I became an optometrist because I was captivated when my grandfather told me that the most rewarding thing was “putting on a child’s first pair of glasses and watching their face light up as they see things that they’ve never seen before.”
I have seen that look on a kid’s face and must say that it is pretty cool, but there is another look that is more rewarding to me. It is the look on a person’s face when they first decide that they are going to succeed.
It's a wide-eyed look, with eyes darting around, often surrounded by flip-chart sheets and a sort of "half-smile." They always nod their head a little too. Often they will say, "Yeah, I can do this."
It comes when there is a realization of personal confidence that you have what it takes AND you are willing to do the necessary work. It is a beautiful thing to watch unfold as their face lights up seeing things that haven't happened yet.
Determination comes when things go wrong. Early on, it is easy to give up when things don’t go as planned. I have never been involved with a project where everything happened like it was supposed to happen. Those who are determined to press on regardless of barriers always seem to find a way to win.
And “diligence” is simply “prolonged determination.” We are all subject to burnout and its toxic effects. It is becoming more and more common for high achievers to give up current successes for the thrill of seeking newer ones. Those who are considered “masters” in their field are the ones who continue to hone their craft beyond compare.
At the 2020 Executive Retreat, we will focus on the 3 D’s and how we can all hone our craft at reaching our individual versions of success. It is Jan 9-11 in Atlanta. AGENDA
Keynote speaker, Melissa Hill will teach us all about working through the “Toughness Decision.” She will share her method to overcome her personal struggles and how those lessons can guide us through tough decisions that we need to make.
The webinar message broadcast LIVE from Executive Retreat will feature Dr. Mark Kapperman who will share what rewards diligence can bring in building, developing and leading a team of eye care professionals.
Registration will close next week, so if you are thinking about coming, please REGISTER NOW.
I am afraid.
"I’m afraid! Alright? You want to hear me say it? You want to break me down? Alright, I’m afraid! For the first time in my life, I’m afraid.”
-Rocky Balboa on preparing to fight Clubber Lang, Rocky III
Fear is a powerful motivator. Fear is used to sell us almost everything. Watching tv commercials or flipping through magazine advertisements shows that a growing number of products are using fear to justify our need for their products. Safety, health, financial security! Fear sells.
But fear also paralyzes. Being afraid is the most common reason that we don’t chase any given dream. It keeps us from initiating conversations, beginning new ventures, or doing something to get out of our current situation.
What do you want to do that you aren’t doing because you are afraid?
So many OD’s want to add a specialty to their practice or invest in a new location, but don’t because of the fear that it won’t work out. Others are being drained by an unfulfilling job and dream of doing something innovative and new, but can’t muster up the courage to leave the safety net of a steady paycheck.
I have guided many practices through an expansion or start-up projects and have never seen anyone who was disappointed, even when it was a clear mistake.
However, I have met a bunch who regretted never taking the chance.
I think that the first step to overcoming your fear is to admit to yourself, then to someone else, that it is holding you back. It worked for Rocky, it works for us too.
Want to share?
I would love to hear what’s holding you back.
I hope you and your family have a Happy Memorial Day weekend.
Truly,
Mike
p.s. "You gotta get that look back, Rock. Eye of the Tiger. Come on, let's go." - Apollo
A Lifetime of Watching Movies and the lessons from it........
I grew up in a small Southern town that had one movie theater. Almost every Friday, a new movie came out. As a teenager, our theater was upgrade to a “Cinema,” which meant we had 4 screens, all playing different movies.
Then came HBO and VCR’s. My dad loved that one monthly fee allowed him to collect hundreds of movie titles on VHS tape, with no commercials! It was a little work, but well worth it to have easy access to all the movies HBO ever showed. (Those tapes were the main part of my inheritance.)
We all know about the well-chronicled rise and fall of Blockbuster video/DVD rental business. We know how Netflix came along began mailing DVD’s, then streaming movies directly into the home.
Your age dramatically influenced your relationship with Blockbuster Videos. For me, it was a weekend ritual. I remember many Friday nights roaming around the store looking for something to grab me. Two for the kids, two for the whole family and a scary one for daddy after everyone went to bed.
We lived through the transition from VHS to DVD and tried to see the added benefits of BlueRay. It was during this time of Blockbuster domination, that many of us were investing in home theater systems. Big screens, big sounds and for some – big, fancy chairs!
Netflix introduced me to downloading movies and to the frustration of “buffering.” I always took it personally when my family blamed me for the random pauses in a movie while it buffered. As much as we hated pauses, grainy pictures and other troubles; we stopped our visits to Blockbuster.
This trend continued so much that now my kids rarely even look at a tv, but instead watch their phones and laptops constantly. As I am sure you can imagine, this bothers me. They seem to be satisfied watching their choice of movie on whatever screen they are holding.
Saved by The Incredibles!
Pixar’s movie, The Incredibles came out in 2004 and was a big hit in our house. My kids were in elementary school, we saw it in the theater and of course, bought the DVD. My son was even Dash for Halloween, twice.
By the time that The Incredibles 2 came out in 2018, both of my kids are in college and wanted to relive the glory days by going to see it on the big screen. To gear up for the event, we dug through our library, and found the DVD. We realized the DVD player still worked and decided we would watch it. Amazingly, the sound system was still connected to the DVD player so we went old school and LOVED it!
Great picture, crisp sound and the room even shook! I was blown away at how good it was. How did we give up on this?
It is another example of "easy beating good."
In our practices, we sometimes convince ourselves that our patients are willing to deal with a little inconvenience since the quality of our care is so good. It is important that we are careful with this line of thinking.
In my experience, most practices have a problem with wait times. What’s worse is that most practices don’t think it’s a problem or they say it out of their control. My advice is to find a way to measure how long patients are in your practice and keep working to improve it.
Keep watching this blog for more conversations about making visits to your practice "easier" for your patients.
I was not invited to go to the Cinema to see The Incredibles 2, but the kids said it was good. I couldn’t get much out of them about the details, but there was something about JackJack that you didn’t make sense unless you had seen the DVD – which they had!
(Did you know Netflix still will mail you a DVD?)
Look forward to seeing you soon,
Mike Rothschild, Leadership OD
p.s. This is an interesting article about a Michigan mom arguing for a return to the "good old days."
I took a weekend class on fishing.
In fishing school, I learned that I enjoy the act of fishing far more than actually catching fish. I also learned that 'fishing teachers' have many lessons that can expand beyond the water.
For instance: When you cast a line and a fish jumps out of the water to grab your bait out of the air you have just used a “good bit of your luck” and it may be a while before anything like that happens again.
Potentially the best lesson I learned in fishing school was how to properly fall down. Fishing often requires walks through tough terrain, on slippery slopes and through rushing waters.
During our “safety” presentation, we were taught that if you begin to fall you must resist the urge to use your fishing rod to stabilize yourself. Think about walking through a stream, carrying your gear which includes this long, narrow pole. Suddenly, your feet are slipping, it is a natural tendency to put the pole on the ground. This act obviously will break your fishing pole, ruining it. There is no fixing a broken fishing pole.
However, if you put the pole into the air, you may break your leg or ankle: thus the wisdom of “You can fish with a broken leg.”
From a fishing teacher’s perspective, this makes perfect sense. For me….not so much. What’s the difference between me and the fishing teacher? Priorities.
Help us understand your priorities for the upcoming year.
As 2015 begins to wind down, this is a good time to reflect on successes for the year and gear up for next year’s challenges. Leadership OD’s services focus on three primary aspects of building your success:
Find Yourself. We are in an incredibly rewarding profession but it has to fit into the overall life that we live. Finding a career that supports your true reasons for living takes work; but it is worth the effort.
Elevate your Team. Getting a team to “care” about the mission of a practice is essential to building a practice that thrives. Sharing a clear vision and constantly communicating with the entire team is the only way. But how?
Build a Financial Foundation. While money is not necessarily the most important function of the business, it is very important. Good management of financial resources give the freedom to do the good work we are meant to do.
Of those three, which area have you worked on the most this year? How did it go? Will you focus on that again in 2016 or shift your attention to another area?
You can help us get an idea of where we are as a profession by completing this survey about your goals for the upcoming year.
We will use this to fine tune our agenda at the Executive Retreat and to better meet your specific needs in the upcoming year.
Thanks for your help,
Mike
The Rhythm is Going to Get You
GETTING INTO RHYTHMS HELPS US KEEP OUR LIVES RUNNING.
We all know the basic work week rhythms for our families and we try to balance them so we have time together. These rhythms are made up from dozens of smaller rhythms, like an orchestra. We even have a rhythm to our wake up routines in the mornings. We try to instill rhythms in the work day to maximize our efficiency or to keep the team connected.
These rhythms are good because they make our lives more predictable and it's easier to accomplish things. Runners strive to get into a rhythm so they can run past the fatigue and keep going. Running coaches teach methods like counting steps or matching your breaths to your steps. This forces you to concentrate on your rhythms rather than your tiredness.
But rhythms can also cause us to get into a rut. Rhythms can become mindless routines which can become tedious and mundane. Like the runner who says, “I run 5 miles every day.” While that is an impressive discipline, I wonder, “Why not run 6 miles sometime?”
The recent fire at my office caused a significant disruption to my rhythm. Suddenly, my business hours didn’t exist. Do you realize how much of your life revolves around the opening and closing of your practice? There was no meeting time, no planning time, no patient care time, no frame inventory time, no review financials time, no exercise time, no meal time, and no family time.
Because of this disruption, we are being forced to ease back into the business, bring the old rhythms back slowly. Watching the rhythm of the practice build, you can balance the old, established rhythms that help make you good. At the same time you can stop the ones that were holding you back. And by not adding back everything, you can put in new systems that you have been meaning to all this time.
Without this disruption, we would have kept doing the same old things we have always done. We may have tried new things here and there, but mostly it would have been the same old routine. But by taking it apart and putting it back together again, you realize that you have a lot of extra noise that is keeping us from growing. I will continue to share with our members the things I find that have been holding us back as we rebuild our rhythm.
Song of Summer
All of this rhythm talk reminds me that we have not yet had our annual vote for the Leadership OD Song of Summer. Just for fun, we poll our readers for a song that will represent your summer. Most years, I vote for something about putting my toes in the sand, or riding around in a pickup truck. But this year I will be voting for The Rhythm is Gonna Get You by Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. (If you miss the 80's - Listen to This)
I hope to see you soon,
Mike
Defining Your Vision
Imagining what you want as if it already exists opens the door to letting it happen. - SHAKTI GAWAIN In the last issue, I presented several questions to help you determine the things that matter most to you. If you took the time to write your answers to these questions, you have a new awareness of what you are meant to accomplish.
Now with this new outlook, you can paint the picture of the life you will build. You have the input you need to imagine the best for yourself, your professional team and your family. Once that develops, you can start making it a reality.
I define a "Vision" as a clear, well-defined description of what you want your life to become. It is a target. To be effective, it must be well thought out with deep consideration of your personal values and principles. You should have at least two "Visions." One for your personal life and one for your professional life.
To develop your own Visions, try following these steps:
Answer the 5 questions from our last Newsletter in this column.
Study the answers to align yourself with the values that matter most in your life.
Imagine your home, your family when everything is perfect.
Imagine the practice of your dreams, and your role in it.
Write it as if it has already occurred.
This exercise is very important as you continue your development as leader. It sets your target, your direction. I like to think of it as a lighthouse. A lighthouse stays where it is built, lighting the way continuously. When we lose our way, whether due to a storm or lack of attention, the lighthouse's position is consistent. It gives us steadfast guidance that we can trust.
First, Become a Leader
No matter our position in a practice, we have the opportunity to lead. We have chances to influence team members, patients or vendors to help us accomplish our vision for the practice. To lead effectively, it's best to look at what matters most and find a way to dedicate time to the tasks that actually matter. Take a moment to answer these questions:
What interests you most?
What to you feel passionate about?
What do you want to accomplish?
What do you believe in?
What is your potential?
After you've taken the time to honestly answer these questions with good consideration, you can begin to see where to start developing yourself.