Focus on Physicians:
Insights, Ideas, and Strategies
Breaking Through Procrastination: Practical Strategies for Physicians
Perfectionism can be a powerful force for excellence, but it can just as easily become a trap. When “not good enough” feels unbearable, procrastination often becomes a way to escape the discomfort. In this article, I’ll give you a set of practical tools to help you work with your perfectionism, not against it, so you can take action with less pressure and more confidence.
An earlier version of this article originally appeared on Doximity.com in December 2022, where I served as an Op-Med Fellow from 2022-2023.
Perfectionism can be a powerful force for excellence, but it can just as easily become a trap. When “not good enough” feels unbearable, procrastination often becomes a way to escape the discomfort. In a previous article, I shared the ways that for many physicians, this pattern fuels stress, backlog, and burnout. In this article, I’ll give you a set of practical tools to help you work with your perfectionism, not against it, so you can take action with less pressure and more confidence.
Medical documentation
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: your medical charts. As your notes pile up and paperwork, pre-authorizations, and letters go unfinished, anxiety levels tend to rise. Before you know it, you’re caught in a spiral of regret and self-criticism.
If you already have a system that works, keep up the great work. But for many physicians, the EHR and report generation are a major source of stress and procrastination. It’s essential to get a handle on this beast early in your career. Aim to complete charts either during the visit (my preference) or immediately afterward. If that’s simply not possible, commit to completion at the end of a session—not at the end of the week.
That’s because the fewer times you have to return to a document, the more focused and efficient you will be. And the less attention residue you’ll have pulling your mind into different directions.
Your documentation needs to be succinct, accurate, and clinically useful. A brief personal detail can also help you remember what mattered most to your patient at the next visit. But remember: your notes do not need to be beautifully crafted works of literature. Minor punctuation, spelling, or transcription errors that don’t alter meaning can often be safely ignored.
Use smart phrases whenever appropriate. Explore AI assistants for history-taking if you can ensure accuracy, and if the notes it generates makes sense to you. The goal is not to be sloppy but to convey essential information efficiently so your patient care and communication remain excellent and easy to read.
To avoid a dreaded backlog, block off time once or twice daily for patient communications, test review, insurance paperwork, and administrative tasks. This is task batching. Do it consistently—perhaps with Pomodoro intervals—and even if you don’t finish everything, you will have a reliable process.
Let your team know when you’ll be addressing messages and paperwork. Setting clear and reasonable expectations not only helps to streamline your workflow, but it also strengthens teamwork.
Professional Commitments
Committees, research projects, and other professional obligations deserve a thoughtful review. Is each one meaningful to you, or for the future self that you envision? Does it align with how you want to grow?
Sometimes taking on more responsibilities is the right thing for your professional growth or your career trajectory. For instance, the work may open important doors that would otherwise not be available to you. In that case, staying engaged is crucial. If you’ve said “yes,” procrastinating on thesee professional responsibilities may limit future opportunities.
If you struggle to stay on track, consider partnering with someone who is on the same committee or project. A quick text check-in can keep you both moving forward. Sometimes simply committing to a plan out loud will get you halfway there.
But if you find that you have a hard time saying no, even when you know that you don’t have the bandwidth or enthusiasm, then it’s time to reassess. As writer and time management guru Oliver Burkeman reminds us, if we’re lucky, we get about Four Thousand Weeks in a lifetime. Time is a fixed resource. When you say yes to one thing, you are saying no to something else.
If your commitments exceed your capacity, you will never get everything done. And the work that you do may not meet your own standards, or those of the people who depend on you. Choose intentionally. And remember that saying “no” doesn’t always mean “never” or “not at all.” You might have the option to say “maybe later” or “in a limited way.”
Your Personal Life
Having a life outside of the clinic or hospital is crucial to your wellbeing. It helps you to decompress, stretches your brain, and keeps you connected to the outside world. When it comes to family and close friends, your time and attention matter. And of course, regular exercise supports just about every aspect of your health and well-being.
The good news? The bar is usually pretty low. No one in your personal life is expecting perfection. Your presence and engagement are enough.
For your home projects, exercise, and other extracurriculars, consider using a Bullet Journal or other daily log to track your progress and stay on track. Writing things down often improves recall, and unlike digital apps, paper lists don’t disappear into the ether.
To begin something new, commit to five to ten minutes a few times a week, or take a single introductory class. Small steps count. And perfection is absolutely not the point. Learning, growth, and joy are.
Procrastination and Self Compassion
If procrastination is a familiar pattern, cultivating self-compassion is critical. But being kind to yourself doesn’t mean ignoring the mess procrastination may have created. Avoidance only increases stress and extends the consequences.
When charts and calls are delayed, procrastination can also affect your patients and your practice. In the worst cases, it may delay care or cause important notifications to be missed, with potentially serious implications.
If the load feels unbearable, recognize that perfectionism-driven procrastination can contribute to depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and other mental health conditions. Seek help from a mental health professional if you need it. And if you are questioning your efforts, your direction, or experiencing burnout, consider meeting with a physician coach.
Above all, remember this: your perfectionism is also one of your superpowers. It reflects your high standards, your problem-solving strengths, and your commitment to keeping people safe. Cherish that. Use it wisely. But don’t let it drag you into overwhelm and procrastination.
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