At the heart of veterinary medicine, achieving work-life balance is a challenge that many face.

You entered this field driven by a passion for animal care, fueled by a desire to make a difference in the lives of pets and their families. However, this often comes with its own set of hurdles.

When we think about getting our lives back, we need to switch our perspectives starting from the position of our lives being first and foremost in our priorities. 

If you try to squeeze your life around your work, it won’t fit. When you prioritize the things most important to you first, everything else will fit around them more easily. But what if achieving a work-life balance wasn’t just a distant dream but a feasible, lived reality?

Organizing your calendar

A very practical way to get your personal life back into a more balanced position is to put all your activities, vacations, hobbies, social events, travel, date nights and time with friends and family into your calendar first. Then you need to communicate to your team that they are non-negotiable and only you are allowed to amend them.

And in return, set the expectation that their time off will be respected and that you will only contact them during working hours. Their time off is sacred, just as yours is, but planning for it to happen 90 days in advance gives you a fair chance of actually getting your life back to where it belongs; at the center.

Once you have those things in your diary or schedule, it becomes far more difficult to move them, and soon you’ll not only feel more in control of your time, but that your work/life balance is back in a place that makes sense.

Try prioritizing some time to plan your diary on a regular basis. A good cadence for this is every 90 days.

When was the last time you sat down and scheduled your personal life into your calendar?

Prioritize self-care

Making time for leisure activities and hobbies outside of work is essential to help achieve a better balance.

Look ahead to the next quarter and decide what events, meals and social events you would like to attend. Struggle to find time to go for a much-needed walk? Put it in your diary and treat it with the same commitment you would for a work meeting. 

You can, of course, move these personal appointments to different times and different dates, but the main goal is to never cancel them. Work may sometimes become overwhelming, and you may have lots to do, but if you take the simple step of moving a scheduled event rather than cancelling it, you’ll feel less like work has taken over every area of your life.

It’s always a great idea to plan time for yourself. And once you have, you should tell your family, friends and whoever else you want to spend your time with, that that's what you’ve done. 

Here are some helpful questions you could ask yourself:

• When is a good time to take some time for myself?
• When was the last time you invested in your own development?
• Who could help you get and stay engaged in your own development?

Reducing your hours and serving your patients

Veterinary professionals often face high expectations and demands from clients, leading to stress and extended working hours. This client pressure can significantly impact personal time and contribute to an imbalanced work-life dynamic.

The number of days you work in a week is less relevant than how those days are comprised, and it’s important not to demonize the work itself, especially in the veterinary industry, where people are very vocational. They understandably love their work and want to spend a lot of time doing it.

It’s not that your days off should be about getting a break from your work, the real issue is whether the work itself is rewarding, positive and engaging, rather than whether you have enough time to get over the stress of your working week. 

A question to ask yourself… Why are you here?

Veterinary professionals are incredibly dedicated to their profession and very passionate about the health and wellbeing of the animals they care for, whichever sector they work in. 

It is easy to lose sight of why you wanted to do this in the first place, so it’s important to remember that to fulfil your vocation, ambitions and purpose, you need people around who can support you. Despite animals being the core focus, interactions with people are usually central to the relationship and to your ability to practice great medicine. 

Recognize and remember that this gets easier with people, not harder. Start looking at areas in which you can improve your relationships with the people around you, as well as improving your relationships with your clients, so you can fulfil the potential you had when you first decided to be a vet.

Here are 3 questions to think about…

1. Whose help do you need?
2. What is your THEME for the upcoming year - in one word?
3. What is missing in your life right now and what do you need to do to get it back?

This blog has been written in relation to The Lost Vet book. Read the full book for more amazing tips.

Read the Full Book

Achieve Work-Life Balance in your Veterinary Clinic with The Lost Vet

At The Lost Vet, we help you find your passion and purpose again.

You’ll have:

• The job you always dreamed of
• More time for you and your friends and family, hobbies and interests
• Increased profit and growth with less stress
• An empowered team
• Clients that truly value the service and advice you provide

Don’t take our word for it, contact us today to find your passion and purpose again.