I’m coming up on my one year anniversary of dropping down to 90% or 0.9 FTE. I want to reflect on it now, because I will be working in the hospital during the actual one-year mark–and there is really no 90% effort while you are leading a resident team in patient care.
I have posted a little about this before. Two weeks after cutting my hours and paycheck, I wasn’t sure I was seeing much of a difference; after about a month, I was a little more hopeful. This June I was having a tough day, and had to take a few minutes to acknowledge that without my reduction in hours it would have been worse.
Some days, when I feel like I’m running late all day, have multiple urgent patient calls, plus test results that are so abnormal they need immediate attention, I am not sure that dropping to 90% time has done anything but cut my paycheck.
So I asked my husband whether he thought going 90% has made any difference.
He replied, without hesitation, that there has been a huge difference.
Baked, Not Fried
I have more days coming home before 7. And I have fewer days where I have to do a lot of work from home.
I’m exercising more, keeping the house a little tidier (all that work on decluttering), and I’ve had time to write this blog.
Most importantly, he says, I’m not nearly as fried as I was last year. There are fewer mornings dragging my feet because I don’t want to go in. There are fewer nights that I’m too stressed to sleep well.
I suspect there are a number of other work-related issues that have made me happier, but it’s also true that by working a little less, I feel I have built a virtuous circle that makes me happier.
With fewer office hours, I can get through my work sooner. With more time off work, I can work on other projects that make me happy. This includes writing more, reading more (I’ve read more books this year than I did for all of 2018, and there are still a few months to go in 2019), walking more (always good for mental health, as well as physical health). Tidying up my parts of the house makes me feel more in control, which is really helpful for me. I am not sure if I am actually socializing more, but I am paying more attention to time spent with friends, which make me appreciate it more.
Reflections
My inspiration for all this came, in part, from an article at the White Coat Investor: Using a Venn Diagram to Decrease Burnout. This inspired me to really think about my pain points at work. I couldn’t wriggle out of call (to be fair, I didn’t even try), but my really long days were really almost as painful, and came around more often every month.
Tellingly, I’m writing this post after leaving work early (though after 5 pm), because I was just too tired to concentrate on writing notes right then.
In the old days (last year), I would have been working longer, and likely wouldn’t have finished all the must-do work until after 6. Probably chocolate and junk food would have gotten in the act. And I’d be leaving at 7 or 7:30, with half of my work undone.
Instead, I’m home by 6 after walking part of the way home. And after I finish a little fun writing (this blog) and eating something healthy, I’ll get a good number of notes done before turning in for a good night’s rest.
Right now, things are going pretty well. In addition to all those non-work and non-monetary benefits, I’ve still been able to achieve a number of financial goals: paying off the mortgage, saving more for retirement, traveling.
I think staying at 90% for another year or two (or three?) will be the plan.
But now I know how much better life became when I was able to cut back just a little. I will keep that in mind, in case I find myself again getting fried. If so, I can go back to that Venn diagram, and consider how best to make my real work life look more like my ideal work life. (Or, address the worst pain points.)
Having a foundation of financial stability made the 10% reduction in pay possible. I encourage you all to build a little of that into your budget, in case you, too, find you have pain points you are willing to pay (or give up money for) to get rid of.