#ResilientResidencyInsights 7 - Show up with a Plan and Win more days!

As-salamu alaykum,

It’s orientation week and you are scheduled with the rest of the intern class to meet your chief resident and a cohort of senior residents. They go over core aspects of a typical day as a resident in your program. They even offer some success tips. 

Your zeal and motivation is at an all-time high now that you are really about to start the serious business of doctoring.

Fast-forward a few weeks into your first rotation - a core requirement and an intense experience. The days turn into weeks and you start to experience a blur between your weekdays and your weekends because you are working regardless.

You don’t have a plan for most days; you put together a to-do list as the day goes by to ensure you don’t miss any of the senior resident instructions delegated to you.

You have no control on how your days play out. And now, the zeal starts to fluctuate and sometimes the low period lasts for several days.

One of your senior residents checks in with you as they have noticed subtle signs that things may not be going well.

The senior resident asks if you start your week with a plan. You respond with “what plan?”. 

Your senior resident who is on track to become a chief resident smiles and nudges you to pause and reconsider your answer. 

To Not Have a Plan is to Risk Losing Your Autonomy.

The famous quote “To Fail to Plan is to Plan to Fail” attributed to Benjamin Franklin is somewhat relevant to this discussion. For our purposes though, the “failure” is at least 2-fold;

1. Loss of a sense of control (autonomy) over your day.

2. Increased likelihood of deprioritizing life outside of work.

3. Increased risk for stress and anxiety.

The result of all of this on an ongoing basis is the potential to lapse into chronic stress and eventually, burnout.

Daniel H. Pink wrote in his acclaimed book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us that “Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.”

That your zeal and motivation begin to drop because you seem to have no control over your days is a consequence of losing autonomy.

To Have a Plan is to Retain Your Autonomy (and make better decisions with your limited time).

Taking ownership for your day by cultivating the habit of planning gives you a sense of control that fosters your sense of autonomy and nurtures your resilience.

Allah, the Most High, references the idea of planning in the Qur’an in the story of Prophet Yusuf (AS);

Surah Yusuf v55: “Joseph proposed, “Put me in charge of the store-houses of the land, for I am truly reliable and adept.”

The scholars explain to us about some of the wisdom in this verse is that Prophet Yusuf (AS) asked the king to make him the minister of finance so that he could make adequate plans to manage the harvest storehouses that would house the produce for the years of drought that were anticipated to come in the broader narrative of this Prophet Yusuf’s story and his people. 

Similarly, residency is somewhat a period of drought, a lot of work with limited time to invest in your personal growth, not to mention limited finances 😀. Your capacity to nurture the 4 dimensions of your being and nudge yourself towards your next best version relies on making intentional moves on a day-to-day basis (or at least with some regularity from week to week).

This requires you to plan otherwise you will make very little progress if any at all. 

You may also put yourself at risk for burnout.

Praiseworthy Planning

Ibn ‘Ata’illah (May Allah have mercy on him) recommended an approach to planning that he described as praiseworthy planning: “planning that seeks to enhance one’s relationship with God”.

Meaning that we factor in Allah’s remembrance and acceptance of our deeds, and our engagements during our days. This starts with our intentions and structuring our days as much as practical to not deprioritize Allah’s rights upon us and to uphold the rights of those around us from our family to our patients and colleagues and others along the way.

I am including 2 free resources here to help you get started (or refine what you have in place);

1. Short video on the Habit of Planning from the Productive Muslim Company

2. Free planners from the Productive Muslim Company

Friends and colleagues, the key message is to plan (not to use a specific resource). Pause for a few minutes daily and/or weekly to think through how you want your day to play out. 

As a resident, you may feel that you have limited control over your day but you do, in fact, have some control, start by taking ownership for that much and the rest will take care of itself, in sha Allah.

May Allah, the Most High, enable you and us to make the most of our limited days in this life with a focus on success in the hereafter. Amin. 

Sincerely,

Sulyman

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