Inc.com recently quoted Warren Buffet, one of the world’s most successful investors and currently the fifth wealthiest person in the world, on what is the best investment you can make:

“The best thing you can do is to be exceptionally good at something…whatever abilities you have can’t be taken away from you. They can’t actually be inflated away from you… so the best investment by far is anything that develops yourself, and it’s not taxed at all.”

Notice that he used the word ‘abilities.’ He didn’t say get a qualification. For many of our peers, once they’ve qualified as an optometrist, the development of further abilities is stunted and certainly not something that is being actively worked on. As a switched-on practice owner you know that the abilities that really matter to your success as a practice owner include the ability to manage and lead others so they thrive and deliver their best work and enjoy doing it; the ability to market your practice effectively to attract your ideal clients and repel the clients you don’t want; the ability to sell and influence others in a positive way that gets outcomes that all parties are delighted with; the ability to create effective systems in your business so that you can achieve the highest standards of work for your clients and do it consistently, effectively, efficiently and stress-free; the ability to think accurately and see the reality of any scenario for what it truly is and find the learnings and find the best path forward.

Those are just some of the abilities that we are all developing here inside Optical Success Academy. And these happen to be among the most valuable abilities you can ever develop that will lead to wealth and happiness and will serve you in all areas of your life. The technical abilities of being an optometrist or optician are such a small piece of the puzzle. They are just the starting point. The differentiator is all your other abilities. The world is full of excellent optometrists who don’t know how to wow their clients or even provide an overall ‘good’ experience. Or excellent opticians who are a nightmare to work for because they have no ability to manage and lead well. Usually, they are not even aware of their short comings or why it’s so important that they develop the abilities they really need to succeed and reach their goals and potential.

But let me leave you with this… What is the number one ability that will influence your success this year more than anything else? Even more important than sales, marketing, service, leadership. What’s far more important than all of those? The number one ability is the ability to believe you can do it. You have to believe in yourself, that’s the secret. And likewise, you have to help your team members believe in themselves and believe that they can do it. So whatever you’re working on in your business or your life, whatever the goals or the apparent difficulty or how numerous the challenges, the most important ability is your ability to believe you can do it.