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CDS Member News and ArticlesProfessional News Articles : : ON PRACTICE MANAGEMENT by Janyce Hamilton : A New Year's 'Kung G.O.A.!' A New Year's 'Kung G.O.A.!'January 22, 2010
If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. Say this twice and try not to smile; air-chop with flattened palms for extra effect. It’s 2010. Faux martial arts, and anything else that makes you laugh, is just what the doctor ordered. Things that make you feel light-hearted provide the energy needed to get through the day, and still enjoy your evening. It’s time to hit the refresh button in your work and your life. G.O.A. stands for Goals, Organization and Attitude. If you take a few minutes to think about these three areas, you will kick off a better year. A few need-to-knows follow. Get Goal PlanningJust a little Web searching leads you to various strategies for making and achieving quality goals. The Deming Cycle that helped ignite the Japanese manufacturing process in the 1950s was: Plan, Do, Study, Act. Another used in the 1990s by the Joint Commission on Healthcare Accreditation in Oak Brook Terrace was: Assess, Plan, Implement, Evaluate (and repeat). In the 2000s, management consultant Gene Donohue in Simpsonville, SC, and others advocate the use of S.M.A.R.T. Goals1: Specific Consultant Donohue likes to give the example of a overly general goal as to “Get in shape.” 1 A specific goal of that nature might be, for example, to join a health club by the end of the month, work out three times a week for 45 minutes each time. Use a method that will help you create goals you are willing and able to achieve. Get OrganizedAn acquaintance of mine, Vells Kumarandy of Naperville, IL, told me his secret to being organized: “Every morning ask: ‘What do I want to achieve by the end of the day?’ Be clear about the outcome to be productivity-focused.” Since hearing this simple idea, I have kept a daily list of goals to achieve by the end of the day. On the following day, as I make a new “to-do” list, much glee occurs as I cross out (most) items on the previous day’s list. (As silly as it is, sometimes I make a light-saber or sword noise as the pen slices through each item.) Do what it takes to keep chore-like tasks fun (or at least less tedious) every day, and they are hardly work at all. Next, look around your office, including home office and even rooms throughout your house. Peter Walsh, host from the television show Clean Sweep and author of the book It’s All Too Much! described to me how clutter endangers flat spaces. “You are losing the battle with your stuff,” he said, if there are few flat spaces left. For me, this includes papers stacked in the roving file (my car) and on the big desk (the floor). No one feels organized when this occurs. Organizer Walsh has a F.A.S.T. method: Fix a time dedicated to sorting through the clutter, A few times a month, I amass a big pile of stuff in the middle of my office. In it is every single thing off of all flat surfaces. From the pile, I put things to throw away immediately into a tall trash receptacle so they are out of sight (I won’t spy them and change my mind). The rest of the pile is sorted into smaller piles, each named for the file folder into which they travel next. If a new topic, label a new folder. Tip: if this will be the fist time you have attempted a F.A.S.T. type organization on a room, there is one rule. No shopping for organization systems or new container bins for 2 weeks. The idea is not to bring in new stuff once a room looks tidy and pleasantly sparse. Attitude-Adjust: a VerbMany U.S. economists are turning up the volume on their assurances that the “economic contraction is slowing” and unemployment is plateuing in 2010. “Over the coming year, households should begin to see gains in income associated with an improvement in the labor market, and the drag on spending from past declines in real net worth should ease,” said Elizabeth Duke, a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System at an economic outlook forum this month in Raleigh, NC. Staying upbeat is important in business and in life. Anyone, therefore, who continues to complain about the economy around others in 2010 might be as well-received as a baby crying at a tea party. Blaming others (including unsolicited political and religious commentary) is risky. And shame? Let it go. Nagging or guilting yourself with “It’s my own fault, I should. . .” is as not productive. Remember, emotions are contagious. ConclusionPlanning your goals, organizing yourself and adjusting your attitude as needed will make you feel on top of things. When you are in charge of your practice and your life, you will be less likely to distract yourself from every day real life. You will enjoy the real thing. References
1. Donohue G. Creating S.M.A.R.T. goals. www.topachievement.com. Accessed Jan. 20, 2010. Janyce Hamilton is an award-winning Chicagoland freelance dental writer and editor. Send suggestions for topics to be covered, or any comments on this column, to review@cds.org. © 2010, Chicago Dental Society
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