday morning to work for 4 more hours. I hear from other doctors that I don’t need to work that hard and I hear from patient that I need to take some time for myself.
I absolutely love what I do and the people that I am able to help on a daily basis. Whether you come in for a simple DOT Physical or can’t hardly walk into the office because you are in so much pain, I want to be there for you. When I leave the office for the day and I miss a phone call from someone that is trying to get in, I genuinely feel bad. If you call for a DOT physical, there are times that I will come in at 6:45 in the morning because I want to make things convenient for the patient.
Now there are limitations to this request as well, if you call at 4:30 on a Friday and think that I am going to stay late, you may be a little crazy because I do try to make it convenient for people but the patient also has to take my schedule into consideration as well.
As I said before I absolutely love what I do for work and for people but I actually may be addicted to work. I always tell people that I don’t have a lot of vices in life, but I truly do love to work and to play golf. So in the summer I do take some time off to play a little golf but I do feel like I am letting patients down by not being in the office.
My alarm goes off most mornings around 5:10AM and I am out the door most days by 6AM depending on which office I am at and am ready to see patients by 7AM. I justify this schedule because Kristina and I are on a mission right now to get some debt paid down.
On this mission to pay down debt, I have not only worked long hours in the offices and try to build a practice that I can be proud of but I also do insurance reviews in order to pick up a few extra bucks. As the debt gets paid down, I will ease up on the work schedule but have no idea on the specifics of that. I am just going to keep showing up and treating patients at this time.
Between writing a blog, working at the offices, doing insurance reviews and trying to have somewhat of a social life, I stay pretty busy. This past weekend, I did not have any commitments, I didn’t have to go to Arnold, no reviews and it rained most of the weekend so I was able to just lay low. I cherish these weekends but by Sunday afternoon, you wonder if it has been a productive weekend. Let me tell you, it is, it gives you a chance to regroup and evaluate everything from life and practice.
So, why do I work so hard? I work endless hours in order to serve my patients in order to accommodate as best as I can but the trade-off for something like this is that it will eventually pay off dividends for Kristina and I in the future.
I know that this post is not much but it does put some perspective as to why the lights are on at the wee hours of the morning and when you call the office, someone will almost always pick up to get you scheduled at your convenience.
As always, if you have any questions or comments I would love to hear from you.
Secondly, in my crusade for student loan refinancing a link has been given with Credible, who I think makes the process the easiest. Check out previous blogs and be sure to check out Credible.
