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What do you do to stay motivated? - KA

Posted: Sep 15, 2014

What do you do to stay motivated and keep your butt in the chair for 8 hours straight? I've been doing this for 14 years and am struggling with this still! KA

Struggling with it too. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Been at it for 25 years, and since being bought by MM, I struggle with it too. It is very difficult sometimes when you think to yourself, I just cannot stand to hear one more word or edit/type one more line, and when is the shift going to be over!!!

I used to play soft music in the background, but the audio no longer permits this. Therefore, I would offer a couple suggestions. Clean up your work area. I mean real clean, keyboard, everything. Change your environment a little. Put up new pictures...maybe some on your desk. Put some fake flowers on the desk. Do anything you can to make yourself more comfortable. That will last a little while. Next, pretend that the patient you are working on is a close loved one. Try to get into their story and what's going on. Check their medicines and dosages real close.

That's all I've got. Good luck!

Over 40 years and I think - About

[ In Reply To ..]
The money to be made...

So far money is the best motivator I'm thinking... - KA

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But with pennies a line I feel like I'm working for scraps and it depresses me to think about it! lol

I have a sign on my desk - that says:

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"Surfing MT Stars doesn't pay your bills."

Same here. The less money I earn per hour, - the less motivated I am to work. nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Caffeine, and LOTS of it! ;) -(sm) - Lotus

[ In Reply To ..]
I also have a little whiteboard where I list all my outstanding bills, the amount, and the date they're due to be paid. I keep it on my desk next to my PC, where I can see it all the time. It keeps me motivated to keep pluggin' away.

My Method - Not MT anymore, but...

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't do MT anymore, but I still feel your pain.

When I was doing MT when times were good, I didn't need any help--I just loved it and that was my motivator. In fact, I couldn't wait to get into my chair to start work each day, and even couldn't wait to get back from vacations! That's how much I loved it.

When things got bad, I guess the only thing I could do was to decide not to expect to be motivated. I mean, how do you feel motivated when you feel so crummy and demoralized, and are making no money on top of all that? So, I decided if I'm waiting around to be motivated, I can forget that.

What really kept me going towards the end was I started looking for another job. It took 2 years of sending out resumes, trying to go on interviews here and there as my MT schedule allowed, etc. But those 2 years were much easier once I had my grand plan.

If searching for a way out of MT is not an option right now, you can at least always say, "I won't be stuck forever." You can always at least start thinking of other options, even if it feels there are no other options. It will make you feel less "stuck."

Good luck!

Thinking of an office job somewhere...sm - KA

[ In Reply To ..]
I was a pathology secretary in a hospital before so I can do various office work...thinking of applying to be a medical secretary or administrative asst. somewhere....I'd go back to school to be a legal asst. but have so much student loan debt. I have my degree in health info tech but honestly I'm burned out on medical stuff and can't break into coding without my RHIT...and I got my degree in 2007 so so much has changed since then that I'd have to start over to even pass the thing!

It is not too late. - Why waste your education?

[ In Reply To ..]
Just trying to provide some encouragement here ...

You do not need the RHIT to break into coding and no, so much has NOT changed in HIT. If you think that, your HIT program fed you a distorted view of reality about coding and about the difficulty of the RHIT. Because of that, you are now saddled with debt and unable to make use of your expensive education.

Hospital coding is not all there is. In fact, the fewest jobs are in hospitals and the many jobs outside hospitals don't recognize the RHIT at all. They recognize the CPC, which is within your reach at this point. Just get current AAPC course books and review outpatient coding. See if your local AAPC chapter has a review course. Take the CPC exam. If you don't pass, you can take it again within a year for free.

As for too much having changed since you graduated, that is just wrong. For coding, you will have everything you need in the code books. We don't rely on memorization, but on looking things up. Get current books and review them.

I don't understand why you would let beliefs like thesek keep you away from a job that pays well. Sure, maybe you feel burned out, but don't you think an income in the range of 35 to 45K might blow some of the smoke away?

There is no reason you cannot pass the RHIT. Just review. I work in this field. It does not change THAT much.

Reply to Old Woman's PM - Why waste ...

[ In Reply To ..]
Sorry, but I cannot answer private emails.

To answer your question, if you did that kind of work, yes, you might be able to review and do fine. Depends on how long ago itc was. If you did not pass, you would have a year to review some more or take a course before testing again.

I am not sure what you mean by a course taking too long. You can do a local AAPC course for the CPC in about 4 months. You can do the online AAPC course in about that long, too. It would take less time if you had already coded, I would think.

Look at my bills - nuff said

[ In Reply To ..]
Knowing I like to eat and have a roof over my head keeps me in the chair

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