215: How Physicians Can Improve Work-Life Balance by Minimizing Contaminated Time at Work and at Home (Jill Farmer, Gabriella Dennery, MD)

DocWorking: The Whole Physician Podcast

Dec 22 2022 • 7 mins

“Maybe getting a little clear on what this idea is so you can be even 5% or 10% more intentional about keeping those two things separate.”

- Jill Farmer

Contaminated time is a topic that comes up a lot in our conversations. It’s a term that’s been recently introduced in the field of stress management. Here, we discuss what contaminated time actually is and what someone can do about it. We first learned about the term from New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize winner, Brigid Schulte. Essentially, contaminated time refers to the idea that, whether we’re at work or at home, our time can become “contaminated” by worries, thoughts, energy, and attention, which takes us away from the present moment.

Research has shown that those with less contaminated time are more productive. We discuss practical ways to better manage contaminated time that won’t make you feel robotic. Much of dealing with contaminated time involves setting boundaries around things like checking and responding to emails. Here, we share some of the ways we can tackle time leaking so you can spend more time being present in both your professional and personal lives.

What’s Inside:

  • The definition of contaminated time and its impact.
  • How to effectively deal with time leaks and stay in the present moment.
  • Practical tips to implement boundaries to prevent time contamination.

Mentioned In This Episode:

DocWorking.com

Find full transcripts of DocWorking: The Whole Physician Podcast episodes on the DocWorking Blog

The past few weeks have been busy at DocWorking! We have been working behind the scenes to add even more CME credits to the THRIVE memberships.

Let your CME budget help you prioritize your own wellness so you can get on with living your best life on your own terms, as defined by you, with DocWorking THRIVE.

You can take the first step today by taking our 2-Minute Balance to Burnout Quiz! Where are you on the Balance to Burnout Continuum? Take the quiz and find out today!

DocWorking empowers physicians and entire healthcare teams to get on the path to achieving their dreams, both in and outside of work, with programs designed to help you maximize life with minimal time.

If you like our podcast and would like to subscribe and leave us a 5-star review, we would be extremely grateful!

We’re everywhere you like to get your podcasts! Apple iTunes, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Google, Pandora, Stitcher, PlayerFM, ListenNotes, Amazon, YouTube, and Podbean.

You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Some links in our blogs and show notes are affiliate links, and purchases made via those links may result in payments to DocWorking. These help toward our production costs. Thank you for supporting DocWorking: The Whole Physician Podcast!