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Basic Fundamental #1 - It Doesn't Matter Who is to Blame

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There are many excuses for why our practices are less than perfect.  Plenty of reasons they are not successful.  Yet some of us are able to succeed in spite of these challenges - these excuses.  Some are able to thrive BECAUSE of these excuses. Those who succeed watch trends, look at the industry and study new concepts not to find reasons or explanations for their short-comings but so they can adapt when necessary.  These are some of the things that some have thought would put an end to optometry as a profession:

  • Pearle Vision - The first big, national eye care franchise that many thought was the end of optometry as we knew it.  Others have come, they scare us too.

  • VSP - The first big, national vision insurance that caused some wide-spread panic about choices of our patients.  Others have come, they scare us too.

  • Auto Refractors - A machine that does what we spent years learning how to do with a retinascope.

  • Provider Discrimination - If we don't have access to our patients, we will not be able to take care of them.

  • LASIK - If none of my patient's need glasses, I will starve to death.

  • MultiFocal IOL's - See LASIK

  • The Economy

  • El Nino

  • This list is endless

"None of these will end our profession and the only thing that will allow our practice to fail is ourselves."  The Basic Fundamental is firm belief in that fact.

In The Traveler's Gift, Andy Andrews describes this decision by teaching that "The Buck Stops Here."  In the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Stephen Covey says that we "Act or be acted upon."

There has been a lot of talk lately about the effect of Health Care Reform in America.  "What is going to happen to us?"  "What are we going to do?"

My answer is that I don't know, but I will adapt, I will learn and I will move on.  Right now, I know that the AOA is acting on my behalf and I need to show my support.

If we stop using energy to find our who to blame, we can get busy solving the problem.  So to truly become competent at this Basic Fundamental, we must work to stop looking for a reason things are they way we want and start looking for ways to make our vision a reality.

Can I get an AMEN?