Dr. Aman Arora, GP, Medical Educator and founder of AroraMRCGP on how changing your mindset can change your experience with patients
The mind is everything. What you think is what you become - Buddha.
As GP’s, we may be able to control more than we think. Mindset has the power to determine everything in your life. From how you think to how you react, from how you see others to how you deal with setbacks – your mindset influences it all – for better or for worse.
As a GP, this is just as relevant. Of course, your mindset can’t influence the people who walk through your door. It can’t influence what you need to treat, the things you will hear or the work that needs doing – but it can influence how you perceive these things, and therefore perhaps indirectly affects your daily work.
Why control your mindset before seeing patients?
Developing a particular mindset can heavily influence how you feel before, during and after a surgery. Though we’d all love to feel enthused, energetic and positive at the end of each day, it of course, won’t always be the case – but what if your mind could manage things a little better?
Or better still, what if you could manage your mind a little better?
So how can you get the right mindset as the first patient enters?
1. Arrive early
Arriving 20 minutes before your surgery does wonders for your state of mind.
How often have you turned up just before it all kicks off, frantically logging in to three or four applications in one go?
How often are you stressed as three patients wait outside before you’ve even called your first one in?
Arriving that little bit earlier, not having to worry about time as traffic builds, not having to run in praying that no-one stops you on your way to your room – all do so much for your mindset. You feel in control of time at the outset – nothing is more powerful, or reassuring.
2 Have a preparation ritual
We are creatures of habit, and habit comforts the mind.
Have a set routine that guides you into your clinic - helps settle your mind no-end. Perhaps clearing your emails, ensuring a cup of your favourite coffee is in front of you, checking your favourite blog or newsfeed?
Find the combination of things that works for you and fix it everyday. Your mind slowly winds up and expects your clinic to begin, rather than being ‘thrown’ in at random.
3 Plan your morning
Knowing what your session will entail before you start helps your mind prepare for the end.
Understand which tasks need doing – scripts, lab results, meetings, phone calls, dictations etc. – beforehand. These tend to ‘pop’ up unexpectedly, either in our minds or in reality, usually adding to the hovering stress cloud above.
By knowing (to an extent) what needs doing, and preparing your mind for it in advance (even if the list seems endless), it somehow seems less stressful to your mind. It can see the end point – it becomes reachable.
4 Expect the unexpected.
Of course things don’t always go to plan. As GP’s we train to deal with the unexpected.
Acute chest pain, the sudden collapse in the waiting room or car accident outside the surgery – anything can happen (one of the great positives of our job).
Actively expecting the unexpected does wonders for how your mind deals with it. If you start every clinic, prepared for something to catch you off guard, when it happens, it seems easier to deal with.
Expect at least one thing to ‘break the norm’ everyday rather than hope it all runs smoothly.
And if all does run smoothly? Bonus.
5 Focus on something beyond your clinic.
Give your mind something to look forward to afterwards.
Meeting with friends, dinner at a new restaurant, time with the children – anything you like. Visualising that image in your mind before you start gives your mind perspective and pulls you to the end. Focusing on something positive motivates your mind through a tough clinic.
Having a ‘blank’ at the end has the potential to make things drag, especially those long on-calls. Give your mind a ‘hook’, keep hold of it, and your mind will guide you through.
Changing your mindset for the long term is not easy. It takes much more than these 5 simple suggestions – techniques take time, are varied and are very individual. Exercise, relaxation and meditation are methods often used to give your mind the regular breaks that it deserves.
Your mind is a powerful machine, and your mindset is a powerful tool.
Controlling your mindset, rather than allowing your mindset to control you, is a great way to influence your working life.
