Ep 55 | Sparking Joy with a PP Cleanout

Annie: I'm Annie.

Leah: And I'm Leah.

Annie: And this is Lactation Business Coaching with Annie and Leah, where we talk about the smart way to create a compassionate and professional private practice.

Leah: Let's dive in.

Annie: Well, hey there, Leah.

Leah: Hey Annie. How are you doing?

Annie: I am fine. We're recording this in May where it is endless winter but apparently, it's getting hot in Texas where you are.

Leah: A hundred percent. We're definitely getting hot, and it's so funny because this heat has made me think of you more often because of warm seltzer. Anybody who heard our podcasts early on, there was a lot of talk about seltzer waters. And yesterday I had an old warm seltzer, and it was the only liquid in my car and I needed something so I picked up that can of warm seltzer and took a big swig. I thought, Oh,
Annie and her warm seltzer.

Annie: I live by my warm seltzer. We got in the car and I promise you we'll talk about private practice things, but you just made me think about my warm seltzer in my car, and there was one in the door and my younger daughter was thirsty. She's like, I'm thirsty. I'm like, well, there's seltzer in the door. This was not an open seltzer, by the way. And she goes, ‘That seltzer is old.’ I'm like, oh, I have failed as a parent. I can't get my children to drink warm seltzer that's not even open. How am I going to get them to drink warm seltzer that's been sitting in the car for four days when they're thirsty? I'm a failure.

Leah: We're going to have to work on that one for sure, and we can use that technique that you have of hold it in front of the AC for a little bit. It gets a little bit better.

Annie: It works. It totally works. Well, I think maybe the warm seltzer in front of the AC is a perfect example of something that I should clean out of my private practice workflow, which is the topic of our episode today.

Leah: Yes, we're spinning off on... If you've ever heard anything from Marie Kondo, she talks about ‘sparking joy’ with the things that are around you and cleaning out is a way to kind of filter through the things that aren't bringing you joy and really hone in on keeping the things around you that truly bring you joy. And we wanted to take that idea and apply it to private practice because there will be times in your practice where you're overwhelmed and you're burnt out, or you're coming to some crossroads and new opportunities are showing up. But you know you can't keep everything on your plate and you're going to need to kind of do the Marie Kondo style of cleaning out, where you're to hold that thing in your hands and think, is this sparking joy or is it not? And if it's not, how can we move it out of private practice for us? And when I thought about this, I thought, well, this could be so many things from physical. Like, do I really need to keep this canister of whatever or this tool that I thought I was going to use all the time. You know, for example, I bought these teething things and different cups that I thought, oh, I'll be in this bottle refusal visit and I'll want this, and it literally has never happened. So I'm thinking, you know, I probably don't need those. Maybe they can stay in my car, in the trunk, but I really don't feel like I need those in my bag that goes in every single consult with me. I had this vision that I would be the really cool lactation consultant that would pull out this really cool tool. Hasn't happened yet. And so, I think that's a way that I can say can I clean out this bag a little bit? Can I downsize this bag a little bit and really only bring necessities in with me? So, it could be physical things, but it could also be more than that. What are you doing in your practice? Have you ever thought about that? Things you've committed to or systems that you're using or things that you're committed to? Is this working?

Annie: Yeah. I mean, I do feel like I reflect on that maybe more frequently than most people do, just because I'm trying to learn how everything works so I can teach everybody else how it works. So I'm often more in the situation where I'm trying to stop myself from letting go of something in order to replace it with something else that I am like, you don't need this new thing. What you have works just great. I do get that shiny object syndrome. I mean, I too fill my Amazon cart with things like fancy teethers and the balls with the little nubs on it after hearing Susan Howard speak about bottle refusal, because I think she is one of those LCs that goes in with all the stuff, and it's a great, and I would like to be her cause she teaches on it so well, but I don't use them. I think what I've been doing is I have been really combing through my forms, my intake forms and saying there are some things where every time it comes through and I'm reading through it, I'm like, oh, it drives me crazy that it does that another time and another time. Well, it is a good time to just sit down and be like, today, I'm going to take care of my forms and I'm just going to make all the changes that I want to make and this does not have to keep going on and on and on.

Leah: It's so funny you say that because I have this one sentence on my one form, and I do the same thing. Every time I see it, I'm like, I've got to change that. It doesn't make sense. People are answering the question incorrectly. They're not answering what I'm actually asking so I know it's not coming through to the parents. And every time I sit down and read it; I say I have got to go change that thing. And then I'm like, okay, I'm going to put it on the list of things to do and I literally have a sticky note right next to me here that says, go change that on that section. And its so funny cause I do know it's not sparking joy to have it there and I get so flustered.

Annie: I have one on the IntakeQ templates that I share with people, that people buy from me, and if you're listening and you bought my IntakeQ forms, you probably know about where it's next to your baby's doctor's name and then it says group practice and in parentheses it said (if applicable) and for some reason it had two F's in IF so it was IFF. Having a little mistake like that is so unprofessional and I've had that mistake there for over a year. And then I would do IntakeQ customizations for people and I'd say let me know anything you want me to change, and they all were like can you please remove that extra F? And every time it would be like, you know what? I could just remove that from the master that Amanda shares with everybody and then none of us will have this problem, but I never did it in the moment. I think I recently did it and I need to make sure now that I'm recording. I'm going to hold myself to it that before I get up from this chair, I'm going to remove that stupid extra F that is so embarrassing to me.

Leah: We're going to do it. We're pausing this recording for a typo correction. Please hold.

Annie: Okay. I'm back. I took away that extra F. Oh, it feels so much better now. Now Amanda is going to get flooded with people emailing saying can you share the new forms? I really, all I did was remove the extra F I haven't been any substantive changes to my IntakeQ templates right now.

Leah: Right. Oh, my goodness.

Annie: I'm sorry about the F.

Leah: But there really are times where you might come to a crossroads and maybe a new opportunity has come up for you. Somebody wants you to come and be part of a collaborative with them, or work inside a physician's office or maybe a hospital position has opened up and you're like, oh, maybe I want to do that on the side. But that might mean you need to clean out what you're doing so that you have space for that cause I think a lot of times - and I know this is so true for me - I have so many hats in my practice that I oftentimes come around and think, okay, what's actually working for me? I keep working at the dentist office, even though it is a bit taxing, but I'm constantly learning there so I'm like, okay, this is good for me. It's sparking joy. It's a good fit for me, even though I know I can't take on some other things because I'm choosing to keep that in play. And I do reflect on it often because there are other things and you kind of have to really see what is truly sparking joy. Am I doing this because it's helpful to me or fuels my entrepreneurial flames, those kinds of things, or is it taking away where I feel like this is draining me and I really need to take a good, hard look at does this need to come out of my practice? And that could be even be … I was thinking about systems. I think sometimes we need to do a system clean out. You know you create a system for yourself. I know I've done this, and it's maybe 10 steps too many, or the workflow isn't working anymore, but we just keep doing it because it's just what we do, and the flow is there. Why change what we're doing? The flow is there. But I do think it's really so powerful to maybe even set a time that you're going to do this overview, just piecing through all of your practice and seeing what's working, what's not working, what do I dread every single day that I have to go do? Or what do I - like we've been talking about - roll our eyes at ourselves like, why am I doing this? I'm doing something that is or leaving something undone that 100% would make my life better, easier, able to do. So that's really what I was thinking when I come through this clean-out, but Annie, other than the type, what else is kind of coming to mind when you're thinking about sparking joy with a clean out?

Annie: Well, you know when you mentioned systems, that's something I have actually been really focusing on lately and looking at the systems I'm using and are they working, are they not working. What happens to me is that I end up with a system or the idea for the system, and somebody even just said this to me recently. It was like, oh, you're so good with systems, and I actually don't think I am in the way that somebody needs to be. So, what happens to me is I will say, okay, I need this thing to happen. I will come up with a way that that thing could happen, and then I end up working so hard and spending so much energy in making this way that I came up with the best version of itself without stopping to ask, is this actually accomplishing the bigger goal that I have? Is it solving the problem that it needs to solve? So for example, I was working through the workflows that I have for managing clients that come to my company for website design and branding services and social media and SEO and customizations, and that can sometimes involve a lot of moving parts and it's a lot of people. I know this isn't the same as private practice, but as an example of what happens. This could be applied to a group practice or even your workflow with your admin, and so I was looking at it like I want to make sure that number one, I always know the status of every project, and number two, I want to make sure that the clients have what they need to get us what we need. And so I came up with these - I can't even tell you how elaborate they were - step-by-step like move the click up card here and change the status and do this. And then I got to the end and I was going back and forth with the person who was helping me with it. And she was like, okay, but do you want this step to happen first or second, or which one? And I was like, wait, wait, Wait! Hold on a minute. We got into the problem where I'm now just saying how do I perfect this thing? But can we stop and say, does this thing actually solve the problems that I have? And we came to the agreement that I don't want it to be that granular. I just want to figure out how we can all have accountability. And so it was just really interesting to remember that I might have a tidy mind. That doesn't mean I'm good at systems. And so looking for help and even for me at the very least, asking what is the problem that I'm trying to solve with this system, and then did my idea for solving it actually solve it before I spend any more time trying to make it better.

Leah: Yeah. Yeah, because you can kind of get in the weeds in systems cause there's so many even down to all the applications that you can use and then you got to customize all the applications and then you got to set up all the, the boards and the check boxes. Oh my gosh, you can get so in the weeds and then in the end, you're like, oh, this might not be as useful as I thought it was, or like you said, it's not solving the problem for the people that I'm collaborating with. It's not working for them the way I envisioned it would work for them, or they're not able to utilize it the way I envisioned they would utilize it. So it's really so helpful in private practice I think because a lot of times we are working on our own or maybe just with one other person. If you have a group practice or an admin or something like that is to maybe reach outside of your business to just talk through. One thing that I found so interesting, I had a life coach for a while and I was just sharing some of my woes of things that are struggling and oh my gosh, she was like, well, have you ever thought of doing XYZ? And I'm like, wait, what? No, I hadn't ever thought of doing XYZ because I was just holding onto this is how you do it. There's no other way and that's all I know, and I never really thought to look outside of that pain point to see if there was something else that I could do. And Annie, you shed so much light on with paperless and all the things that we can do, those pain points, so many of us hadn't thought how we could do all this electronically or with more ease and things that just kind of flow so easily from that electronic, pre-setup systems. But it was so helpful to get to share with somebody else. Hey, this is something that not working for me, and I'm really stuck on if I got to suck it up because this is not a fun thing, but I got to do it the way that it's done. Or is there something creative or something that I haven't considered outside of the box, tool or just an idea that might trigger me to be able to set up a new system or create something new that would really help? So I think it's helpful if you have some system to it. Maybe you're going to look at time management things and then maybe you're going to look at the way that you're working through your charting and things like that. Have a system to how you're going to plan your clean out from physical clean out of things or your systems or your charting. You can go through it piece by piece to really see what's working, what's not working and also make sure that the things you are choosing are things that are keeping you fueled and on fire for your job and your business and keep it growing and thriving.

Annie: Definitely. And you know, getting rid of the things that are worn out, dusty. That can happen with your charting. You might find that there's a - perfect example - I did Kristin Cavuto's Mental Health First Aid, and she talked about all the charting templates, I mean all the screening tools so I had them all converted into IntakeQ and I said I'm going to use them all. And Kristen if you're listening, I know you want us to use lots of different screening tools but I'm not going to use all of them. I don't need all of them and then they sit there in my IntakeQ sort of mocking me. Why aren't you using me? They're not being used so I can delete them, and I can be okay with that. I know that they exist. I know that I've got the ones in my rotation that I know are working for my practice. And the same thing goes for my scale bag, which has been woefully neglected this year; barely used. But you know, I could go in there and find out if my bag of nipple shields is still in pretty good shape. Maybe I want to show my private practice some love by just washing those nipple shields that are in the Ziploc bag. They do get a little dusty just from sitting around. I did a home visit the other day and I was getting things organized. And I was like, you know what? I'm not wearing a face shield for home visits. I think I can take this out of my bag. I think that's going to be okay.

Leah: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And I have done that so many times, had to. As things have changed through this pandemic, I'm like, oh, okay, I'm not using this anymore. I can move that away. Take it out of my car, get things more streamlined in my kind of in-and-out-of-my-car system that I have. It's been really helpful to keep up with some clean out in a reflective way. Am I using this? Am I not, on a regular basis? And especially as things are shifting and changing for you as well.

Annie: Definitely. It's funny, one of the things that I keep in my scale bag is I keep reading glasses in my scale bag. This is such a funny thing. I don't know, maybe I'm in a little loopy mood. I'm going to share with you something that's changing for me - my eyesight. I've been trying to actually figure out, optimize what do I actually want for a home visit. Do I want to be able to wear glasses? If I wear my contact lenses that I can see distance, I have to wear reading glasses. But if I wear contact lenses where I don't need reading glasses, I can't see as clearly far away. And so this has actually occupied a lot more of my thought than one might think now that I'm back into home visits, because actually what is my system? I'm not used to wearing the glasses with the face mask and they fog up. Maybe I just get my husband to drive me to my home visits and I don't have to worry about my distance vision. Do I keep two sets of contact lenses and swap them out? What's my workflow for that? And this is just an example of something, this layer of complexity that has come in in the last year as I've gotten older. And also, I know that all the time I spend on my computer has really weakened my eyesight. It has gotten worse over the last year, but it's all these things where I am not ever going to be the person every day. Today I'm not the person I was yesterday, and I won't be the same person tomorrow. All these things are going to change. If I keep trying to do things the same way, if I keep trying to look at things the same way that I always have with the same lenses, that's where I'm going to get into trouble cause I'm not always going to have the same - I'm really stretching this metaphor.

Leah: I like it. I like it. Keep going.

Annie: You know. You get it.

Leah: Yeah.

Annie: My eyes are literally not the same. I literally do not see the same today that I did yesterday.

Leah: Absolutely. Yeah. So, what we're saying for you, and what we want to share for you is that don't be afraid to do a private practice clean out, and really take that moment to see what is bringing you more fuel, more energy, more joy. What's not, let's get rid of it or change it or fix it or make it a better pair of glasses. Maybe you need to break down and just get like me. I have the three levels of vision, but I know you don't like to wear glasses and I know you told me your glasses are super high strength.

Annie: I got new glasses and they're progressives.

Leah: That's what I have.

Annie: I still don't really understand how they work.

Leah: It takes a while. Just FYI anybody out there as you are mid-40s, this is going to happen to everybody I feel like. I moved to progressives. It took me like two weeks of feeling nauseous a lot of the time, and then finally my eyes adjusted and now I can't live life without them. But anyway, back to the point, don't be afraid to do that clean out. Do that reflection and we're encouraging you to do that. This is what helps you be the amazing provider that you are, by keeping things neat and tidy around you and in you and for you. And we just hope that this sparks a moment. We want to hear about what you're cleaning out, what you're kicking to the curb, what you're hanging tight to. Please share that with us. We love to hear feedback from you guys, and we hope that you have a wonderful summer.

Annie: We are going to be taking off for the summer. And so, we've got some rebroadcasts lined up of some past favorite episodes of ours. However, we're not taking the whole summer off cause we're still having our Deeper Dives this summer. Once a month, it's usually the second or third Wednesday of the month, we talk to a different person in private practice about their private practice, and you can check out our summer schedule at https://learn.anniefrisbie.com/lactationbusinesscoaching, where you can also sign up to pay monthly, or you can buy any of our Deeper Dives one at a time a la carte. You can sign up for my mailing list where you'll get notified each month with the new Deeper Dive, but they're really fun. They're recorded so you can watch them later and really hope you'll be there for that. We'll be back in the fall with brand new episodes, so thanks again for listening and for all your support.

Leah: Thank you.

Leah: Thanks for listening to learn more about our monthly Deeper Dives and how to support our podcast for as little as $1 a month, visit lactationbusinesscoaching.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.