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

Accommodative Spasm Survey

My wife was recently approached by one of the trainers at our local health club, “Why didn’t you tell me that your husband was an eye doctor?”  

I’d like to think that her answer was, “I just don’t like to brag too much about that.”

The young woman went on to explain that she had just been to a local optometrist and didn’t know what to do.  She continued by saying that she had been having trouble driving and thought she needed glasses to help with that.  In addition to working at the gym, she is a full-time college student and admits to being on her phone “all the time.”

She said, “He told me that my problem was not distance vision, but that I used my phone too much and he gave me glasses to wear when looking at my phone or working on my computer.  But the glasses MAKE MY VISION WORSE.”

She went on to ask my wife - in the gym, “What should I do?”

Discussion:
While this story is third hand, I have heard it enough over the years to discern what I think is going on.  The trainer is experiencing accommodative spasms (aka computer vision syndrome, digital eye strain, etc.) Basically, the examining optometrist diagnosed that she does so much near work that her eyes can’t always focus in the distance very well.  

She would have “liked” some glasses that correct her distance vision when driving during these spasms, but the optometrist felt it best to relieve this near strain as a long term solution.  My guess is that the glasses have some low plus power.

This dilemma has several components: clinical, marketing and professional relations.  

Please complete this short (three question) survey to let me know the best way to handle this situation.

Thanks for helping,

Mike

p.s. To see the results of the survey, CLICK HERE.

Three Words. Results.

The Results are In.

Last week, I sent you a message, asking you to share the 3 words that best described the practice you are building.  The response was great and this exercise generated a lot of thought-provoking conversation.  

The image that you see above is a word cloud of all the words from your responses.  The larger words were included the most often.  

We were forced to remove some profanities from some of our members that must be going through a tough time right now.
 
Dr. Kerry Salsberg in Toronto stepped it up a notch.  He put his 3 words to video to very clearly demonstrate what he and his practice are all about.  

 

So What?

This exercise helps you hone in on what truly matters to you and your practice.  It allows you to focus on work that makes a difference and helps you stop getting distracted by things that don't.  

At the Executive Retreat, we will use this as a starting point and build on it to show you how to have a meaningful impact on your team.  

-Mike

Real. Comfortable. Jeans

If you are a football fan, you know that when your teams are having a bad year you like to think about other things.  Well, my teams are not winning this year so I am paying more attention to the commercials.

I like tv commercials.  I like to study them and think about how much money they cost, the psychology of the message and the trends in marketing they reflect. Lately, I have been wondering about mottos or slogans of companies. My favorite has always been, “The Ultimate Driving Machine.”

I am noticing simplicity in these slogans to say what the company is trying to sell.  I find myself captivated by the ongoing series of commercials by Wrangler. If you have a man in your house, you have seen these commercials over the last couple of years. Their slogan is simply, “Real. Comfortable. Jeans.”  

The beauty of this slogan is that each word stands alone to describe the product. These jeans are real, these jeans are comfortable and these jeans are jeans. But they also can describe the jeans as “real comfortable.” It’s genius!

Another company using the same technique is Belk.  Their slogan is“Modern.Southern.Style.”  

If you were to describe your practice in just three words, what would they be?  

Breaking down your practice to its core elements is a valuable exercise.  It is easy to remember when opportunities arise that may not be a perfect fit for you. It helps communicate the vision of the practice you are building.  

Take a few moments and put down the best three words that describe the practice you are building.  Share your three words with us here.

I will share the results next week.

Sincerely,
Mike

p.s. I may take the Belk one for my own.  

April Fool's Day is a great time for discussing money.

When it comes to spending money, I have my quirks. 

I tend to buy nice things, I don’t like to use coupons and I would rather do without it than settle for low quality.  On the flip side, I refuse to waste money.  I will put paper back in the printer that has something printed on one side and I would rather replace the soles on my shoes than buy new ones.  It is tough for me to explain the “logic” I use for spending money.  
 
At the Executive Retreat in January, Dr. Mick Kling helped me understand some of my quirky financial habits in his lecture, The Emotional Impact of Money.  He taught us that most of us make financial decisions based on feelings more than rationality.  
 
The most common emotional factors in our financial management are greed and fear.    When managing the finances of our practices, we too often allow our feelings to make those decisions for us.  Sometimes it’s fear that prevents us from making that investment we need to grow.  Other times, we spend too quickly because we get excited at a trade show and sign up for that new service that just doesn't make sense for us. 
 
We also avoid uncomfortable conversations about money which is why most of us fail to always make good recommendations to our patients until we know how much they will have to pay “after insurance.” It is also why we give broad percentage raises to all staff regardless of how well they perform individually.

(Here’s on old BLOG about giving raises)

 So how can we overcome this tendency to manage by feelings?
 Our surveys show OD’s consistently ranking their own management of finances lower than any other area of the practice. On a scale of 1 – 9, we rank ourselves at an average of 4.88 in Financial Management - compared to a 7.76 in Patient Care. 
 
At Leadership OD, we have put together tools to help bring some of the logic into your financial management strategy.  Our members always have access to their budgeting calculator, and now we are releasing a tool that we use at WGEC to track all of the metrics we can think of within our practice. 

USER GUIDE

 And on April 14, our own Dr. Mickey Kling will host a webinar helping us gain control of our Cash Flow.  The title is “Where did all the money go?” and attendance is free to members.
 
Our Face2Face meetings this month will focus on financial management, bringing doctors and staff together to talk about real challenges we are all facing and how to improve. 
 
We still have more opportunities for than barriers.  We just have to keep working on it.
 
Happy April Fool’s Day,
Mike
 
p.s. To have a better understanding of your Money Personality, some say it is a good exercise to recall your very first memory of money.  I will tell you my first memory….if you tell me yours.
 

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:

1. Answer the 5 questions from our last Newsletter in this column.

2. Study the answers to align yourself with the values that matter most in your life.

3. Imagine your home, your family when everything is perfect.

4. Imagine the practice of your dreams, and your role in it.

5. 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:

1. What interests you most?

2. What to you feel passionate about?

3. What do you want to accomplish?

4. What do you believe in?

5. 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.