Would you say you work hard? Or that you hardly work? The answer of course is obvious. I know you to be a hard worker, you wouldn’t be here with me if you weren’t.
I’m sure you asked yourself yesterday what all you have to show for that hard work and the answer is once again obvious – you have so much to be incredibly thankful for.
Yet, the irony of it all is that you can’t have one without the other. The first question’s answer leads to the second question’s answer.
It isn’t just about the ‘hard work’ though because you won’t find many people that would say they don’t ‘work hard.’ Yet many people, maybe most, feel like they are under-paid, under-appreciated, under-everything as compared to all that they ‘put in’ of themselves.
Thanksgiving, however, is about gratitude, awareness, appreciation, the actual act of giving-thanks. Likely, the things that you are most thankful for aren’t things at all, instead people, freedoms, experiences, choices, and opportunities.
But do we really live in that way – in putting the ‘not-things’ as the highest priority on the list? I’m sure we could always do better.
It’s true that most doctors, maybe you, get caught up in their practice. It seldom leaves them whether on their phone, email, and especially their minds. Sometimes the work actually comes home with them too.
Oh, don’t worry, I’m the last one to sit here and preach to you that you need some pristine life balance. I do think you must have the discipline to ensure you manage yourself in a healthy way and that you contain your business and protect your personal life, time, health, relationships, etc.
The thing about balance is… there would have to be some changes that affect the people around if you chose to handle your life differently. To outsiders your schedule may seem selfish, but in reality it’s actually selfless. You work hard to serve others, not yourself.
As with all driven ambitious doctor business owners, changing you changes everything for better and worse. So, embrace yourself and give thanks for what all you’ve made possible.
In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I quoted Zig’s famous quote about not “paying the price” but instead “enjoying it” for what you have as a result your efforts. The point is that you enjoy what it brings and therefore you choose to enjoy what it takes.
Here’s where this all comes together, it’s when you evolve yourself beyond just working harder and instead create leverage in order to work smarter. As a result, you can afford more autonomy, more freedom, more lifestyle, and more balance because you’ve shifted the formula into your favor (as we’ve been discussing over the past several weeks).
It’s quite literally the difference between ‘addition’ (requiring more of everything to get more of anything else) and ‘multiplication’ (where leverage produces the same results many times over).
It’s natural, healthy even, to evolve how you prioritize your life and where you allocate your time, energy, and efforts.
Now, on this Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, when you could literally go out and buy anything you want; instead I hope you focus on something that requires not a single dollar out of your pocket but it does require every ounce of belief… your potential.
You might say it ‘cost’ you everything because you ‘invested’ everything you have and all of your life to create it, to make it possible, and to arrive at where you are right now in this very moment. Yes, be thankful for the past that brought you to this point – but don’t forget to be grateful for the future that’s yet to unfold.
As long as you have clarity of what you want, the direction you are going, the plan to get there, and the support to bring it to life – you will accomplish it.
I see so many doctors afraid of their own potential and waste the opportunities that they have because they are concerned over what others will think or they fear failure or they don’t know what they would do with the success once they experience it.
Instead take this simple approach: be grateful, never take anything for granted, and give everything all you’ve got. That’s the most ‘thankful’ thing you can do. The least would be to squander away the opportunities you’ve gifted to yourself as a result of your sacrifices and hard work.
I suppose that is where we come full circle, it’s what ultimately brings you here to me. This greatest of gifts is not for everyone. It only belongs to those who are willing to seek it out, to face it, to accept the outcome. You are on this quest, even if you can’t identify it or ever intended to be.
It is your desire to find out what you really are capable of, to make the most of your opportunities ahead, to conquer the unfinished business, to unleash what’s left of your untapped potential, and most of all to savor your life not just work for it… and for all of this, be thankful!
