Protect yourself from physician burnout by not letting yourself get roped in to too many obligations. Review your priorities and weed out all commitments that don't make the cut.

Making a list can help.

• List all of your commitments, and then review each list item to determine whether it is a responsibility, a passion, or neither.
• Those items that are neither a passion nor a responsibility can be eliminated from your regular schedule.
• If necessary, start letting people know that they will need to find a replacement, or find one for them to allow for a smoother transition.

Once you feel like you have a well-balanced schedule with a healthier number of commitments, consider anything new very carefully, according to the responsibility-passion criteria, before agreeing to take it on. If it doesn’t fit the bill, being skilled in the art of saying NO can really come in handy – and can save you from physician burnout.

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