One of the primary concerns I hear from doctors who buy into digital orthodontics is the greater volume of digital treatment planning. Sometimes practice growth intrudes further into their personal lives and spins off into another challenge. Digital tools have become a significant part of our lives. Technology has brought benefits and resulted in information overload and blurred the boundaries between work and non-work time. Add in the post-pandemic new reality, and we see a greater increase in virtual meetings, virtual appointments, and virtual work.
If you are one of the doctors who feels your time outside of work is affected by virtual work, ClinChecks, digital setups, etc., then consider the following:
Evaluate where you spend time
Take a look at your workday tasks and the amount of time you spend on these activities affecting you after work. Time is a non-renewable resource, and we should critically evaluate where we consume it. Do those activities add value to my life, work and relationships? Eliminate what does not add value, and allocate that time back to those activities that enrich your life.
In those projects that are important, do you have an opportunity to get them done more efficiently? Get a baseline measure of the time you spend per activity, map out your work and begin to realize where you have the opportunity to improve.
Set a goal
Once you have a baseline, focus on the activities you need to do but should do more efficiently. Work on an incremental goal that will drive improvement and tighten your timeframe for those tasks. Instead of making a large leap, focus on small changes that will add up to tremendous gains. Once you set a goal and you keep measuring your activities, you can keep this improvement going.
Eliminate activities that you can delegate to another person
We have team members who can take on many areas of our current workload if we train and empower them to take them on. Remember to follow the six T’s of delegation and remove yourself from work that is tiny, tedious, time-consuming, teachable, time-sensitive, and that you are terrible at doing.
Build powerful routines to optimize work
When tasks cannot be delegated and require your focus and attention, build powerful routines to optimize that work. Routinization helps to set up protocols and efficient workflows that save a tremendous amount of time. It can clear away a large part of work that is repeatable while gaining time and mental energy to focus on the critical pieces that will improve your effectiveness. Gain productivity and save time by optimizing what you do.
