“Few other things are as important to people’s lives as how they spend their time. The use of their time significantly determines how happy they are from moment to moment, and it is a significant predictor of their overall satisfaction with life”
(Krekel and MacKerron, LSE)
[The Probe • May 2024]
There comes a time to us all when reality kicks in and we realise that we’re not actually superhuman – sad times I know. I cram all sorts into each day, week, month and year – from personal development, training and mentoring young dentists, developing my practices – to fitness training, family life, time with friends, travel (although mostly work-related) and lots more.
How busy we appear has somehow become society’s measure of success and I find myself joining in the competitive busy-ness almost unconsciously. I need to slow down a little, appreciate things more and do things better which inevitably means I have to be selective about how I spend my time. Time is the true currency of our lives.
Maybe it’s an age thing or (perhaps to be kinder) the ever-growing demands on us as we age but we have to examine the shape of our days and see what serves us best. We can do this by weighing up the merits of everything we do. Looking at how best to allocate our minutes and hours means being as objective as possible, standing back and considering the various parts of our lives that we have accumulated over the years.
Here’s an interesting activity I came across recently. List all the main components of your current day-to-day existence. Roughly mark up the number of hours you spend on each over a typical month – this will paint a picture of how balanced (or not) your life is. Then make a list of questions that resonate with you. These will be different from person to person.
Here are some ideas of those questions:
Create a simple score system and subject each part of your life to the list of questions and see what kind of information it gives you. Ultimately the questions all boil down to just one – does it serve you?
Your list might contain some bad habits – doom scrolling, working late into each day, watching rubbish TV, spending time in the pub. Wherever your weaknesses lie, don’t be quick to dismiss them if they tick some of the ‘time well spent’ boxes. If they aren’t very useful to you and you’re spending a lot of time on them, maybe just reduce the focus on them to free up some time for other more beneficial things. We all need a bit of escapist Netflix from time to time!
The time issue for me has been building up for a few years. It was important to stop and reassess things. That has led to me taking one day a week off teaching and my endodontic practice. I’ll still be ‘at work’ but it’ll be time spent on getting organised, getting through admin, doing real thinking and planning. Yes, admittedly, it might involve working from a coffee shop or somewhere restful and scenic now and then but the change of environment will certainly serve me, as well as the coffee and cake (see point 12, avoiding point 7!).
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With practices in London and the South of England I am able to help your patients with dedicated and experienced endodontic care.
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Aimed specifically at early career dentists, I can help with both the practical and patient care aspects of becoming a seriously good endodontist. Currently we have two courses running with dates set for 2023. Shake up your Shaping (1 day) and Endo Roots (3 days).
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