"Start / Finish" by I Like / Alice

Just today I ran across this manifesto on the cult of being done.  It fits in nicely with the topics we’ll be covering in the  January session of Private Practice from the Inside Out Annual Series so I thought I would share it with you here.  See my comment in the brackets below.

The Cult of Done Manifesto

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.  [Which state trips you up most often?]

2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.  [Love this!  For those of us who were raised at the knee of perfection, it's easy to forget that first drafts are often acceptable even if they are not perfect.  And, when they aren't acceptable, usually you can do them over -- especially when it comes to your marketing!]

3. There is no editing stage.  [This is often true in marketing your private practice.  Opportunities abound and they don't always give you a 48 hour notice.  Think of the unexpected contacts you meet, the conversations that you find yourself in, and the opportunities you have to promote your business.  If you delay taking advantage of those spur of the moment opportunities because you want to clean up your thoughts, your language, your marketing materials . . . it's often too late!  There is no editing stage in marketing your practice.]

4. Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.  [OK, so I'm talking about marketing here, not clinical work.  In your marketing, it's critical that you jump in now to respond to current events and your community's needs. Trust that you'll get better in your marketing by simply doing it.]

5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it. [Procrastination can be your nemesis.  Whatever it is . . . do it now!]

6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.  [YES! When coaching clients on their marketing, I often hear the excuse . . . "I can't do Z because I haven't done X & Y yet."  So then I ask about X & Y only to find that they can't do those because they "haven't done V & W."  You can't do everything at once to build your private practice but you can complete something to move toward your business goal.]

7. Once you’re done you can throw it away.  [There's no point in hanging on to completed projects.  Move on to the next one."]

8. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.  [Many professionals are struggling because they are trying to figure out what the one right way is to build a private practice.  There isn't one right way.  There are many ways which is why doing any one strategic thing to build your practice is better than doing nothing.]

9. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes. [ The great thing about mistakes and failures is that they give you much to learn from. Embrace your stumbles and learn your lessons.  The sooner you learn your lessons,  the sooner you grow your business.]

10. Destruction is a variant of done. [Yes!  And, that's because if it's destroyed, you get to start over!]

11. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done. [That's because it's dead! You've put it out there, others have seen it, taken it and run with it, and you are in need of a fresh idea.]

12. Done is the engine of more. [That's right!  You get to check it off of your list and move on to the next step in building your vibrant private practice!]

Are you getting things done to build your private practice?  If so, drop me  a note right here to brag on your accomplishments.  If not, then let me know where you are stuck and I’ll see what I can do to help you get things done!

The Cult of Done Manifesto was written by Bre Pettis and Kio Stark.  Here is a link to the original online post as well as a link to printable posters right here.