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The 7 Pillars of a Personal Operating System: Balancing Productivity, Efficiency, and Resilience
The Shift Within the Shift
Halfway through my fifth consecutive 12-hour shift — deep in the rhythm of a 7-on/7-off cycle (known as a 7-on/ 7-off shift model in Hospital Medicine) — I felt something different. A realization, subtle yet profound. I wasn’t drained. I wasn’t dragging. The fatigue that used to weigh me down, that once blurred the edges of my focus, wasn’t there.
Not like before.
Years ago, these stretches left me exhausted, mentally spent, running on fumes. But this time, there was a flow — a quiet efficiency woven into my movements, a clarity in my decisions. The difference? A new personal operating system — structured scheduling, intentional time blocking, and short, restorative resets woven into the fabric of my days.
It didn’t just change how I felt about work. It changed the work itself. More productivity. More precision. More presence.
And isn’t that the foundation of what we, as physicians, are called to be? Not just present, but effective. Not just working but thriving.
A shift within the shift. The kind that matters.
In medicine, staying productive, efficient, and resilient can feel like an impossible juggling…
