The Imperfect Perfectionist: Seasonal Secrets for a Happy, Balanced Life
By Michelle Babb, Wendy Lomme, Karen Bush, and Chieko Watanabe | Reviewed by Fawn Coussens, PT, MSPT
“When you see a fork in the road, take it.” -Yogi Berra
This advice would generously describe my approach to business strategy up until a year or so ago when I began thinking about growing my private practice. I looked for some intentional direction and investigated business coaching.1 It was not that I was disorganized in my practice—I had plenty of structure, but it was mostly inside of my head. This strategy had worked perfectly well for a privately owned, solo practice, but taking on my first employee meant a challenging new phase for my business. Having clear direction and processes in place felt critical to draw an ideal practitioner to join my practice and make it easier for them to seamlessly flow in with the practice I had run independently for eight years.
Through networking connections, I was given the book The Imperfect Perfectionist: Seasonal Secrets for a Happy, Balanced Life.2 It contained very accessible and employable strategies for simplifying work processes, organization, and more. Through the simple and useful strategies outlined in this book coupled with the blog written by one of the coauthors, Chieko Watanabe,3 I was able to distill down the core values for my business. I found guidance to discern the direction I wanted to go with my practice, setting goals both large and small. It helped me with business strategies that were tailored to my strengths as a professional and that suited my unique style, while coaching me through many hurdles where I lacked cohesive skills to navigate efficiently.
Examples of streamlining and skill building that I addressed for my business included strategies for eliminating both mental and environmental clutter, eliminating decision fatigue, creating checklists, and developing “Success Habitude,” or the habitual tendencies, mindset, and behaviors for success.
A surprise element that came from the tools I absorbed from these materials was how I could generalize the skills to address the ways in which I was stretched in my family and personal life outside of work. By applying the same principles outlined for the business, I was able to create the beginnings of a more organized household, which has freed up considerable mental space to direct toward my business and other joyful activities that I choose.
Creating these visions for myself allowed me to up-level my expectations and then step into that space comfortably. I highly recommend working with a business coach or consulting other online or in-print expert sources with practical tips to help improve your business strategy practices!
References
1 https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/06/30/five-signs-you-need-a-business-coach/#6fc0a3035c88. Accessed July 2018.
2 Babb M, Lomme W, Bush, KP, Watanabe C. The Imperfect Perfectionist: Seasonal Secrets for a Happy, Balanced Life. Staggering Quills LLC; 2014.
3 https://chiekowatanabe.com/blog. Accessed July 2018.
Fawn Coussens, PT, MSPT, is a PPS member and the owner of Kinetic Physical Therapy in Seattle, Washington. She can be reached at fawn@kinetic-pt.com.