In a world overflowing with information, where is your message? Among all the noise, static, and attention seeking where is your message? Do not forget to throw opinions into the mix…there lots and lots of opinions out there and where is your message?
Is your message being heard? Is your message being understood? You have a message and that message must get through.
Folks, getting your message through is a struggle. Then to get your message understood is an uphill climb.
If I may impart one tip on getting your message through and understood it is this: YOU MUST FIRST KNOW WHAT YOUR MESSAGE IS, THEN YOU CAN PROPERLY CONVEY IT TO OTHERS.
Yes, it does fall on YOU to know your message. Know your message from stem to stern. No exceptions and most importantly, NO SHORTCUTS!
To get to know your message you must first get to know yourself.
It does not matter what your message is, what matters is you knowing that your message is an extension of who you are and what you stand for. FAILING THAT AND YOUR MESSAGE WILL GET LOST.
Again, it does not matter who you are or who you think you are, if you and your message do not align then you have NO MESSAGE.
There is no HACK, no TRICK, no TIP, all there is, taking the time to get know yourself and your message will be realized. Do not rush it. Do not try to speed through the process to get your message. I guarantee you that if you go speeding through your message it will be nothing but a jumbled mess.
It will join its rightful place among all the other jumbled, mixed up noise out in the ether.
At that point, you have to ask yourself, why bother?
Why bother, indeed? If no one is hearing let along understanding your message, then it is high time to make a change. CHANGE your message so that it can be easily understood. Then CHANGE the way you are delivering your message.
Now you might not get it right the first time. Keep working at it. Keep Trying.
At the end of the day, there is only one question to ask and the answer will determine whether your message can be found (or not): What’s Your Message?
I recently found myself at a Medical Specialist office on what I thought was going to be a brief visit on Saturday Morning. Now I know, as to why General Practitioners or Family Medicine Offices have very little business on the weekends, it is the Specialists that have quite a large following on Saturday mornings. Who knew?
Seriously, there were people of all ages. Yes, even infants. I hope by now you can ascertain this specialist deals with issues of one of the senses. Without going any further I will stop right there. You know privacy and the nosy nellies and things like that. But back to the story, my story.
There are three waiting areas. The first one is where people check in and wait to be called. The next area is post-triage/vitals and waiting to be seen by the Doc. The third is a waiting area for letting things happen or recovery for injections or medication, just to make sure there are no adverse side effects. So that sets the stage.
If you have ever been to any Waiting Room, in this case Waiting Room #1, there is an eerie silence that everyone shares. Sure there are whispers and murmurs but nothing else fills the air. That is until those that work there begin to speak. However, that is for part 2. Finally, your name is called and off you go.
After your vitals are taken and if any prep needs to be done, it is now that it happens. Soon you are whisked away to Waiting Room #2.
You enter another quiet room or so it seems. In this room, you will find a handful of those waiting to be seen. Before long, someone speaks. You try not to listen but when they are the only one talking it is quite the challenge to block the woman’s voice.
Within seconds everyone in Waiting Room #2 knows what is ailing that individual. Followed by a full treatment history and what she expects the Clinician to do because her “friend had the same malady”. Folks, days like that day are not the days to forget to bring your AirPods. I never knew who the lady was talking to but I suspect, no one was talking to her but more like listening to the words.
As for who was paying attention, as I looked around the room I could tell who was really invested and actively listening to the one side of a one-sided conversation. They were the ones who had a deer in the headlights look on their face. These were the faces of people that suddenly found themselves in a situation they were not expecting. The people are already anxious and for all they know face an uncertain future.
Adding salt to the open wound that is their new, sudden, and unanticipated state of affairs was this lady and her issues. I understand that everyone handles stress differently, however, some common sense and decorum please. Throwing gasoline on a fire is never a good idea and neither is creating more stress and anxiety for others is also NEVER A GOOD IDEA.
Medical Office Managers get out from behind your desk and walk the halls and visit the waiting room(s) and YES the patients are your responsibility. They are part of the office, without the patients you would not have a job. Yes, it is that simple. So get out there and run interference. Pull aside those that like to over-share, those that like to diagnose others, and those that like to stir the pot for the sake of stirring the pot. Remember, your job is to keep the organization moving along.
Medical Office Staff: Keep an eye and ear on those individuals in the waiting rooms. It is your job to take care of those patients from the moment they walk into the building to the moment they leave. Remember, you are the professional you were hired to be. So be it.
Patients find themselves not liking the environment, they will find some place else to go. I know this to be true as I fired my last General Practitioner and the one I have now absolutely ROCKS!
Patients: Have a little tact, some empathy, and most of all, just keep your mouth shut. I bet you do not like it when others get all up in your business. Guess what? Others do not like it when you do it! So don’t do it.
A Little Disclosure: I was one of the first timers that suddenly found myself there. That’s how I knew what the look on their faces was as I had it as well.
I cannot let go of this painfully true quote by George Santayana (Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist):
THOSE WHO CANNOT REMEMBER THE PAST ARE CONDEMNED TO REPEAT IT.
I wholeheartedly believe that we (ALL OF US) are on the fast-track to repeating the past, the ugly past. This time, there will be NO Allied Forces to help save us from ourselves. There will be no AXIS powers or WARSAW PACT or Democratic Republics or VC or Khmer Rouge or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to fight against. All of them are gone and all that is left of those failed regimes are the “ideologies” and NOT the realities.
Those that know of the REALITIES are told to “Be quiet, boomers” by those that have had luxuries all their lives and have never known the hardship and the hunger pangs of standing for hours in a breadline in front of a state run/controlled bakery only to find the shelves are empty because today’s quota has been reached.
To be fair, in a world of plenty those that believe they know better than anyone else have seen and felt the pain of scarcity when they hear the words “Our ice machine is broken so no Double Shot Latte Soy Half Caff Ice Coffee for you today.”
Oh, the pain and anguish. Of course, that pain and anguish is remedied by ordering a Tall Cinnamon Dolce Latte.
Folks, the realities of what people think is making a better world is nothing but a pipe dream. Those failed forms of government were only self-serving. Serving ONLY those in positions of power while the masses went hungry, left out in the Of course, cold, executed for criticizing their so-called “leaders”, sent to re-education camps for “questioning the government” or sent to a gulag all because individuals were no longer found to benefit the state.
Take a moment, reflect on the past, the present, and most importantly look at the future you want and the future you want for you children. Are they worth it? They better be. Choose wisely.
While this United States of America remains Free and the U.S. Constitution still stands as the Law of the Land then this is me exercising my right.
