Slow Down, You Move Too Fast
I remember the vow I made, “I’ll never let my business get the best of me that way. I’ll quit first.” Yet, years later at the helm of my own business, there were days where I was the vet gripping the side of the counter, fighting for control…
He stood, gripping the sides of the counter, his fingers white-knuckled from the strain. I’d seen Dr. Burke stand there countless times before, studying the rows of prescription drugs, looking for just the right one to prescribe to one of his patients, but I’d never seen him like this; his face and neck a livid red, his neck muscles strained, beads of sweat on a brow that only moments before had been dry.
I heard Allison, the technician whisper, “Go get Mrs. Burke.” Someone scampered away, relieved to escape the tense scene. I stood there frozen, uncertain what was happening, even more, uncertain what to do. After all, I was just an intern, spending a few weeks at the clinic as I prepared for my senior year in vet school, learning what a ‘real business’ was like.
In a few moments, Mrs. Burke appeared, sized up the situation with a quick glance at her husband’s distraught face. She nodded for us to leave them alone. We were only too happy to oblige. As Allison and I walked towards the reception area, Allison took a deep breath and I suddenly realized I’d not been breathing either. “He’ll be all right,” she said reassuringly. “He gets that way sometimes. The demands of the business get to be too much for him, but Mrs. Burke is always able to calm him down. Thank goodness. I don’t know what he’d do without her.”
That was during the summer of 1973, a scene permanently etched in my mind. I also remember the vow I made, “I’ll never let my business get the best of me that way. I’ll quit first.” Yet, years later at the helm of my own business, there were days where I was the vet gripping the side of the counter, fighting for control, caught up by a frenetic pace, much like a hamster in a wheel, running as fast as I could, going who knows where.
Practitioner burnout is one of the most common and serious threats to any professional and it takes many different forms and has many different side effects. From time to time it makes sense to pause and ponder where you are going and what you are building. Perhaps even more important, why are you building it?
There’s a quiet movement underfoot in America which addresses these questions. Some call it downsizing, rightsizing, or simplifying your lifestyle. I like the term, DOMO. According to the book, Trash Cash, Fizzbos and Flatliners: A Dictionary of Today’s Words, DOMOs are “downwardly mobile professionals, who abandon a successful or promising career to concentrate on more meaningful or spiritual activities.” Now, I’m not suggesting everyone reading this article should abandon their successful and promising careers or businesses and go meditate on top of some mountain, although if you do decide to go that route, give me a call. I can suggest ways to make the transition.
I am suggesting that perhaps it is time for all of us in America to examine what is driving us to be a country that represents 5% of the world population while consuming over 30% of the world’s resources. To place this a little closer to home, it starts by each person asking the questions above, “What am I building and why am I building it?” As many DOMOs are finding, it is possible to live an incredibly rich and fulfilling life without working 60–70 hours a week, and without feeling deprived.
As Joe Dominguez, the co-author of the best selling book, Your Money or Your Life, points out, the American dream has never been just about materialism but somewhere we wandered off course, thinking that the large home, the fancy cars, and the exotic vacations were going to bring us happiness. During the 70s and 80s, many of us had to learn the hard way that money alone doesn’t buy happiness. Some of us are still learning it as we zip through the 90s.
One effective way to stop the spinning wheel of the hamster cage for just a little while is to ask yourself the following questions. Spend a little time with them, not looking for the right answers because they’re not that kind of question. They are intended to uncover some of the ‘behind the scene motiviations’ which may be driving you in your business and in your life. In honestly engaging in these questions, you may discover that it’s time to make some directional adjustments in your business and in other areas of your life.
1. Are you running your business or is your business running you?
2. When was the last time you took at least a 1-week vacation? While on the vacation, did you find yourself spending a significant amount of time worrying about the business?
3. Would you say your business is directed by your values or by your lifestyle?
4. Are any of your family members regularly asking for more of your time and/or attention?
5. Do you find most of your time at work satisfying and fulfilling or do you often feel harried, frenzied or bored?
6. Are you satisfied with the number of hours you work or do you wish you could find a way to cut back?
7. When was the last time you sat down with your family and examined your life direction? When was the last time you examined the direction of your business with your staff?
If you find from these questions that you are not completely satisfied with the direction of your business and the motivation which is driving it, here are some suggestions for making a course correction.
A LIFESTYLE DRIVEN BUSINESS
In the mid-eighties, I lived in a beautiful 4-bedroom home on almost 2 acres of land with a spacious deck overlooking a small stream and with two late-model top-of-the-line automobiles in the driveway. I was living the great American dream, or so I thought. Most of the time I stayed so busy at my business that I didn’t have time to notice how unhappy I was. My wife and I both worked fulltime jobs and since I worked a regular shift and she worked second shift, we only saw each other on weekends.
One Sunday I walked out to my beautiful deck and gazed down at the babbling brook below. I suddenly realized I’d been working so hard it had been months since I’d had the time to enjoy my deck, my house, or my cars. There was something wrong with this picture.
This is what I call a lifestyle-driven business and it’s a common occurrence in the consumer-driven culture of this country, as more and more Americans are beginning to realize. A recent survey entitled, Yearning for Balance, conducted by the Merck Family Fund, points to this. According to the report, a “large majority of Americans say they have more possessions and are more financially secure than their parents were — yet less than half say they are happier.” When asked what would make them more satisfied, most respondents answered, “spend more time with my family and friends.” Very few put a high priority on having “more nice things in my home,” a bigger house or a nicer car.
A highly consumer-driven lifestyle can weigh heavily on a veterinary business. For example, if you are running a business in which you are generating 25% net income, that means for every dollar you take home you must earn four dollars and that doesn’t take into account the heavy tax burden of most practitioners. To make matters worse, most people are only “renting” their lifestyles and at alarmingly high rates.
THE OPM CON
For many of you, what I’m about to suggest is going to fly in the face of everything you’ve learned about the power of using O.P.M. — other people’s money. America is a land of debtors. According to a recent article in Your Future magazine, U. S. consumers owe more than $900 billion in student loans, credit-card, car-loan, and other installment debt and that doesn’t include a whopping $3 trillion owed on home mortgages. “Debt is part of the fabric of American life,” says Joseph Mocera, author of A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class. “We see it, we want it, we buy it, even if we don’t have the money for it.”
Unfortunately, most of us pay an incredibly high-interest rate for a lifestyle that isn’t even providing us with the satisfaction and peace-of-mind we’re looking for but instead keeps us locked into working 50, 60, or more hours per week.
In part two of this series, we’ll look more closely at how much you are actually paying to rent your current lifestyle, as well as steps you can take to move from a lifestyle-driven business to one that is value-driven. In the meantime, you’ll find it beneficial to do a little detective work on your business and personal finances. Determine how much you are currently paying back on your outstanding debts. Include everything, your outstanding charge cards, auto payments, student loans, home mortgages, and any other installment loans. Do the same with your business finances. Determine what your total monthly payment for all your business debts is as well. Once you have your personal total and your business total debt, add the two together.
During the next month imagine what your life would be like if you were debt-free. What would you be able to do if you didn’t have those debts to pay out every month? Imagine as many scenarios as you can. Have fun with it. In part two we’ll outline a sound strategy for becoming debt-free within the next 5–7 years.
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W. Bradford Swift has enjoyed a combo career as a writer and life coach for over thirty years and now coaches aspiring authors to write that someday, one day book TODAY. http://wbradfordswift.com/writing-coach/
