The minimalist lifestyle is all about reducing possessions and living on fewer things for less stress and less to worry about by removing items in our lives. In orthodontic practice, we tend to increase clutter, both in objects and, more importantly, in our office systems. Compounding systems and practice growth increases the complexity of what we do. Time constraints then add to our limited bandwidth in managing problems. Many doctors stress their lives as they move from different issues trying to put out fires each day. Unfortunately, this way of practice and way of life prevents us from doing our best work.
Simplify
Constraints come from a lot of noise around us, reducing our productivity and work-life balance since we have accumulated complex work. The minimalist orthodontist works towards removing the physical or virtual clutter that adds stress. By purging, we can simplify and magnify our work. An orthodontic practice can streamline its systems, processes, and tools to efficiently enable people to do their work. Simplify so you can intensify your impact.
Do What Matters
Minimalism forces you to remove a lot of stuff from your life, which means we create more space for other things in our lives. The crucial step is to make space for what is important. Focus on your priorities, and your goals will be achievable. Measure your daily work and see where you are spending your time. Once you measure, you can review if what you spend time on adds value to you and if you should be the one performing those tasks. Remove daily clutter that adds busyness. Delegate tasks that don’t need your focus. The minimalist orthodontist strips down to doing what truly matters most. These should be tasks that add the most value to your purpose and roles that only you can do.
Reduce Distractions
Time is an interesting resource. It is extremely valuable, but many don’t protect it as they should. Time passes, and we have many competing interests vying for our time. Taking the minimalist approach means we reduce distractions that consume our precious time. Distractions are everywhere, so protect your time in a similar way that you protect your financial investments. Great leaders reduce distractions that clutter our schedules and keep us from doing meaningful work. Bring discipline into your life and practice to treat time budgets as diligently as you treat your financial budgets.
