The late Jim Rohn was one of the biggest names in the field of business philosophy and success thinking. If you don’t know the name, he was an entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker. Jim is often quoted as saying something along the lines of “Don’t set a goal to be a millionaire just for the money. Set the goal to be a millionaire for all the things you will learn and become in the process.”
Let me paraphrase Mr Rohn and say to you “Don’t set a goal to grow your practice to the next level just for the money. Do it for what you will learn and become in the process of making it happen.” That’s where the true, lasting value is.
This is an important point to get. Don’t chase after more money just for the sake of chasing after more money because you’ll never be satisfied. A special trait I’d encourage you to develop in yourself is the ability to enjoy the journey, celebrate the progress and compare yourself to where you once were, not to some ideal that doesn’t exist.
I know by the fact that you are in Optical Success Academy that you are an ambitious person. You have the aspiration, and passion, and yearning for more. And that’s an admirable trait. It’s called growth, and it is the most natural and essential thing in the world. Look, I even preach CANI ‘Constant And Never-ending Improvement’ to you as I do to my team.
Wrapped up in that term is the idea of never being satisfied with where you are at which is NOT the way I recommend you look at it.
This desire for growth while simultaneously being happy with where you are at is a balancing act you need to get good at. I’ll explain. Your inability to accept that sometimes things work and sometimes things don’t work is a recipe for perpetual frustration and disappointment in your results. That’s why if you tie your happiness to everything working out perfectly all the time and hitting every goal like clockwork, you’ll be one agitated practice owner. That’s why I say don’t compare yourself to an ideal that doesn’t exist. Compare yourself to where you were this time last year. Focus on the progress you are making. And celebrate the small wins.
And getting back to the Jim Rohn quote, don’t look ONLY at your financial results in isolation as your only evidence of progress. Also look at YOU as a practice owner, as an optical entrepreneur, as a person. Through study, practice and doing, you will see progress in your confidence, your ability to lead and to be decisive. Your depth of knowledge and understanding will grow. What do you know today that you had no clue about this time last year? What do you deeply understand now that previously you have only an inkling about? How has your mindset improved? You can’t NOT be making progress when you focus on what you have learned in addition to your financial goals. And there are lessons in everything. Especially in failures.
Here’s the balancing act. I get frustrated on a daily basis because that is the only way I think you can grow a business. By pushing. By being dissatisfied about something enough to improve it. Of course, I wish it was easier. Of course, I wish it was faster. But it isn’t. No pain, no gain, they say. But on a daily basis, I keep myself sane by keeping things in perspective and glancing back over my shoulder in my mind’s eye. All it takes is a few moments contemplating and comparing where I am today to where I once was. And who I am now to who I was. Last year, 5 years ago, 10 years ago. When you do that, you will see progress. And that is your ticket to growth AND fulfilment. Make PROGRESS your goal every month, not perfection.