What do you want out of your life? What would that life look and feel like? What would you do each day if you were successful? In order for you to create your this “perfect” life, you must become clear on what you really want it to look like. As therapists, we often ask our clients what would therapy look like if we were successful? I am turning the tables around and ask you what your life look would like if you were successful? Take a moment to dream a little and just sit with that.
Let that question really sink in and then take a piece of paper and begin to write it down. Try to be as specific as possible. Your day will not be the same as my day or the therapist or mother down the street. That is sort of the point. This should be about you, about your family, about what your value. What do you want your days to look like in private practice? You are creating your business and yes, eventually writing a business plan, but I want you to dream a little bit about you; what sustains you? what makes you happy?
Here are a few questions to help you define your day:
- What time do you want to get up in the morning?
- What time do you want to go to work?
- What time do you want to leave work?
- What time are you wanting to go to the gym or wanting to go to exercise?
- Times for breakfast, lunch dinner, and with whom?
- Who are your clients, and what are their problems?
- How do you want to feel?
- How much money do you want to have?
- How much free time do you want?
- Do you want to do volunteer work, when, for whom and how often?
Be as specific as you possibly can, and tailor your activities to you. I know that if I don’t exercise before I go to work, I won’t want to do it after work. I also know that I have to get my lunch ready the night before so it’s ready for me when I leave. Think about the things that you want to be part of your practice and life and set those as goals now.
Initially, you’re not going to create a 100% perfect life, but you can move closer and closer. This plan should have your passion woven through it.
I wake up every day, looking forward to going to my practice. I look forward to seeing my clients, my therapists, and my exercise buddies. I enjoy my job because, over time, I have created a caseload of clients that fit my profile, clients that I understand their pain and problems. I love seeing these clients getting better and learning new coping skills.
I look forward to helping my community when I count our session numbers at the end of the month; it’s amazing to me how many hours of therapy my team is doing in our community. I know that there’s a lack of therapists in many communities, and if as therapists, we can take care of ourselves, we can provide better services in each of our communities. We can all do our parts and live the life we want.
Write out your plan. Create your daily intention to move forward to this plan. Evaluate the plan and your progress in obtaining it. Change the plan as your needs or goals change. Continue to ask yourself what does my ideal practice look like? As the days go on, your vision should get closer and closer to your reality of that great life. Remember there will still be the occasional obstacle to overcome, a few challenges to fix and a few disappointments in this great life. However, the more you have your life planned out for you, these concerns will not be as great and will not derail you when they show up.
Take some action right now: Vision your average day as specifically as possible. Create small steps to get closer to that vision. Evaluate progress and update the plan. Repeat.
Check out also my video on What do you want?