At some point, you say to yourself...
"Why do I feel like I am so busy all of the time?"
"Is this what it feels like to have a private practice?"
"Why do I feel like I am always worrying about multiple things?"
I know. Owning a private practice can even become stressful at some point.
But what if I told you that having a private practice DOESN'T have to be stressful? I am not fluffing this up either! I work with many therapists and can see how, when they started with me, stressful they were trying to constantly navigate through the realm of business ownership. BUT... I have found a unique (ok, not so unique, but very helpful the least) strategy to help out these therapists stay on track to use their time wisely.
Check out the list below of the 6 ways I help therapists run a stress-free private practice:
#1 Schedule Every Minute of Your Day
If it isn't on my schedule, it doesn't get done. Plain and simple. Putting everything on your schedule may take time at first but eventually, it becomes a habit. Then it becomes simple and almost a comfort. It will also instill another great habit-looking at your calendar schedule every morning. This will help you stay organized throughout the day.
#2 Stop Wasting Time On Unimportant Things (like unwanted subscriptions)
To put it plainly, unsubscribe from every subscription that you DON'T need. You have any idea how many times I open my email in the morning and I see 27 unread emails. It almost instantly gives me anxiety! Once I start to read through them though, I realize it's just a bunch of crap that I don't even need to waste my time on. But wouldn't it have been nice if I just woke up to the three emails I actually needed? Well, let me tell you from experience, once you find and cancel unwanted subscriptions, you will have the same feeling of relief like I did.
#3 Delegate Tasks To Others (or learn to at least)
If you are anything like me, you want your hands on everything so that you know exactly what is going on. But that causes a lot of unnecessary stress. For me, it takes away from the things I am best at. Over time, I have learned that if I am not an expert at it, then I need to pass it off to someone who is. If you aren't an expert at marketing, hire an expert. If you aren't an expert at accounting, hire an expert accountant to keep up with your finances. Trust me, you will thank me later for this tip.
#4 Learn To Say No
Learning to say no leaves more YOU time. It's not selfish, it's a necessity. If you load yourself up with too much, you aren't as effective. You don't make time for your own self-care. I started a new rule: if I haven't met my personal self-care goal, then I will say no, because, at the end of the day, I am important. If I cant be helpful to myself, I can't be helpful to others.
#5 Set Goals and... CRUSH THEM
Goals are like my own little cheerleaders. They are little bursts of encouragement. Once I accomplish the goals, it's like I just won the Superbowl! So that may be much, but the point is goals are good things. Don't set false expectations for your goals. Start small; start with achievable goals so that you get used to how it feels to achieve them. Then you will be able to take on those more ambitious goals.
#6 It's Ok To... Be Less Social
So this may sound strange, right? Why would being less social make me less stressed? But think about it- how often do you find yourself on social media? How often does time get away from you because you become so wrapped up in someone else's feed? The truth is, it happens to all of us and quite frankly, it causes us to stress out more. If you want to test it out, I encourage you to do so. Take a little break from social media for just a few days and see how you feel. Does your mood change? Do you find yourself getting more done and feeling less stressed? If so, keep the "less social media" habit going.
If your goal is to be less stressed while running a successful practice, then try a few of these tips out. Add it to your newly found list of goals. Be aggressive! You deserve to have a stress-free private practice and you can make it happen.
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