It’s easy to let our days become monotonous. We turn up to the same place and perform the same general functions. If we do not make this time more meaningful, we run the risk of it slowly becoming meaningless. I found that giving myself daily ‘projects’ helped me start every day off inspired.
During the years of practice ownership, I used to have a 50 minute drive to work every day. Because I had the goal to learn as much as I could about business and people management, I would use my commute to listen to audio-books, podcasts and YouTube clips on all topics that I felt would improve my performance.
Regardless of the content I was listening to, I would always find myself resonating with one, often small, element. It may have been to focus more heavily on showing appreciation to our more loyal patients, or improving how I could be training a new staff member in our practice protocols. It was often being inspired to inner-grow, such as a commitment to myself to remain calm and peaceful regardless of any potentially stressful moments through the day (“Be like water”…Bruce Lee).
Man of many talents Tony Robbins promotes his ‘CANI’ principle. CANI is Constant And Never-ending Improvement. I adopted this as one of the principles I would live by. Every day I would focus on one particular area to improve and master. I would hold this focus for the whole day, putting my project in to action every chance I could.
Often a project would not be simply adding something new, such as implementing a new procedure. Instead it was actually replacing one habitual response with another. This improvement takes much more effort. You need to be mindful of the triggers that prompt the old reaction and consciously shift your reaction to your new, chosen and more desirable one.
This commitment to constant small improvements has made an enormous difference to my life, and my character. It has pushed me to grow. It has also revealed how much growth there is to come.
What you feed grows. What you starve dies.