Schedule self-maintenance time.(Guest Editorial)

You've invested a lot of money in your medical equipment, so you're careful to maintain it with regular service and anything else you need to keep it in good working order. Your computers are important to your practice, so you back up your files, upgrade your software, and install new applications when necessary.

Interesting how we baby our equipment, but drive ourselves to the breaking point. Most of us are compulsive; medicine selects for compulsives, and the same qualifies of persistence and diligence which got us through medical school often provide the seeds of our undoing in the real world. We feel obligated to work strenuously and unceasingly. We become enmeshed in our daily routine.

Sooner or later, no matter how dedicated we are, the grind gets to all of us, leading to fatigue, irritability, and a progressive decline in motivation. And we are too busy to sit down and think about what me might do to break that vicious cycle. This is detrimental to our own well-being, as well as that of our patients.

Maintain your intellectual and emotional health as carefully as you maintain your machinery: Schedule "mental rejuvenation days." Once a month, take a day off to relax, think, and challenge your mind.

Stephen Covey, author of the acclaimed "Seven Habits" series, calls this "sharpening the saw," and applying it regularly can be a life-changing experience.

I'm not simply talking about catching up on journals or taking a CME course, although that's how I spend about half my "rejuvenation days." Try something new, something you've been wanting to do "someday, when you get the chance." Take a piano lesson. Learn how to sail. Read a murder mystery--or, finally, "War and Peace." Go somewhere you've never been. Get out of your comfort zone. Challenge yourself.

I know how some of you feel about "wasting" a day. Time away from the office is lost money, you say. But this is much more important than money. This is breaking the routine, allowing your mind to track in entirely ...