With just a few more weeks to go before we celebrate the holidays and close out another busy year, I have been turning at least some of my attention to 2022, and asking myself how I can be as prepared as possible for whatever lies ahead. How about you?

For me, the discipline to invest some time to reflect on both personal and professional goals for the new year gives me both confidence and a clear sense of purpose. It helps me to avoid the feeling that I’m stumbling into January without a plan… “fail to plan, plan to fail,” as they say.

Plan for personal and professional success

For example, this is the time of year when I think about ways to change up my diet, exercise, and self-care routine to form new healthful habits. It is rare for met to start the year without at least one or two new ideas to integrate into my lifestyle. Planning some time off to travel and experience new places is also high on my agenda.

Similarly, from a professional perspective, dedicating the right amount of time to business planning is key to having just a few clearly-defined priorities the whole team can be aligned on across all levels of the organization. Too many goals almost always equates to a lack of prioritization (not everything can be important).

Recognize your contribution

Whatever your role in the practice, you can contribute to the development and execution of a successful plan for 2022. I hope that you will be inspired by the varied line-up of great articles we have for you in this edition of Ophthalmic Professional, which span clinical best practices in dry eye disease management, practical suggestions for dispensing dry eye products, and real-world customer service insights, together with tips to memorize and retain an increasing amount of information, as well as some valuable lessons shared by experienced practice leaders.

There truly is something for everyone! How might you apply one or more of these pearls to the work that you plan to do next year? Think about the impact you can make on patient care and your practice team.

On behalf of the OP team, wishing you Happy Holidays and Productive Planning for 2022. See you next year! OP