Dear Doctor:
Valentine’s Day is fun, though I do all I can to show my wonderful wife Regina how I feel every day of the year. But in many ways, marking a specific time to acknowledge important people in your life is a great idea -- it makes you take some action you might not otherwise have taken, and do some good you may not otherwise have done.
You could make Valentine’s week “Show How Much You Care Week” and encourage your patients to make appointments for their loved ones. More personally, you could schedule a time to do something for your honey that you’ve been promising to do but haven’t gotten to – it’s a better gift than you realize.
While you may not have looked at it this way before, holidays like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s and Father’s Day, birthdays and such, are also like appointments for annual checkups – how do I feel today about my spouse or significant other, my parents, my kids, friends or whomever? Am I taking anyone for granted? Where was I last year at this time, and where am I now? What’s the best way to communicate my feelings and perceptions, to recognize progress, initiate changes or maintain momentum?
Performing such an assessment and then acting on your distinctions is the foundation of growth, and whether in a relationship or a practice, turns out to be an essential step toward crystallizing your current opportunities. With your sweetie, it reminds you to clearly demonstrate your love, so you reap loving rewards; with your practice, when you schedule corrective or expansive actions and commit to them fully, as if they were special occasions deserving to be honored, it will yield similar outstanding results.
Just like a holiday jogs your memory and gives you a framework to act on and do something nice for someone you care about, you can use the same concept to create more focused action for yourself, whether you formally name your efforts (“Clean the Garage Day,” “Do the Taxes Weekend,” or “Start to Exercise Week”) or just decide to write your commitments down in an appointment book or day planner, to hold yourself more accountable, following through on them like you would an important event.
Give the key people and the key outcomes in your life their due by skillfully scheduling to attend properly to them – you’ll see your productivity soar, you’ll waste less time and energy, and you’ll have more fun and joy than ever.
Dennis Perman DC, for The Masters Circle
PS One more chance at “The Master Plan 2005” seminar, including a 98 page book filled with tools for building and running a successful practice – to register, or for more information, please call 800-451-4514 or go to themasterscircle.com.
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