The Campbell Academy Blog (79)

Money in the bank

My friend Alex (and our clinical director at TCC now) was working at his current practice in Barnsley the other day, the one he used to own until last year, which he sold and which has now allowed him to come to work with us as clinical director four days a week from January.

He found that as things are, and as he winds down towards the completion, no one had booked him patients for a whole afternoon from about half past 11 till 4 p.m.

He had an unexpected afternoon, which was entirely unscheduled and free to do whatever he wanted.

Alex, being Alex, went to his van and, got his bike out and rode it in the peak district for four hours.

My problem is, at least at the moment, that when I find that spare time, I go back to my task list and do a little bit more work.

That is not a necessity; it is a habit that I intend to break over the next period.

One of the best ways I have in my life to reset the dials is the time off work that has become customary for me from about the week before Christmas until the week before February half term.

And so, when I find moving forward that I have additional time on my hands (and I will more and more), I'm going to think very carefully about what I do with that time and what I do with this and what I put in the bank account.

It's very easy for someone to say you have £100 more than you thought you did and for you to put it in the bank and never think about it again, but it's better to say I'm going to spend a third of that on myself. I'm going to save a third of that, and then a third of it, I'm going to buy something that I would never have had.

It's better to split up that money or that time into aspects of things that you'd love to do and aspects that you need to do to find a better balance.