Setting Limits to Help Achieve Your Goals in Podiatry

Setting limits is as important as setting goals. That is something I have learned as I have moved through my career. I’m not going to pretend that I was a quick adopter of this mindset. It took me a very long time to be OK saying “no.” I also won’t pretend that it is any easier to say “no” now. It is just that I have learned that I must do exactly that to succeed.

For me, the goal has always been to help people as much and as often as I could. As a younger practitioner, I never said “no.” It is still not often that I do, but I feel more comfortable doing so now. Certainly, I don’t like turning away patients or surgeries, or whatever may come my way, but sometimes I have to remember to set those limits to protect me as well my patients. Squeezing in an extra patient may not seem like it is that big of a deal, but if one of your regular patients on your already full schedule takes more time than you expected or you have a new problem, that extra patient volume can become disastrous. A way to keep this from becoming overwhelming is to evaluate how often this happens and work an appropriate amount of emergency appointments into your schedule. If you are in a group or friendly with local podiatrists, you could also work together to make a plan that is beneficial to you and your patients.

While office limits are important, my goal in this Forum is to discuss how to balance your personal and professional life by remembering to look at the big picture. While my current practice has a higher patient volume than I ever had previously, I am also much more involved in leadership roles. I also have been able to balance those leadership roles with my personal life. Again, this hasn’t been easy. Nor is this the right option for everyone. What I did was set my goals and start working towards them.

For me, I had three goals: being the best doctor I could be, becoming involved in advancing the profession, and enjoying my personal life. More recently, I realized that limits became as important as these goals. I have already discussed some ideas on setting limits in practice. Doing so can help you reach personal and professional goals.

For me, my goal has been to serve. I have felt that way for as long as I can remember. This is a large part of why I chose podiatry. Now that my career is established, I have had more time to take on committee work and leadership positions. I am proud of the organizations of which I am a member and plan to continue to work to advance the profession. This aspect of my life and career has been where I have had the hardest time saying “no.” One way I have learned to make sure that I am not overloading myself or my schedule is to keep a running calendar of my commitments. This is not just the meetings times and dates or travel time. My schedule also includes when I will be working on specific tasks for each committee or position. If I decide to move forward with a new position, I ask about specifics of what would be involved so I can honestly and realistically look at my schedule. This is not just to make sure I am not overwhelming myself, but also to ensure I can devote appropriate time and energy to each goal in front of me. This, to me, is a very important limit being an effective and successful leader relies upon setting realistic goals and limitations.

If you have read any of my columns before, you know I live with an autoimmune disease that can limit what I can do and when. That diagnosis was a very tough one, coming early in my career. At that moment, my goal became to fight to continue to practice as long as possible. I haven’t had to make any adaptations to my practice yet, but I have had to learn to ask for help when I need it. It took me years to really stop and realize that I needed goals here. I had set them for my practice and potential leadership roles, but not for my life. I am lucky to be married to an amazing man who is beside me in every moment, always supporting. My goal became enjoying every moment of our life together.

Why do I need to set limits in this part of my life then? For me, that’s more about enjoying moments in a way that limits pain. Winter and cold weather can create more pain—but I can snowmobile with him for hours as (if you’ve ever snowmobiled you know) you stay quite warm while riding. We also go out on our motorcycles, but I worked to find one that was comfortable for me to ride. It’s as simple as that—my limit is adapting activities to what I can do.

The goals you place for your practice life, professional life, and personal life all need limits. Without these limits, your goals will be harder to reach and impossible to balance.

Dr. Hook is a Trustee of the New York State Podiatric Medical Association, Chair of the NYSPMA Population and Public Health Committee, and a sub-Chair of the American Board of Podiatric Medicine Membership Committee. She is Second Vice President of the American Association for Women Podiatrists and is in private practice at Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists in Syracuse, NY.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Podiatry Today or HMP Global, their employees and affiliates. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, association, organization, company, individual, anyone or anything.