Dr. Sofia's office was a reflection of her life: orderly and efficient but a little unpredictable. Every morning, she arrived at her office with the same routine, attending to her patients with dedication but feeling like something was missing. It seemed like there was never enough time for everything. Despite her professional success, she could not find a balance between her work and personal life.

SETTING AND FULFILLING AMBITIONS
Every year, as January rolled around, Sofia would promise herself that this year would be different. She envisioned a year filled with accomplishments, travel, and greater well-being. However, like many of us, she would get caught up in the daily grind, and her ambitions would fade.

One day, overwhelmed by this situation, Sofia realized she was not managing her own life effectively. She asked herself, "How can I expect my practice to thrive if I don't have a clear plan for my own growth?"

She decided to create a detailed plan for the following year. She began by visualizing how she wanted to feel in a year: more relaxed and fulfilled, with more time for family and friends. She imagined attending that international conference she had always wanted to go to, finishing a research paper, and starting regular yoga practice.

IDENTIFY AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT
With this clear image in mind, Sofia began to build her plan. She identified the areas of her life that she wanted to improve–her physical and mental health, her professional development, her personal relationships, and her spiritual growth. She allocated a percentage of her time and energy to each area, prioritizing those that she considered most important.

The result was a detailed and personalized plan that guided her throughout the year. Sofia was surprised by how much she was able to achieve by having a clear vision and a plan of action. Not only did she experience greater personal well-being, but she also saw how her practice benefited from her more balanced and strategic approach.

DEFINE WHAT YOU WANT
When January arrives, and we have not planned what we will do in the current year, we continue with the inertia of the previous year and hope that something extraordinary will happen. We want this year to be the best of all, to achieve better results than the last year, to have more income, more free time, to work less (or more), to dedicate more time to family, hobbies, etc., but that complacency causes our desires to remain just that, a thought without a plan. If we have not detailed a plan yet, we should do so now to define what we want to achieve by the end of the year.

CLARITY AND DESTINATION
Without a clear destination, any path will do; without a clear path, we will obviously get lost. That is why every December, we should visualize how we want to see ourselves over the course of the upcoming year. More relaxed, without physical exhaustion, with more books read, more enjoyable trips, more conferences, more friends, more colleagues, and so on. Everyone should draw their vision and have clarity about the destination. Then, plot the path to get there. Make a schedule where you establish the unavoidable moments this year and put the 2025 ISAPS Olympiad World Congress first and foremost. Make sure you include aspects related to mental, physical, spiritual, intellectual, academic, family, rest, relaxation, and leisure. All these areas should have their space in that schedule. Assign each one a priority or at least focus on three of the aspects you consider most important and establish a score according to the importance you give it or want to give it ... this differentiation is important. In Excel, create a column where you put 2024 and give it a rating referring to the previous year, and in the 2025 column as you want it to be.

MANAGE OURSELVES FIRST
Now, you will have a clear focus on your expectations and goals: sometimes, what we give the most importance to is not receiving the time and dedication it deserves. At this point, you might be wondering what this has to do with Practice Management, but the truth is that the first thing we must manage is ourselves, and then we must manage our professional practice; everything starts there.

Juan Sierra, MD – COLOMBIA
ISAPS National Secretary

Interested in more practice management tips?
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