“I could have had a V8!”

Remember this commercial? The whole point was that we sometimes we only recognize opportunities in retrospect.

In May, we moved to a new home in another part of Boston. It’s an older home, built in 1920, with scant insulation in the attic and basement. We had professionals take care of that right away. We figured we were ready for the winter freeze.

Starting in November, my office, technically a sunroom with windows on three sides, was frigid. And our heating bill was way more than that of the larger house we’d left. For a good two months, I relied on a space heater. My husband, an architect and all-around handy person, and I brainstormed ideas on what we might do. We considered heavy curtains, having foam insulation blown into the walls, even springing for new windows.

Then, suddenly one day, we realized that we had failed to raise the screens and lower the outer storm windows on the entire first floor. An incredibly obvious step that we had completely overlooked and as a result, missed an opportunity to be warm and save energy.

Now that we’ve taken that simple step, my office is toasty, the space heater has been put away, and I’m presuming our next gas bill will be far less than the recent ones.

It is so easy to overlook the obvious.

What I’ve learned from coaching physicians for the past six years is this: it’s easy to overlook the micro changes one can make to avoid burnout and overwhelm and thrive at work. Sometimes it’s how we document visits or exchange messages with patients in the electronic health record. Sometimes it’s getting 15 minutes more sleep by putting screens away at a set time. Sometimes it’s saying “No” more often to work outside your lane.

What is the obvious change you’re overlooking? Can you pause long enough to find it? How might seeing it change your life?