Time for myself. I’m not even sure how to do that. I am afraid of the repercussions.
I used to go to an exercise class every Saturday morning. I would do rounds early and go to the gym. One of my “classmates” is a patient of mine. I enjoyed going to class and really got into it. I would lose myself in the music, and I had fun while I burned calories. I rarely missed a class.
As luck would have it, I have had to rearrange my weekend schedule. My daughter’s gymnastics class has been moved to the same time my class is. So by rearrange, I mean, I don’t get to go to my class.
Yesterday, I saw my classmate/patient. She mentioned how she hasn’t seen me in a while. I explained that I couldn’t make it because I had to take my daughter to gymnastics and I’d never make it on time. She said there’s another class on Wednesday mornings, and that I should go to that one. It must have been obvious from my facial expression that I was thinking, “Yeah, that’s gonna happen,” because she said, “Just don’t schedule patients then. It’s just an hour. You have to have time for yourself.”
Time for myself? Wow. That’s a concept. When I was planning my practice, I said I wanted to be able to schedule things the way I wanted. And what did I do? I made a schedule based on what I thought my patients would want, with the exception of Friday, which I scheduled around a morning conference and my kids’ after-school activities. So I have hours that start at 8 a.m. four days a week because patients like coming in before they go to work. I end at 5 p.m. two days a week, but at 6 p.m. twice a week to accommodate patients who want to come after work. I work through the traditional lunch-time so patient can come during their lunch hour. On Friday, I start late so I can go to grand rounds, and end early so I can shuttle kids where they need to go.
Time for myself. I’m not even sure how to do that. I am afraid of the repercussions. If I start late on Wednesday, where will I put those patient slots? I don’t want another late day. I can’t start any earlier. Patients already complain about the wait for an appointment, so I can’t afford to just cut out a few slots. Speaking of complaining, despite what I thought was an accommodating schedule, I still get complaints that we aren’t open late enough and that we don’t schedule patients on the weekend. Seriously? Am I not supposed to go home at all? It’s not like I twiddle my thumbs when I’m not in the office. I’m doing rounds, I’m grocery shopping, washing and folding laundry, helping with homework, you know - life stuff.
Time for myself. Maybe someday. If I win the lottery.
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Asset Protection and Financial Planning
December 6th 2021Asset protection attorney and regular Physicians Practice contributor Ike Devji and Anthony Williams, an investment advisor representative and the founder and president of Mosaic Financial Associates, discuss the impact of COVID-19 on high-earner assets and financial planning, impending tax changes, common asset protection and wealth preservation mistakes high earners make, and more.