How Can Physicians Decide What Deserves Their Time?

Physicians decide what deserves their time by starting with their values, looking honestly at where their hours go, and changing one commitment at a time. Working harder and getting more efficient rarely fixes the problem. It usually just makes room for more.

Key takeaways

• Physician time management starts with values. Efficiency helps most after you decide what deserves your time.
• Compare what you say matters most with where your hours actually go. The gap shows you where to start.
• Sort last week's calendar into what you enjoy, what you dread, what you do only because someone asked, and what keeps getting pushed aside.
• Decline, delegate, or delete commitments that don't match your values.
• Change one thing at a time so the change sticks.

Why doesn't doing more solve a physician's time problem?

Doing more rarely solves a physician's time problem because the calendar refills as fast as it is cleared.

Physicians are trained to meet demand with effort. When clinic runs long, we stay later. When a grant is due, we take it home. When someone asks us to join a committee, we find the hour.

Many of us keep waiting for things to calm down. In my experience, they rarely do.

That is why I wrote in The Physician's Guide to Owning Your Time that maybe the answer isn't learning how to do more. Maybe it's becoming much more intentional about what deserves your time in the first place.

How do you know what deserves your time?

Start with your values, then check them against your calendar.

For years, I believed my family was my top value. My calendar disagreed. I was missing my kids' events and skipping the things that kept me healthy. The gap between what I said mattered and where my time went was the real problem.

Values also change. Early in my career, I loved being at work doing data analysis and writing papers. That was a true value, and it was worth the time I gave it. Over the years, it shifted.

Some of the most valuable work never shows up on a CV. I mentored almost every medical student who came through. It didn't count toward promotion, and it mattered to me, so it was worth doing.

How do you audit your calendar as a physician?

Look at the last week of your calendar and sort what you see.

• What do you enjoy? Keep it and protect it.
• What do you dread? Ask whether a new frame would help. Sometimes thinking about a task differently makes it more enjoyable.
• What are you doing only because someone asked? You don't have to keep it. You can decline, delegate, or delete it.
• What keeps getting pushed aside? Writing time, research time, and time with family rarely look urgent. Give them a date on the calendar.

Why should you start with just one change?

Starting with one change works because it is small enough to actually happen. Physicians are used to giving 100% to everything, so picking one change can feel like failing. In practice, it is how change sticks.

Think about the last conference you attended. Many of us take pages of notes and implement none of them. Choosing one thing to change is far more likely to work. The same goes for any book on time management, including mine.

Why does this matter beyond your own calendar?

Academic physicians teach the next generation, lead discovery, and take on the most complex cases. When their time runs out, some of them leave medicine or step back from academic work.

Protecting your time protects that work. It keeps you in the career you chose.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best time management strategy for physicians? Start with values. List what matters most to you, then compare that list with your calendar. Keep what aligns, and decline, delegate, or delete what doesn't. Efficiency tools help most after you have decided what deserves your time.

How do physicians say no without guilt? It helps to know what you are saying yes to. When a request doesn't match your values or goals, declining protects the work that does. Permission to say no is a skill most physicians were never taught.

Is time management different for academic physicians? Academic physicians balance clinical care, teaching, research, and service, often with work that never appears on a CV. That makes it especially important to decide which commitments deserve time, and to protect hours for writing and research.

Listen to the companion episode: On the Academic Medicine Strategy Podcast this week, Dr. Stacey Ishman talks with Mary Leung about charting. [Listen →](PODCAST LINK)

Want the full framework? The Physician's Guide to Owning Your Time is available on Amazon. Get the book →

Want help applying it to your career? Book a 1:1 coaching call →

About the author: Stacey Ishman, MD, MPH, FACS, FAAP, is a pediatric otolaryngologist and founder of Academic Medicine Strategy Group, which works with academic physicians and departments across specialties, including internal medicine, pediatrics, otolaryngology, and obstetrics and gynecology, on career strategy, coaching, and faculty retention. She has published 232 peer-reviewed papers and is the author of The Physician's Guide to Owning Your Time: Do Less. Accomplish More. (2026).