Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Is it me or am I going crazy?


First I would like to say that I am sorry about the length of my last post. I am new at this. In the future if I have something to say that is long I will break it up into a few days.

Now, I know we are all busy people but I think I might be at my all time busiest.
I am am on this crazy train and I can't get off.
I think it might stem from my perfectionist personality. I want everything to be perfect so not only do I take longer to do something, on the things I prefer not to do I do them anyway because I want to make them right.

I will tell you about my days.

I know I am going to run out of time so I will tell you about Mondays through before I go home on Tuesday.

Monday doesn't count, because I have the day off and I am so unproductive it is almost worse for me to have the day off. I get nothing done. My wife thinks it is her free day. "I am going to the grocery store (or the doctors or church or the mechanic, whatever), can you watch Noah (my 4 year old) so I can shop and relax?" I am happy to do it. But Noah is a pistol. He demands 100% of my attention, so no I can't sit in front of my computer and get work done.
Then it is, "John we should just go to the park today the weather is going to be great." Again, don't get me wrong I like going to the park and relaxing, but my day off actually becomes my "day off". We do our thing until 2:30 because this is when we have to start to go pick up the kids from school. So the day seems to go fast from 8am,when I bring the kids to school (they love that and I do to) until 3pm when I pick them up. Then from 3-9pm it is me and the 3 kids. Baseball, basketball, homework, wrestling, dinner, showers, brushing teeth, reading, prayers, bed.
So Monday is not a work day it is rest day.
It is what God did on the seventh day. I need it.

So Tuesday...
Alarm goes off at 5:45 to go to work, (one snooze). No breakfast (its for sissies), just brushing, flossing, shaving and hair, then out the door. I try to be at work at 6:35 to get some quiet time in before the morning huddle.
I work, until about 4pm. I will get an occasional break in the schedule but it is usually filled with phone calls to other doctors or writing up charts. I have a stack of charts on my desk to call Dr. So and So about Billy's frenum. Or call Dr. So and So about how Sarah's ortho progress.
It is endless.
Like I said I get off at 4pm but my work doesn't end there. During the day there is almost no time for my to write up charts. I am computerized, with EagleSoft, and I have all the templates, but it takes forever. If I did a filling I know there is a template for that, but if it is ever different than the normal filling I like to write it down. You know, "Deep, near exposure, I put Vitrebond on the axial pulpal line angle. Or I told patient it may be sensitive do to blah blah blah. There is always something I feel like I will want to remember the next time. So I am usually two days behind on writing my charts.
I stop seeing patients at 4pm and I used to get the call from the wife at 4:06pm. Anyone else having this issue. "What are you doing? When are you coming home?"
Now listen, I know being at home with 3 kids 8 and under is tough, why do you think I come to work?
I have to explain to her this is OUR lively hood. In order for OUR practice to continue to be successful I need to put in the time. I am at work only4 days a week. Those days are going to be long. I am not staying at work because it is fun to be by myself and write up charts. I am not staying after work to deal with staff situations because I love confrontation. I am staying after because I HAVE to. So you can not call me putting pressure on me to get home. She understood and now waits to call until about 4:30.
Am I the only one that feel like the office will suck if you stop making it run?
I feel like if I don't hard at it it will go away. Things are good right now, I mean real good, and I feel this is proportional to the amount of love and effort I put into it.
I have told you I work with my dad. It is great. But he has given me the reigns of this thing. He totally has senioritis.
He goes home at 3pm. This is great for him, but this does not allow us time to interact after work. Have a conversation, anything. He said today, "Call the decorator and see if can come in an help us redo the wall in the reception area." and then he leaves to go home.
"WHAT!!" Apparently he did not see the 40 charts on my desk with all the other crap piling up. "I will get right on that." (See above photo).
I know I am rambling. My thought are all going everywhere.
It is 5:45 and I have to go home. Just in enough time to eat, hang with the kids for a half an hour and off to a bible study. Only to get home at 8:45, take a shower, brush and plop in front of the TV to veg. Read then bed at 11pm.

I will tell you the rest later.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stop your whining! I left the house at 8:00 am this morning and returned at 2:45 am the next morning. All in a days work. Will repeat process for a few more days until we roll to the Gator game!!

When Amy and I got married, we made a deal. She would take care of everything in life that could slow me down from building a business and I would pour everything I had into growing this thing for 2 years until we had children. We are now 2.5 years into that deal and she's 20 weeks pregnant. That means my "grow the business" leash will become shorter and shorter as the weeks countdown to our child's birth.

I've admired your 4 day work week from afar my friend and plan on doing the same thing starting in July.

Here's to God's blessings on our work and families!! Without Him, all of our efforts would fail miserably.

Buckeyedental said...

The balance between Church, family, and the practice is always a hard thing to work on. I have done a 4 and half day week 8-5 for a long time. I feel like I always have something that needs or could be done at the office. And yes John I normaly get the 4:00 PM call from my wife about when I will be home.It has been almost two months since a did any thing fun on my half day off.It seems like you and Ethan are geting a good balance. Ethan start getting in the habit of the family time now because your Wife will need you that last month big time. A book that a bible study went through a couple years ago is titled "Daddy's Home" from Focus on the Family. It is a good read about work family balance. Good luck and God BlessKim Shaw

gatordmd said...

8am?! Where you sleep walking? Times are getting tough at the pitsch house.
I am looking forward to seeing you when your kid keeps waking you up at 6am. "Daddy, are you up?".

Kim, thanks for the good comments, keep writing.
When we read that we all fall short...God was talking about all Buckeye fans.

Anonymous said...

To quote you in your "Marathon Blues" blog 1/14/08 "things that make you go Hmmm"- I am responding to the "Is it me or am I going crazy" post 1/16/08 because, mysteriously, as of this afternoon 1/20/08, two interesting posts,"oh no ! Not the Christmas Party" 1/7/08 and "Oh, S@#!$% I pulled the wrong tooth" 1/20/08 have disappeared. I will however post my comments in reference to them both because I am sure I am not the only blogger who has read them all. I find it courious that in your "State of the Blog Address" you reference your wife,Hilda, as your college sweetheart and you, the luckiest person in the world, yet subsequently mention that your wife thinks Monday (your "day off") is her free day...the day she goes to the grocery store, church, doctors appointments and the mechanic. FREE DAY ?????!!!!! And when did a call from your college sweetheart turn into you being annoyed that "the wife" calls at 4:06. Sounds to me like you ARE looking for a confrontation. Hopefully the extra 24 minutes she "gives" you Tuesday-Friday makes a lot of difference in how much you accomplish on a daily basis. Secondly, has your father NOT put enough years into building the practice you have been handed to leave at 3pm ? He can not write up your 40 charts and scoop the "crap" off your desk, can he? Lastly, being a huge believer in KARMA-perhaps "Oh, S@#!$% I pulled the wrong tooth" 1/20/08 would never have needed to be written IF the fallout from the "OH, no! Not the Christmas Party" 1/7/08 had not become virtual. My guess is next year you will have an entirely new staff NOT to plan a Christmas party for. Good luck in your future endeavors.

Buckeyedental said...

Dear Dentalpride

If you believe in Karma you need to look inward to see were your anger is coming from. Prov.29:11 "A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control."
Kim Shaw

Anonymous said...

Dear Buckeyedental, Thanks-your advice will be taken to heart. Hopefully gatordmd will also acknowledge. Furthermore, to quote William Congrave in "The Mourning Bride", hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I wonder if Hilda found her husband's blog equally as amusing as I did. Regards.

Anonymous said...

Read all the blogs and did not have time to respond before two of them were stricken from the pages, I imagine it was due to considerable carnage left in the wake.

I must say that I cannot agree more with Dentalpride and Wayne (the husband of one of the staff members referenced to in the Christmas blog). As a fellow dental professional, I have to ask "What were you thinking when you so publicly disrespected the people you say you love and use them as material for amusement and folly?"

That being said, I do hope the apology you have submitted will plant seeds of forgiveness in their hearts....with enough watering they should grow. Best of luck.

And to buckeyedental,
You seem to be a reasonable guy and appear to be trying hard to mentor to John. That's nice. However, are you truly shocked when people respond to what they feel is real provocation?

Let's not forget that there are many proverbs in the Bible to take heed of, such as:
Prov.29:1 "The man who remains stiff necked and hates rebuke will be crushed suddenly beyond cure."
or
Prov.29:2 "When the just prevail, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan."

Buckeyedental said...

Dear Southerndental Don't get me wrong I believe all sin will be punished Ps39:11 "You rebuke and discipline men for their sin; you consume their wealth like a moth-each man is but a breath." there are consequences to are actions. We fall short every day. As for my reaction I have a hard time with e-mail and this is my first time with a blog because with only writen words we only have 40% of communication we loose the tone, and facial expression. I can only read what is writen and think what the level of emotion is. Hope we can learn from are mistakes and not do them again.
Hope all have a great day.
Kim Shaw

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