“Complacency is the last hurdle standing between any team and its potential greatness.” – Pat Riley, former NBA coach
PAT RILEY IS KNOWN for his “Showtime” Lakers era, where he won four NBA championships (1982, 1985, 1987, 1988), and later for turning around the Miami Heat, winning another championship in 2006. His tenure with the New York Knicks also included a trip to the NBA Finals in 1994, although they lost to my hometown Houston Rockets. Coach Riley faced and overcame complacency in each of his quests for national championships.
We often are held up by our complacency. I see it often when a private practice reaches a level of success that the owner has pursued for many years. Once achieved, it is tempting to want the success to continue but not require the ongoing hard work that created it. It’s human behavior. So, let’s look at some actions an owner can take to overcome the dangerous impact of complacency.
Remember your why: Remember why you started your practice rather than choosing employment. Reconnect with your initial motivations or find
new ones if the old ones no longer inspire you. For many reasons, private practice offers an owner more value and benefit than employment.
Setting time aside for regular reflection can help crystalize the reasons you choose private practice. Here are a couple of examples:
You can practice however you wish. When you are employed, you are told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. Is that why you decided to become an optometrist?
You can impact your community. With the profits generated from a business, you can contribute to community events, sponsor league and school sports, and make a difference in people’s lives. You can also use your profits to invest in other businesses or real estate, creating multiple streams of income.
Lifelong learning. This could be formal education, workshops, online courses, or even reading books and articles. Regularly updating your skills is possible with the freedom of owning your practice.
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Myopia management is a great example of the importance of continual learning. The evolution of myopia management from corrective lenses to a multifaceted approach involving genetics, environment, and technology underscores a broader understanding of vision health. If you’re not a provider of this therapy, you may want to add it to your practice. Like any new approach to vision health, it will require learning. Fortunately, there are strong support groups where you can participate and learn from others.
Recognition and rewards on your terms. Set up a system where you reward yourself and your staff for overcoming complacency or achieving goals. This positive reinforcement can be motivational and provide others the means of overcoming their own complacency.
Set goals as a team, define them specifically, and celebrate with everyone on the team when they are achieved. This recognition can be as simple as bonuses for reaching a set number of myopia management patients in a quarter, or you can create a team event. People connect as a team when they work together to achieve a goal or overcome challenges.
If complacency is the last hurdle to overcome before you can reach your practice’s potential, it is time to take action and get started.
