Dare I say, “hate” your business.
I know, hate is a strong word. But here’s the unvarnished truth:
There was a time when I hated going to work. I hated the administrative bullshit and tried like the dickens to avoid my staff. (…mostly trying to avoid the stupid questions they asked me). I even lost my passion for treating.
Am I alone here?
Well, from the many conversations I’ve had with other practice owners over the last year…I doubt it!
I was EXHAUSTED.
- Refereeing all the DRAMA with my staff—unproductive time that you never get back
- Getting lost in the noise and fear of the thousand decisions that come with the territory of owning a business—without any training
- Having to personally handle EVERY issue, EVERY problem, EVERY roadblock that comes up–with no accountability from my team
- Constantly scrambling for new patients to keep the schedule full, and going through marketing “strategies” like a kid goes through candy—with the same inconsistent result and many epic marketing “crashes”.
All the while, feeling the constant financial struggle to stay afloat. Who wouldn’t hate working this way?
From the practice owners I have spoken to, about 8 in 10 hate running the day to day operations of their practice. And the other 2 owners? I guess they have figured out a way to remove themselves from the administrative abyss.
That was me. And I’ll tell you, straight up: it sucked. I was miserable. My mood got so dark, I was, like, radioactive, even to my family. Nobody wanted to be around me. I was barely making enough money to survive. And I worked All. The. Time. No weekends off, no vacations. So, yeah, I hated my practice back then.
Look, you wouldn’t have made it through PT school and launched your own business without smarts and ambition. Smart, ambitious people have a lot going for them. But we tend to do one thing that makes our lives and our work much, much harder than it needs to be.
We make things WAY TOO COMPLICATED.
Here is what I did to begin turning the resentment back into a love affair. And what you can do too.
Imagine your future. Not the chaos that is surrounding you right now, but the way you want your business and life to be.
If anything was possible, what do I want from my business?
What would make me happy?
Before you go overthinking this response (see what I mean about making things too complicated?) know this: there are NO WRONG ANSWERS to this question.
I can tell you some of the most popular answers that come from the practice owners I work with every day. They tell me, to be HAPPY, I need…
…to reduce treatment hours so I can focus more on being CEO
…to STOP being directly involved in the day-to-day operations of my practice
…one day a week to focus on strategic work to grow my practice
…consistent referrals that don’t require me begging doctors for referrals or costs me a fortune
… to STOP working weekends! And I need at least 2 long vacations!
What do YOU want one year from today?
Don’t overthink it.
Write it down.
…and definitely don’t try to figure out HOW you’re going to get there. It will stop your imagination.
And take your answer seriously. Don’t insult and de-value your own abilities by dismissing ANY goal as unattainable. That’s how we stay stuck in the same old rut, living out the same old patterns, struggling with the same corrosive resentment and anger.
Will you have to wait a year for your misery to end? No way! This question is the first, essential step in imagining a new future. Once you know what you need that future to look like, you can put a plan together to make it happen.
And here’s the thing. The progress you make along the way will energize, motivate, and elevate you—from the very moment you give yourself permission to ask this question.
I’ve seen this incredible dynamic work a thousand times. All that anger and loathing starts to fall away once you allow yourself to pursue what you really want out of your business and your life.
This question is where it all starts.
We’re here to help!
By Jamey Schrier
PT, Founder & CEO, Practice Freedom U
July 2, 2020
4 minute read
