Handling an Atypical Schedule
I have had periods in my life where I was able to set a solid routine. I have always found that those were the periods where I have thrived. Unfortunately, as a pediatric hospitalist, my schedule can only be described as chaotic. This has been something I have struggled with throughout my career so far. I constantly feel that I am battling my schedule. This has been especially true now that I have begun to branch out from strictly clinical work. My schedule doesn't lend itself to a strict weekday/weekend rhythm. The major risk I run with my schedule is burnout. It can feel like work is all encompassing. I may work through a weekend on my clinical schedule. Then, during weekdays, I may have meetings, emails to answer, and things to get done. Those I interact with who do not work a clinical schedule don't work weekends, so I feel the pressure to keep working even though I have had no rest over the weekend. Working weekends is certainly one of the worst parts of my schedule.
Injecting control into my random schedule is difficult. I want to push things forward while also resting. I have experimented with different rhythms of work, but have never come upon a schedule that feels right. Given that I can work any day of the week, I have to let go of trying to control day to day, instead trying to work on a weekly scale. I have always liked the idea of working in cycles, and have decided this will be my next schedule experiment. I will push forward on projects for 6 weeks. Rest for the 7th week, then use the 8th week to clean things up and work on administrative-type tasks. What I am hoping for is that when I have open moments, this cycle will help me to choose based on whether I am resting, administrating, or pushing. There will of course be things that pop up that I must handle in any of these weeks that are off-schedule, but I do not feel the need to over-inflate these exceptions. I will simply handle them.
There is already a rhythm to my schedule that I work within and will continue throughout this time, and that is the classic Getting Things Done Weekly Review. These will continue throughout the cycle. I have never found a better way to feel like I at least have some handle on things. The Weekly Review also allows me to flow and be flexible with my weeks, collect what I need and clear my mind, and then allow projects to organically form. They allow me to fully engage with the week, handle its chaos, and still thrive and remain in control of what is in my control.
We'll see how this goes. I have (for eight years now!) been trying to wrangle my schedule to make it feel a little more manageable. Having an atypical weekly schedule can make it seem like work is never-ending and all-encompassing, especially as I branch out to get involved in things outside of clinical work.
