Kicking The Can Down The Road | How to break up with deciding not to decide

"Kicking the can down the road" is a common behavior that manifests in various ways, from delaying difficult patient decisions to avoiding complex tasks. We explore the reasons behind on-shift procrastination and strategies for overcoming it. Our discussion includes practical steps to recognize and address decision deferral, techniques for managing aversion to some decisions, and pre-loading accountability. We also highlight the importance of building decision-making resilience and creating systematic pathways to streamline the decisional process. 

💡 Check out our Free Resources specifically designed to address pain points in medical practice💡

We Discuss:

• What does it mean to kick the can down the road?
• How procrastination shows up on a clinical shift
• Why does procrastination happen?
• It doesn't take much dread for can-kicking to occur
• Avoidance Awareness
• Decisional Interrogation
• Kicking the can because deciding will set off a cascade of more work
• Avoiding the infinite test of time
• Identify how, when, and where you’ll make high-level decisions
• Long term guests | How is it that decisions can finally be made when the shift is over?
• Chunking
• Zero in on your critical decision points
• Kicking the can at work: pick one thing and identify YOUR decision points
• Preloading accountability
• Perfectionists get caught in a tree when they're actually in a tunnel

Mentioned in this episode:

Physician Coaching

I work with physicians to help them flourish in medical practice. If you're feeling stuck, burned out, or in trouble at work because of communication or conflict, check out our FAQ page for more info. Ready for real change? Book a discovery call. It’s free, low-pressure, and will give you clarity on your next steps.

Physician Coaching FAQ

4 Free Resources specifically designed to address pain points in medical practice

Scripting your least favorite conversations. The Driveway Debrief. My 4 favorite documentation templates. The quick and dirty guide to calling consults.

Free Resources Link

Never Lame. Never Spammy. Always Fresh.

If you’d like a few minutes of career-elevating curated kickassery delivered to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.

Sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter