Rather than lecture you on some aspect of hospital leadership or management, I am sharing my favorites from the blogs that I read regularly. The topics will generally be about leadership. However, since I follow a number of personal finance blogs written by physicians, I share those, too. And there may be a few that are completely out of left field, if I think they are interesting or entertaining.

This month's favorites…

Leadership

Note: The links below might not be obvious, but just click on the titles and you will be sent to the articles.

This first article by Michael Hyatt has several practical tips for achieving goals. He defines implementation intentions, which he has renamed (and trademarked) “Activation Triggers.” As the term implies, these are prompts that remind you to follow through on your self-assigned goals. He also describes SMARTER Goals, which appear to be an enhanced version of SMART Goals.

Check out “How to Use Activation Triggers to Reach Your Goals” to read about his 5 steps for optimizing this process.

Next, let's turn to another of my other leaderships favorite's, Leadership Freak. In this post, Dan Rockwell talks about the three attributes you should seek in new hires.

See Leadership Freak's “3 Must-Haves for Every Great Team Member.”

The only comment on his suggestions would be the following. He talks about only hiring people with the three characteristics he describes. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to identify these attributes clearly before hiring. So, you may need to confirm their presence within 90 days after hiring a new employee, and be prepared to terminate them if they do not demonstrate these, and other necessary traits.

Personal Finance

This following post by Physician on FIRE was published right around Christmas – thus the “gift-giving” topic. I found the advice to be very practical. And he explains a term called “degifting.” I must admit that it was a new concept for me.

Now go read Physician on Fire's “What to Give Those Who Have ‘Everything'.”

Let's move on to…

Humor

Zubin Damania continues to produce regular commentary on the ironic and sometimes pathetic aspects of medical care and the healthcare industry. He created a new character about 20 episodes back. It appears to be the fusion of Darth Vader and an annoyed surgeon, whose name is Doc Vader. I found these two recent episodes to be HILARIOUS.

Feel free to comment below if you think my sense of humor is disturbed.

ZDoggMD's “Doc Vader on Hospital Life“

As I mentioned – one episode was not enough. Here is another of Doc Vader's rants…

ZDoggMD's “Doc Vader on Medical Marijuana“

In Closing

Those are the posts that I found worthwhile reading (and watching). I will keep track of new material and post my favorites at least once a month.

If you have any favorite blogs addressing leadership or related topics (or humorous ones) please let me know.

For more of my thoughts on healthcare and leadership Subscribe here.

Please help me out by taking a short survey:  Survey Page

And feel free to email me directly at john.jurica.md@gmail.com with any questions about anything.

And if you enjoyed this, then share it or tweet it using the links below!!

See you in the next post.