Hey everyone, it’s Medicine Mondays again. This is kind of a short (and late) post about Work Life Balance.

Stock Photo from: Pixabay

Work Life Balance?

In general, when physicians think about work-life balance, I think we primarily focus on factors we can control, rather than what we really want.

For example, as a doctor, perhaps you want to retire earlier and save more money. So the first thing you think about is:

“How can I make more money?”

That’s probably a normal response. We’ve kind of been groomed to believe that “hard work pays off”. While this is true, it’s actually probably not the best way to think about things.

With that said, I invite you to turn this on its head and instead of:

“How can I make more money?”

Think of “How can I save more money?” or “How can I stretch my dollar more?”

Why?

The likelihood is that the majority of doctors will be in a pretty high income bracket. If you and your spouse are both doctors, the likelihood is that you are sitting in the highest income bracket.

So then, for every extra shift you take, and every extra dollar you make… you are probably only make 63 cents on the dollar of anything “extra” you make.

Now then, instead of working more, why don’t you just cut costs somewhere else? For example, let’s get rid of a car payment (or two!). If you can save that extra $500 a month, that’s an extra $6000 a year in your pocket. However… it’s not just $6000, it’s actually more than that because $6000 in post tax work is probably $9000 pretax.

So then, getting rid of a $500 monthly car payment is the same as making an extra $9000 pretax.

This is just one very concrete example. Think of other ways to cut back on spending and increasing savings and you’ll be amazed as to how much “extra work” you saved yourself from not doing — and more time you have. Time is money friend.

Death and Taxes

Just a gentle reminder that while working more might make you more money, but it is also more money paid to taxes.

However, money saved is money in your pocket, without a tax penalty. This also has the added benefit of preventing you from falling into the trap of “If you have more money, you spend more money.”

When it comes to Work Life Balance, zoom out and think about what is really important to you.

Life is Short. Be Happy.

-Sensei

Agree? Disagree? Questions, Comments and Suggestions are welcome.

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