o.d. to o.d.

Archery 101: You Need to Have a Target to Hit

And once you have a target, be aware that your everyday actions can impact your ability to hit the bull’s eye.

BY SCOT MORRIS, O.D., F.A.A.O. Chief Optometric Editor

I spent most of a recent Sunday hanging out with my sons. We were out doing a little target shooting when my youngest son, A.J. (age 8), asked me,

“Dad, if my aim is off a little, how much will I be off when the bullet gets to the target?”

I remember asking my father a similar question when I was about his age. I gave A.J. the same answer my father gave me:

“Depends on how far away the target is. You see, the farther the bullet travels, the more wind, friction, humidity and gravity affects its trajectory. If we are only 50 feet from a target, our aim can be ‘a little off,’ and we can still get pretty close to the center of the target. At 400 yards, we will miss the target altogether.”

Business targets

This brings me to my next thought as I watched him take aim. That same principle applies to business. Think of the bull’s eye as your goal. Think of the distance as time and the projectile as your everyday actions.

Your everyday actions can have varied effects on your ability to hit the target. There are and will always be challenges and resistance to whatever you take aim. Much like the wind, humidity and gravity, you can also mildly affect these challenges and have to accept them as part of the process.

These challenges, very small or very large, can change your trajectory unless you are diligent about your actions and decisions. Also, you have to deal with distance or, in this case, time.

Everyday opportunities

Every day is an opportunity to get better or get worse, to get closer or farther from your goals.

What you do every day can affect your trajectory toward your goals. Are you making the small changes necessary to reach your long-term goals?

As we get to the end of the year, we are most likely looking at how our practices have performed this year. Hopefully, we are also taking aim at what we want to accomplish in the coming year.

Five challenges

Here are my challenges to each of you reading this:

1. Set five goals for your practice, complete with time lines.

2. Set specific actions that you must complete every week to reach those goals.

3. Communicate these goals with your team.

4. Track your progress on at least a weekly basis (every day would obviously be better).

5. Make the necessary changes to correct your trajectory every week.

Now, ready (plan), aim (focus) — fire (go for it). OM