Life as a Balance Beam: Practical Ideas for Balancing Work and Home

Abstract

I recently attended a physician leadership conference where the messages were dominated by such themes as "have fun," "stop and smell the roses," "get regular exercise and eat healthy," "stay focused," and "collaborate and get out of your silo." We were asked to turn off our cell phones and pagers, so at every break there was a mad dash for the phone. For half the day, I was worried about how many e-mails, patient call backups, and refills I would be facing at the end. For the other half, I was thinking about how I could pick up dinner that would not be grossly unhealthy, whether I missed a deadline on a letter a colleague needed for promotion, and if my daughter drove home safely from school. Does any of this sound familiar? It seems that many of us are multitasking and not exactly feeling focused, balanced, refreshed, or in control. For years, a colleague and I have organized a workshop at the American Psychiatric Associations annual meeting on "Children of Psychiatrists" because we found ourselves wondering about the potential damage that we were doing to our children because of our careers in academic psychiatry. At the workshop,

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