While the day in the life of a physical therapy owner can differ wildly from one day to another, we encourage you to set yourself up for success with a weekly schedule.
As expected, anyone who follows a weekly schedule can benefit from the structure and habits that can lead to increased productivity and efficiency. Plus, it helps prevent procrastination which can reduce stress, save time and improve your focus.
As private practice management experts, we coach our clients to maintain a schedule that keeps your focus and attention on the things that really move the needle. For some, this can be tracked daily – for others, weekly might be best. By prioritizing your to-do list and holding yourself accountable, it actually becomes easier to balance their CEO/PT Owner roles and responsibilities alongside their clinical tasks.
So, how does one build the ideal weekly schedule template? We suggest following these 6 tips.
6 Ways Private Practice Owners Optimize Their Weekly Schedule
Make a To-Do List
As a Physical Therapy private practice owner, when building your schedule of executive and clinical tasks, the first consideration is capturing all of the events and deliverables that need to be on it. Begin with a list of the administrative tasks that must be done throughout the week. Your list should include everything you and your staff need to accomplish for that week in your physical therapy clinic, from scheduling to training to treating to meetings, etc. Next, list out the bigger visionary tasks that will help move the business forward, from relationship building to technology training to hiring.
Prioritize Your Tasks
Once you’ve translated all of your roles and responsibilities into actionable tasks, it’s time for the more challenging part. Consider the essential day-to-day tasks at your practice – these are the critical to-dos that directly affect operations – then arrange them in order of what is most important. We recommend prioritizing three, must-do items for each day. We find that tackling these projects first helps ensure they get done before the unexpected aspects of the day take away your attention.
Give Yourself Deadlines
Every task needs a deadline, even those which may not have initially had one. After all, a task needs to be done or you wouldn’t have listed it out. So, as you prioritize your tasks, factor in manageable, timely deadlines. Even if a task isn’t a priority and has an indeterminate date in the future, give it an actual date and time in your schedule. Deadlines help motivate and push us to accomplish the task at hand.
List Out Recurring Events
For the most part, you will find a lot of recurring items that happen day to day, week to week in your clinic (like lunch, team check-ins, appointments, etc.) Set these recurring events up in your weekly schedule to best manage your time. If the tasks are mechanical, spread them throughout the schedule at times when they make the most sense. For instance, company meetings are more spirited early in the morning, and simple tasks can be added throughout the day so they’re easily knocked off your to-do list quickly which can provide a helpful psychological boost.
Create Consistent Criteria
Ultimately, the order you list items on your daily schedule is up to you and how you might best work with them. However, three standard forms of ordering tasks we recommend are by time, priority or deadline. Again, find what works best for you at improving productivity and increasing efficiency at your private practice. Only you know the flow of your office.
Embrace Flexibility
Above all, when coming up with your daily or weekly physical therapy CEO schedule, be open to change. Sometimes patients cancel, walk-ins happen or a new opportunity opens up. Be sure you can go in and tweak your plan as necessary based on your criteria. Whether it is written down on a dry erase board or printed off a computer spreadsheet, make adjustments as needed and move the lower priority items up as you see fit.
Be Your Best for Patients and Staff, Every Day
As a leader, you must hold yourself accountable to excel at the roles and responsibilities you take on at your clinic. As always, control what you can control and be prepared to juggle the inevitable variables that will affect your daily and weekly schedules. Often, private practice owners who find there is too much on their plate see great success at outsourcing the operational tasks that are taking up too much time and effort, which allows them to focus on working ON their business, not IN it.
MEG Business offers a free practice assessment to determine the state of your business and where opportunities and efficiencies can be found. Request yours today!
