This week we’ve had some work done on our property.
Or better still, we’ve had some work STARTED on our property.
As you know, last December Jayne and I sold our Sydney home and relocated ourselves permanently to our rural property.
For the last six years it has been a 50:50 split, which is difficult to do.
This week we started on our paddock renovation plans.
We needed some fencing upgraded.
And we needed some tree lopping and removal.
And so it began…
Our arborist worked tirelessly for three days, each day trimming trees, removing dangerous trees and liabilities, as well as tidying up rampant useless ground bushes.
The change, or should I say, the improvement, was palpable.
It was kind of scary as it happened.
Much like getting a very severe haircut I guess.
“Will they remove too much?”
“Will it grow back?”
“What will it look like?”
After all, it’s not like moving furniture.
You can’t just go and glue a branch back on if you change your mind.
It was amazing though, because you kind of grow complacently accustomed to how things are, and it does take a “specialist” of sorts to point out the benefits of the “new look”.
To me, the thought of “lifting up canopies” was scary.
And the thought of lopping off of three metres off each of my beloved pear tries was difficult to grasp.
But “TRUSTING THE FORCE” was what I needed to do.
And open up the yard we did.
Four or five big piles of mulch were created by the chipper. A huge burn pile was assembled in the middle of an adjoining paddock for use as a bonfire at some later date… that will be fun.
But boy, does the open space look grand.
And haven’t we uncovered some grand old gums [gum trees, or eucalypts. Not periodontal gums].
As I said, the arborist crew worked tirelessly and feverishly trimming and dismantling, and gathering and collecting.
And to do the trimming, all that trimming, requires a plan and preparation.
And continued sharpening of saws.
Some of that old, old seasoned timber of trees and boughs fallen, is so dense and so “treated” by time that to attempt to chainsaw your way through it for 25 hours is a recipe for blunt blades.
And so it is prudent to stop a while, regularly, and resharpen those saws.
So that you can keep cutting at pace.
Because despite our best intentions and our work ethics, we can seriously blunt our own progress by failing to focus, and refocus, on the goals that we are seeking to achieve.
Yesterday I had the privilege and the honour of being invited to Zoom call across the world into a team training retreat held by one of my very dear dental friends.
Twice each year, Dr Robert Pick from Chicago, takes his team out of their dental office and conducts his bi-annual “Pick Business Retreat” [or “PBR”].
This twice-yearly event gets his team focused on their mission, as a business, in what they need to do.
They are sharpening their “mental saw”.
They are assessing and reassessing their business and personal game plans.
So let me ask you this:
In your business, are you taking time out to stay focused on what you need to achieve?
Or are you soldiering on, with a blunt mental attitude, just hoping for things to get better?
As I said to Dr Pick, in my life as a business owner, the one thing I felt that I needed to do more of was to regularly stop and regroup and mentally sharpen our saws.
Planning and regularly reassessing our own progress is so important.
Take a break.
Sharpen those saws.
You’ll be surprised at how much of a difference it will make to your business.
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Linda Miles is coming to Australia in August.
Don’t miss this once in a life-time opportunity to see and hear Linda speak first hand…
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Make sure you subscribe to my monthly Dental Water Cooler Podcast Series…. “The Ultimate Patient Experience”
Click on this link for all details
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Have you read my book , How To Build The Dental Practice of Your Dreams [Without Killing Yourself!] In Less Than Sixty Days.
You can order your copy here: Click Link To Order
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The Ultimate Patient Experience is a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb. If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.
Email me at david@theupe.com