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Category Archives: Relationship Management

Fun Summer Activities You Can Do With Kids

May 23rd, 2011

A lot of people feel that the summertime is all about going on vacations, tanning and spending lazy days swimming. While these things are great summer activities, there is much more that can be done during the months of summer. This is especially true for those of us with children. Below is a list of small summer activities that you can do with your children. Often times people feel that summer activities have to take up a large portion of the day, but this isn’t true. You can have a lot of fun and make great memories doing the little things below.

Plant Flowers: It’s true that planting flowers may get done quicker if you just do it yourself, but if you have young children it’s much more rewarding to take the time and let them help. Even if you dig the hole and place the flower in it and just let them pack in the dirt around it – they’ll love it. When you’re all done, the satisfaction you’ll see on their faces will make the extra time letting them help worth it. Additionally, because they helped plant the flowers, they’ll more than likely want to help water them throughout the summer, as well.

Make Homemade Ice Cream: One of the best treats enjoyed by all children during the summer is ice cream. So, why not make it a fun family tradition to make your own ice cream? Your children will enjoy and learn a lot as they help with the ice cream making process.

Plant a Garden: It’s important that children learn where their foods come from. So, one of the best ways to help them learn this is to show them. Take them to the store in late winter/early spring and pick out some packets of vegetable/fruit seeds. Then, when the weather is right, have them help you plant the seeds. They will enjoy watching the “fruits of their labor” begin to grow…and eventually get to eat them!

Take a Walk: Summer evenings are too good to let pass by while being indoors. So, take advantage of the great weather and take the entire family on a walk around the neighborhood. If your children don’t want to walk, let them ride their bikes or pull them in a wagon. The activity is very simple, but a lot of fun for everyone!

Above are just a few of the many simple summer activities you can do with your children that are not only fun, but create great memories. Just remember that children are much easier to please than adults. Things like homemade ice cream, going to the park and water gun fights are just as much fun for them as big family vacations. Therefore, look for little things you can do together this summer and have fun!

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Benefiting From Life Management For Physicians

May 7th, 2011

We all can benefit from a dose of life management from time to time; however, when it comes to life management for physicians we tend to think they have it all together.

There is not a single occupation that does not have demands, stressors as well as rewards.

Perhaps physicians just stand out because they are who we turn to for optimal health and during times of crisis.

Afterall, if your doctor is able to see all those patients and show up at 2 o’clock in the morning at your hospital bedside he must have his act together, right?

Hmm…maybe not

A doctors life expectancy many years ago was only about 55, due to the demands of burning the candle at both ends, personal habits, and ignoring their own health issues.

Fast forward to 2011 and we see doctors living much longer; however, the burnout rate has escalated in certain specialties, especially primary care.

The changes you may be witnessing are doctors that once took care of you in the office and hospital are now making a choice to do one or the other. There are many reasons why they make the decision to do one or the other, but the primary response you will hear is needing more time for themselves, friends, family and the one they love. It is no secret that the medical profession does not have a great track record when it comes to achieving success with long term relationships. If a physician is leaving home at 6 a.m. and getting home at 10 p.m., something is going to eventually give even in the most committed of relationships.

Does this mean your doctor that has provided your care for many years suddenly doesn’t care about you? Of course not, they are finally realizing that to provide optimal health care, they need to be taking better care of themselves as well. Working up to eighteen hours per day does not leave anyone much time to focus on themselves.

To achieve health excellence we all need to address the spiritual , emotional , and physical aspects as our health care needs. We all know that being out of align in one aspect can wreck havoc on our overall health.

Doctors are required to be constantly learning new things, dealing with lower reimbursement, complying with documentation rules, seeing more patients, less income, phone calls, dictation, malpractice threats and many other issues all before they even consider the time their family wants and deserves.

I know, that is what they signed up for when they went to medical school, so they should just deal with it.

I am sure you have noticed that your doctor seems to spend less time with you year after year…the days of sitting down and chatting about your latest vacation or how the family is doing are about over. To maintain their incomes and expectations of the people that sign their paychecks, doctors are being pushed to see patients as often as every 10 minutes. Now that is great if you are the patient that wants to get back to work and just has a cold or sore throat, but what about the older patient taking 10-15 medications for heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. That visit will take a minimum of 20 minutes if no one talks.

So, I hope you can see the frustration many physicians face in the constantly changing world of health care.

Many would argue that physicians need to get better at managing their time.

How do you manage your time when their is no more time to manage.

Or is there?

Life management through time management for physicians is something we can all learn and benefit from.

If you are a doctor or someone dealing with the difficulties of any other profession, then the following strategies may help you achieve a more rewarding life in and out of the office.

1. Just Listen- instead of keeping your eye on the clock, take the time to allow your patient or customer to just talk about their problems, family and what makes them smile. Even if you only do this a couple times a day you will feel more rewarded for your efforts at the end of the day and your patient or customer will think you spent hours with them.

2. Emotional competence- look for emotional competence and professional competence when dealing with people and potential employees. Someone that knows what makes them happy, what upsets them, what they find satisfying, can be a great future asset to your business.

3. What Bugs You- take the time at the end of the day to make a list of the things that are bothering you  before leaving the office.

4. Ask For Advice- ask your older patient or customer how they dealt with certain issues in the past. Their insight can be invaluable and many have a wealth of wisdom.

5. Stop Trying To Be All Things To All People- sometimes you just have to  say, no,  or I can not do this today.

6. Take Time Off- take regularly scheduled days off or half a day.  Your patients and your staff
will eventually expect you to be off and unavailable during that time. Use the time for something you really want to do.

7.Become More Transparent- share with your patients, colleagues, and customers  your struggle to find balance in your
life. They will most likely have some useful and uplifting advice.

8.Family Needs- ask your family what they need most from you. It may be something
different than you think. (Ask your office staff too.)

9. Spread Your Wings- when you’re out socially with colleagues and friends, make a real attempt to
talk about things other than medicine or business. There is a whole big world out there unrelated to the health care profession.

10. Balance Your Task- learn when to multitask and when to hyper focus  on things that need your attention now.

11. Eat With Your Family- eat at least one meal a day with your family or with a friend. You will be perceived as having spent more time with them if you sit down and give them your full attention. Patients perceive the time spent with the doctor as much longer when the doctor actually sat down and listened.

12. Your Own Mental Health Team- develop a support system that helps you relieve  or eliminate stress. Everyone needs family and friends to
rely on, but baby-sitters, house cleaners and someone to take care of the lawn can play a major role in keeping your stress under control.

13. Avoid The Office On Days Off- try to avoid getting into the habit of  going into the office on the weekend or other days off, unless absolutely necessary.
It is rare you get caught up or stay caught up when you use the weekend instead of spending the time doing other things with family or using it for me time.

14. Keep Business Separate From Friendships- make friends with a few people who will agree to never ask you to be their doctor.

15. Learn To Shift- remember that life balance is a shifting concept and some days will be better than others.

16. Talk To Yourself- ask yourself a simple question, “Is doing ________ going to make me wish I was home with my family?” If so, graciously say, “No thanks, someone else will have to do it.”

17. Enjoy The Journey- realize that each one of us has our own mountain to climb. Try toremember to pause to enjoy the view along the way and to help and let yourself be helped by others you meet on the path.

Try to implement at least one of the above strategies into your business and life. Learning how to tweak this and shift there will help create greater satisfaction and less stress leading to am more rewarding  practice, happier relationships and more  optimal health.

 

Docmac

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7 Characteristics Of Maintaining Healthy Relationships

February 27th, 2011

Respect, sharing and trust are what allows a relationship to persist, florish and remain healthy.

Healthy relationships are based on the belief that both partners are equal and the power in the relationship is shared by both partners.

The 50/50 rule is a simple way to view healthy relationships.

The following are 7 characteristics of a healthy relationship:

1. Respect – listening to one another, valuing each other’s opinions, and listening in a non-judgmental manner. Perhaps more important is respecting the other enough to understand and affirm the other’s emotions.

2. Trust and support - supporting each other’s goals in life, and respecting each other’s right to his/her own feelings, opinions, friends, activities and interest.

3. Honesty and accountability – communicating openly and truthfully, admitting mistakes or being wrong, acknowledging past use of violence, and accepting responsibility for one’s self.

4. Shared responsibility – making family/relationship decisions together, mutually agreeing on a distribution of work which is fair to both partners, giving the other adequate notice of decisions and what you expect of them to eliminate tension. If parents, the couple shares parental responsibilities and acts as positive, non-violent role models for the children.

5. Economic partnership – in marriage or cohabitation, making financial decisions together, and making sure both partners benefit from financial arrangements. Letting the other know what you expect and not assuming they know what you are thinking.

6. Negotiation and fairness - being willing to compromise, accepting change, and seeking mutually satisfying solutions to conflict.

7. Non-threatening behavior - talking and acting in a way that promotes both partners’ feelings of safety in the relationship. In any relationship, both should feel comfortable and safe in expressing himself or herself when engaging in activities or conversation without fear of retribution.

If you are involved in any relationship you see the other as a valuable part of your life. Communication without retribution is the key to maintaining that value and to prevent the relationship from crumbling apart.

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