Today dentistry has one of the highest burnout rates of all professions. If you are feeling burnout right now then you need to find out what causes burnout.
Dentistry is a very high-stress and high-risk profession. It takes a few years to complete a university or college to become a dentist, also takes a few years to get experience and take other courses to become master in your file.
If you a dentist and practice owner, then you have lots of responsibilities and stress. Stress about employees, marketing decisions, overhead control, banknotes, lease or mortgage payments, dental insurance, supply bills, lab bills and etc.
The bottom line having a dental practice comes with many challenges and risks. So you deserve a financial reward that should be equal to or greater than those risks, but unfortunately, this reward for many dentists is less than those risks.
Therefore lack of financial rewards becomes a risk and causes stress. When the risks you assume consistently outweigh the rewards you receive, then the result is burnout. Hence, many dentists try to increase their working hours to cover the lack of financial rewards, which causes other problems in the long term
The most important problems of long hours working:
1️⃣ No Time (very busy): ⏰ time is the most valuable thing in your life, but working harder and doing more hours takes most of your day which affects other areas of life. All people have 24 hours and the only difference is how to consume their time in daily life.
📌 Personal life: the first impact will be on your personal life, so no time to spend on yourself, no time for exercise, reading your favourite books, travelling or anything that you like to do in your life as a hobby in your free time. It helps you to feel good and get relax. I am sure everyone loves to do something I like to do gardening or reading books.
📌 Family and Relationship: There is not enough time to spend with your partner and children, so you can spend more time when you work 10 – 12 hours a day. So it is important to balance working hours and family time. especially playing with kids that are very energic and willing to be with you as a parent need lots of free time and enthusiasm. I believe everyone loves to spend most of his/her time with someone that loves but when is no time, then how to do that?
📌 No time for your business: As a business owner, you need to sit and see what is happening in your business, what are patients’ feedback, see the employee’s performance that improves your business and focus on tasks that bring more patients and scale your practice. It needs some time to observe performance and see what is wrong and requires improvement.
📌 No time to update skills: I am sure every dentist likes to participate in seminars, courses, conferences, and exhibitions to see new technologies and instruments in dentistry and how they can be used to assist patients.
2️⃣ Health Problems:🚑 The second most important aspect of working long hours is related to your health which can cause health issues in the long term. Like back, neck, and shoulder pains. Also, the lack of enough exercise ( no time) during the week may cause other health issues too, even lack of enough rest and a good diet ( no time to do ) at the workplace can lead to some health problems.
3️⃣ Fatigue: 😔imagine after working and being in practice for 10 – 12 hours a day or even more, how do you feel? Most likely you are exhausted and need just rest and get relaxed and definitely need good sleep to be ready for the next day but sometimes tiredness and exhaustion and all daily stress keep you awake all night. Many people refer to alcohol as a good solution, it may work in the short term but they require a better way for the future.
So, the question is here, how to reduce the working hours?
To answer this question, if you improve your cash flow or finances the no need to work long hours. Remember the 80/20 principle, it means %80 of your results come from %20 of your work.
