Force of habit? It's worth some scrutiny

Commentary. By Charles Atkins, MD, AMNews contributor. Sept. 3, 2001.

COMMENTARY

Observations on the state of medical practice and medical life

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As an administrator, I'm used to the annual policy review. Basically, it's a formalized look at the bone-dry rules for running an organization. Tedious as it is, it makes sense to assess once a year how we care for patients, handle employee relations, arrange finances, manage ethical decisions, etc. It's a time to decide: Leave the policy alone, revise it, add a new one, or delete an old one.

It got me thinking about other sets of rules, the unwritten ones by which we live our lives. These are patterns of thought and behavior worn smooth over the years that few of us question; taken together they form our personal policy manuals.

I like free time, and if there are ways of doing things that can generate more of this, I'm all for it. This train of thought started me on a project to catalogue my daily habits.

It started with the morning alarm. My habit is to loll in bed for 10 to 15 minutes before putting on my coffee and tea for my spouse and then staggering into the bathroom. If I set the alarm clock 15 minutes later and forced myself immediately out of bed, would the extra sleep be better for me? After all, 15 minutes a day is nearly two hours a week.

I was amazed at the number and complexity of my rituals. Why does the right sock go on first? At the office -- and this is at a relatively new job -- my movements were almost dance-like in their direction. The coat goes off, I press the blinking button on the voice mail, then bend and dip to power up the computer while ripping open the mail. [...]