March 18, 2015 was the first day I started my daily morning routine and published an article on that in October of that year.

Answering the phone at work has been a noticeable change.

At work today, listen to how others and you answer the phone. I used to think answering the phone was not my real job. I was trained to be a radiologist. And during that training, any time the phone rang it was a distraction.

But during residency I noticed that no matter how curt I was on the phone, it kept ringing. As a staff I decided to at least be nicer, but it still frustrated me.

The phone rang. I got frustrated.

I can’t predict when the phone will ring, but I can choose my reaction.

Over the past 3 years of making time for myself each morning, I have been able to put a little space between things I cannot predict and my reaction.

Now the phone rings. I take a slight pause and answer like a calm professional (most of the time).

Of course my ringing phone is almost always a fellow provider looking for help. I make time to help and I am happy to do it (most of the time).

You’ve made it this far in your career so you know you can google lots of resources, this one is a decent start. 10percenthappier.com No affiliation to me.

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