Time Management

As urologists and all medical providers can attest, the number of competing demands for our time is increasing more than ever, bringing good time management skills to the center of numerous training and coaching seminars. One must stay highly motivated to maintain an organized approach to work, especially when encountering time constraints, requests, emails, calls, interruptions, and unexpected roadblocks. One of the largest time sinks for providers is wasted time spent waiting for people, documents, responses, or unnecessary travel while at work. In addition to trying to minimize these wastes, it is important to try to fill this time with short, easy-to-complete tasks such as responding to emails or making phone calls to avoid getting further behind. Personal approaches to time management are essential, and creating well-constructed to-do lists can have a tremendous impact on minimizing a person’s wasted time throughout the day. Leaving gaps in every working day not only provides for breathing space but allows for the time to deal with something potentially unexpected. It is important to find time for yourself and it is essential to find time to do those things you love outside of work. While there is not one general recipe that can be applied to everyone, the purpose of this review is to provide salient strategies that the reader may find applicable to adopt into their everyday life.