Your boring pharmacy – staying the course for long-term success

Sometimes you should resist change for the sake of it. But what you resist launching, waiving or spending money on makes a real difference. 

In a repetitive pharmacy world that craves constant peaks of new-ness, those with the ability to grind will out-succeed those that make impulse decisions and routinely make big pharmacy system changes. Resisting temptation in a world of abundance can be your ally.

Many pharmacy leaders develop great models that could someday yield long-term success. The trouble is that they do not always stay the course. They shift away from their plan before it comes to fruition. 

Why?

Staying the course is boring

It requires that we defer the immediate gratification of doing something new, making headlines, optically growing or being in the spotlight. It means we have to grind along a mundane path when a more exciting path pops up.

Staying the course is confrontational

It means pushing away distractions, saying no to people who pull us away from our goal and continuing the work hard when others do not. The grind sometimes even centres us out since the average person might give up earlier. Occasionally people ask us questions to which we don’t owe answers. 

Staying the course makes us question ourselves

The social media world shows us that everyone else is having fun and therefore must have better models. Internally, the by-product of having a plan is sensing a picture of what the end goal will look like and imagining having it now. This works against us when we see others posting snippets of what our end game might someday like.

To be successful in the pharmacy business, stick to your core business plan and tweak around the fringes to stay relevant instead of taking on more than you can chew in sweeping changes. Stay true to the fundamental principles of your plan and adapt the details as the environment requires it. Believe in the plan and surround yourself with people who can help you make it happen.

Self-questions when deciding to pivot or not:

If you sway from your plan and win, how will you feel?

If you stick to your plan but lose, how will you feel?

What is the last New Year’s resolution you saw through?  

Sometimes the best decisions in business and life are the ones you say no to.

What temptations are currently weighing on you that you could simply let go of?