“Where there are no oxen, the stall is clean, but great harvest comes from the strength of the ox.”
-Proverbs 14:4
The meaning is clear: If you want to enjoy success you’re going to have to shovel some s**t.
Much has been made about weirdness of 2020. A charged political environment, the volatile economy, social unrest, the disappointment of Fantasy Island (the movie), and Covid 19 and its effect on EVERYTHING, have upended and tossed about many of our plans, our businesses, our relationships, and our very way of life. 2020 has taken its emotional, physical, and financial toll on all of us.
Medial practices have been hit hard. Depending upon your specialty, patient encounters, charge and payment volume, and other KPIs may have dropped 50% or more. Radiology Business reports the use of preventative and elective care services—including MRI and mammography—plummeted nationwide (mammograms as much as 67%) during the first two months of the pandemic. A few of our office-based clients took a break from seeing patients altogether.
I suspect if last November we had known what 2020 would bring, we would have approached our lives much differently.
Still, we’re moving forward.
In the face of challenges nearly inconceivable 12 months ago, we and the healthcare practices we serve are adapting. Like all worthwhile change, adaptation isn’t always easy, or clean. There are challenges, expected and unforeseen, some distasteful and some smelly. Doing the right things consistently means a good harvest is coming. But we won’t get there without some mess.
There's poop in our barns. And that's good. Let's each grab a shovel.