I’m going to delve into the first and most important part of my program, DEPTH^™ — the Destination. This is about your ‘why’ and it focuses on you, your life, and your dreams, both for you and for those dependent on you.

If your destination isn’t absolutely clear to you, and your everyday decisions don’t have your destination at their core, you run the risk of forever working for your own business instead of it working for you.

Your Why

Why is your why so important? You’ve heard the term ‘sell the sizzle and not the steak’ and you’ve probably heard of Simon Sinek’s ‘start with why’ (and if you haven’t, it’s worth checking out).

Essentially, it’s about establishing the reason or reasons that you’ve decided to do what you do. It’s not what you aim to achieve, it’s not how you differentiate yourself from others, and it’s not your vision or values. It’s your ‘why do I do this’. The Innocent smoothie brand is a prime example of a company nailing its ‘why’ - they ‘help people live well and die old’. It’s something which filters through everything they do and why. It applies to them producing fruit, vegetable, vitamin and botanical-filled drinks and smoothies, to being a great place to work, and in giving back to the communities they serve.

Remembering your motivation for setting up in the first place, getting your ‘why’ figured out can take time, but if you really focus on getting it defined, every decision you make within your business and however it operates should have it in mind.

Your Life

Another important part of determining your destination is to think about what you truly want to achieve in life. The reasons that made you decide to set up on your own and nurture your entrepreneurial flair. By focusing on your destination, it makes you look closely at you, your life, and your ambitions. I tell my clients to think about the type of house that they want to live in, the car they’ll be driving, the holidays that they might like to have, and any hobbies or interests they’d love to pursue. It might sound materialistic, but it absolutely doesn’t have to be. It might even come down to how much you work in your business, if at all, and what you want to achieve or do in your spare time.

Make it Stick

It’s all well and good thinking about these dreams and end goals, but until they’re firmly ingrained in your mind every day, it’ll be easy to forget them. I always recommend making things visual to remind you constantly about what you’re trying to achieve and how it will feel when you get there.

I personally have a board with images printed out to represent each of my life goals, and I look at it regularly to remind myself. Images are my motivator, but it depends entirely on what motivates you — it could be a letter you write to yourself in 10-, 20- or 30-years’ time, it might be daily email or diary reminders, Pinterest boards, or phrases. Pick what suits you best, but make sure that you put them somewhere you’ll look at every day.

Work on Your Business

Once you’ve got the above worked out, it’s crucial to put steps in place to work on your clinic so that your ultimate destination is more likely to become reality. It’s easy to feel busy working in your clinic, but it’s also in your interest to work on the strategic growth and development of it. Set aside some non-negotiable and non-interruptible time with yourself each day (or each week) to focus specifically on the development of your clinic.

Break it Down

Your destination might feel like a million miles away from where you are now, but it’s important not to feel out of your depth (no pun intended!). By having the big picture in mind and working backwards, you can set targets which can be broken down into yearly, quarterly, and monthly goals. Suddenly, what you thought was out of your reach is now broken down into achievable tasks.

Conclusion

It may sound like a lot of work while you’re in a full-time business, but your destination is crucial and must come first because it essentially sets out every other plan for you. It’s surprising how many clinic owners I work with feel so burned out, work the longest hours, and after all that still aren’t the highest hourly-paid person in their own business. Coincidentally, those struggling in these areas also aren’t able to clearly communicate their destination with me, or don’t have one at all.

Ultimately, we all deserve to have a business that serves us, where we enjoy going to work each day, and where we can live our dreams, and nailing our destination is the first step in achieving this.