I'm going to be away some over the next few weeks to sharpen my saw.
Some of you may have been introduced to this metaphor because it was coined by Stephen Covey, time managment guru and author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and about 5 thousand other books. I found his work very helpful when my kids were little and I had a growing professional life. I remember listening to his audiotapes in my car on the way to work at Veazie Vet. I also remember being pulled over for speeding while listening to the tape. ..the tape on effective time management.
Seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up.
One metaphor that really worked for me that he used is taking time to Sharpen Your Saw. The longer a lumber jack works, the more trees he can cut down. But a good lumberjack knows that the time taken to sharpen his saw makes his work more effective and ultimately more efficient. On the one hand, the time taken to sharpen the saw takes away tree cutting time. But ultimately, it makes the rest of his sawing so much more effective....more trees, less sweat.
This immediately resonated with me. I have sawed with a pretty dull saw at times in my life. Seemed like a luxury to me to take time to sharpen anything. Now, last time I told you guys about the emotional pie, several of you made us pies. They were awesome. But I want to point out that this story is a metaphor...please do not send in saws this next week.
Instead I tell you this for two reasons. First, I will be gone the week of May 22nd to May 27th to go to a Veterinary Ophthalmology Course. Monday and Tuesday we will have staff present to answer your questions and refill necessary items. Any emergencies that day we will send to Lucerne Vet. Wednesday-Friday Jim and Karen will be present to complete the team and see scheduled appointments.
The following weekend I am going to a writer's conference put together by my favorite magazine's editors (The Sun Magazine). This one is out of my usual comfort zone since I think of myself as a veterinarian and not a writer. Mary found this and signed me up. Its at a retreat in western Massachussetts, and sounds very cool.
That week I will be in as usual, but gone Friday morning and back Sunday night.
You know that you are interested in a topic when you can spend hours and hours focusing on it and not feel any less energetic. I wish that I had an area of interest like home improvement or fixing old cars. Fact is both are more in the root canal catagory.
Also in the root canal catagory for me is practice managment and rules. I love being a vet, hate filling out paperwork for the state, IRS, and making rules for the practice to run by.
For that reason, you have probably noticed a lack of signs at Kindred Spirits. For instance, when I go to my doctors, there are signs everywhere....
--Turn off Cell Phones
--Do not wear strong smelling perfumes/colognes.
--Your copay is expected before your visit
--Stand here for service
--Diabetics Remove your socks.
As Kindred Spirits grows, I can see where signs like this come from. Usually a story that everyone tells where someone does not obey a common sense rule and so in some meeting everyone decides it would be good to put up a sign to remind people.
Ok, so one of those things came up the other day...so I'm making a rule, but I'm not making a sign, so you gotta remember this.
Of our 3,000 clients we have very few that are chronically late. However, those situations end up affecting a whole afternoon or morning block of appointments.
So here is the new rule....
If you are more than 15 minutes late, we'll have to reschedule your appointment. If you are between 1 and 14 minutes late, we will smack you on the nose with a newspaper. I must point out that this technique does not work on dogs or cats, so don't even try. But it works well on humans.
Actually, now as I review my notes from the last meeting, I see that the newspaper idea was voted down 7 to 1.
Have a great week, and make sure to sharpen your saw in a timely fashion.
