“Thinking About It” Is Not The Solution

In 2020 I needed delicate eye surgery to have a floater removed from my left eye.

The problem I was having was that I felt that my left eye and my right eye were not working together.

Not all the time, but a lot of the time. And this was annoying me.

After much misdiagnosis from one optometrist, I ended up at another optometrist who spent more time inspecting my eyes rather than simply just measuring my prescription.

The first optometrist had simply prescribed me new lenses.

That was not the answer.

The second optometrist diagnosed a structural issue in my left eye and quickly referred me to a retinal surgeon that had treated me for a retinal tear and detachment some years ago.

The retinal surgeon diagnosed the floater. But he said he usually only operates on floaters after they have been present for twelve to eighteen months.

When I told the retinal surgeon that my left eye had been bothering me for over twelve months he was still hesitant to operate.

But I insisted that if we delayed the surgery for six months as he suggested, the only thing that I could be certain about was that I would return to him “hating his guts” for making me wait and suffer.

[So the retinal surgeon performed the surgery and removed the floater. When I asked him how big the floater actually was, on a Titanic iceberg scale from one to ten, he told me it was “a nine”. One of the biggest he had ever seen.]

Once the floater is removed, new lenses can be prescribed, but the vision will deteriorate quickly and the eye will need cataract surgery after twelve months.

For this surgery, my retinal surgeon referred me to a cataract surgeon.

When I saw the cataract surgeon, although I definitely needed cataract surgery in my left eye, it was discovered that my right eye was experiencing the early stages of a cataract. And would need surgery at a date in the future.

I was told that some people choose to have both eyes done at the same time.

I spent some time with the office manager who told me about the procedures and the various options.

What surprised me…..

What surprised me was her reaction to what I then said to her.

The office manager was indeed genuinely surprised when I asked her:

“How soon can you book me in?”

She was taken aback.

She told me that nearly every patient gets sent home to “think about it” and to then call back, or to then be followed up.

This surprised me.

What was there to think about?

The reason I was at the office of the cataract surgeon was because I was basically blind in my left eye and cataract surgery was the only option I had to restore my vision and see.

I needed to do something.

Unless I wanted to remain blind.

Which was a pretty poor second option.

And my eye wasn’t going to miraculously fix itself.

So, she booked me in for the surgery.

Sometimes I talk to dentists….

Sometimes I talk to dentists who have things going wrong at their practices.

And when I tell them that I can help them to fix their problem, because that’s what I do, some of the dentists go ahead and engage my services, while others choose to delay fixing the problem, hoping that it will miraculously heal itself.

One thing is for sure.

In business, the behaviours and habits that have caused the problem need to be addressed before the problem has any chance of resolution.

Henry Ford said:

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

If you want your business to improve, sometimes the best thing to do is to stop taking your own advice and start taking the advice of someone who has achieved results that have made a difference.

Doing nothing is never the correct answer.

Doing nothing wasn’t going to fix my cataract.

And doing nothing won’t fix your broken business.

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