The Best Way to Achieve Private Practice Goals

 Now you’ve set some private practice goals, what is the best way to make sure you achieve them?

Perhaps you’re planning on setting up your private practice or you’ve decided to do some more marketing.  However, you’ve probably got a lot of other stuff going on such as:

• other work commitments
• family and home life
• studying or personal development

So trying to develop your business can feel like yet another demand.

As a result, things don’t get done and disappointment sets in.  Worse, you begin to tell yourself you’re a procrastinator or not capable of doing it. 

Motivation begins to drop and before you know it, more time has passed without progress.

Read on to make it easier for you to achieve private practice objectives.

Avoid Overwhelm

Pace Yourself

Do you recognise yourself as someone who has a “hurry up” or “be perfect” driver?

You end up thinking you have to get everything done as soon as possible.  This means you set yourself a whole range of goals with short deadlines.

That means you’ll likely:

• feel overwhelmed
• paralysed by the size of your “to do” list
• convinced you’re a failure because you can’t get it all done

Take another look at your goals.  Is there anything you could:

• Delete?
• Defer?
• Or even, delegate?

If you’re overwhelmed by even the thought of goals, take a look at my blog on goal setting

And if you’re looking to start private practice, download my free checklist to help you get set up.

Focus on one thing at a time

Try not to do it all at once.

This is both for the big picture and in your smaller, everyday actions.

Achieve Private Practice Goals – the Big Picture

For example, if you’re setting up in private practice, decide on your first project for your marketing efforts.  Do it systematically rather than getting muddled between different projects.

Take it one step at a time, for example:

• choosing the type of client you’d most like to reach
• deciding on your name and branding
• writing your marketing copy to reach your preferred client
• identifying how best to reach your type of client
• networking to get your first clients
• setting up a profile on a commercial directory
• setting up a social media presence
• creating a website
• increasing your audience by blogging

All these steps could take you a year or so, depending on your time commitments.  If you try and do them all at once you’ll end up feeling discouraged.

Achieve Daily Goals

Set aside time each day free of distractions.  If you’re sitting down to do some development work, this means:

• turning off social media notifications
• switching off multiple tabs
• not checking emails

The pomodoro technique is based on the kitchen timer that looks like a pepper.  The maximum time is 25 minutes.  So, set your alarm for 25 minutes and work on just one task.  Take a five minute break when the timer goes off, then start again.

You can read about the pomodoro technique here.

Introduce Changes One at a Time

Good habits will support your growth because gradually over time they will become an automatic part of your day.  You won’t need to think about them and consequently you’ll have more energy to devote to other areas of your life and business.

It takes time to build habits.  Introduce one change, keep doing it until it becomes automatic, and then work on the next one.

Address Failure to Achieve Private practice

Be kind to yourself.  You won’t get it right 100% of the time.

Avoid the “All or Nothing” Approach

Be prepared to pick yourself up and try again.  See a failure as a learning opportunity which will help you to improve and grow as a practitioner and business owner

Don’t Make it Personal

Separate out the failure from who you are as a person. There’s a difference between “I am a failure” and “I failed”.  In a way, we’re all failures – because we’re human.  Being human means making mistakes.  So what are you going to choose to believe about yourself?

Beware Negative Proof

If you believe you are a failure, you’ll always be able to find the proof for it. You’ll look for it and find it.  How about acknowledging the steps you’re making to improve, instead?

If you’re looking to set up your private practice, have you downloaded my free checklist yet?  It’s guidance on all the practicalities of setting yourself up in business as a therapist.

You can access it here: