The phrase "it's your time" can be interpreted in numerous ways. However, no matter how you look at it, the message is extremely powerful for community pharmacy owners. This blog looks at all the ways you can interpret this phrase and the potential implications these interpretations have for you and the pharmacy or pharmacies you own... and on independent community pharmacy ownership across our great land.

To start, we feel it is important to understand the three scarce resources every pharmacy owner has: time, energy and money. Time and energy, once spent, are things you can can never get back. That is why they are the most important resources to manage.  

Money is important, but it can be made as long as you have the ability to work.

There is a strong relationship between all three of these resources. One way to think about them working together is the better you manage your time and energy, the more money you can acquire.

Now, back the phrase "it's your time." Does it mean you own your time?  If that is the case then it is up to you to choose how you spend your time (along with your energy). Does it mean it's your time, right now to do something? It's your time to shine? If that is the case then you have to decide what you are going to do next.  

Taking ownership of your time and choosing how you spend it is a challenge for most pharmacy owners... but, it is also one of your greatest opportunities. Taking ownership means making intentional choices about what you do and perhaps more importantly, what you do not do with your time. Ideally, you only spend your time on activities that move you closer to your most important goals and activities that keep you energized, healthy and focused. And, you avoid or delegate activities that do not create the future you seek, are of low value, and wear you out or sap your energy and confidence.

Taking control of how you spend your time helps generate the financial resources you need to afford the things you want. For example, we work with a pharmacy owner who long ago told us he chose pharmacy ownership because he wanted the freedom to spend his time on the things what are most important to him: family and fishing! He quickly realized the pharmacy was dictating how he spent his time, not vice versa. To break free took a lot of effort and he had to change how things were managed in his pharmacy. He created processes and systems to reduce low-value, repetitive work and became an effective delegator. The better he got at controlling his time, the more successful his busienss was and the more free time he had at his disposal

There are numerous ways and systems you can use to better control and manage your time. But they all start with becoming much more aware of what you are spending your time on and much more intentional about what you choose to spend your time on. (We've created a process to help pharmacists take greater control of their time. Click on the link at the ed of this blog to learn more.)

Now, what if we interpret "it's your time" to mean it's your time to shine?

There always comes a time in everyone's life where he or she has the opportunity to step up and meet a significant challenge or realize a great opportunity. Challenge and opportunity for community pharmacy owners is staring us all in the face right now. For example, I was in Dallas at a trade show recently and CMS star ratings dominated the discussion. This is a significant challenge/opportunity in community pharmacy. It's a challenge because of the amount of information you have to track, but it's an opportunity because boosting your star rating means more medicare patients will be sent to your pharmacy.

Another challenge/opportunity is being met and, with some hard work, may be realilzed here in South Carolina. For the past few months, members of the independent pharmacy community have been battling the large PBM managing the prescription benefit for our state health plan (I am writing about this in future blogs titled "From the Front Lines of Community Pharmacy).The PBM is hammering independents' bottom line with lower reimbursements. Pharmacy owners and their allies in this state have stepped up to the plate to challenge the PBM and we feel we are going to be on the winning side of this battle.  

None of us asked for these challenges, but we must continuously step up to take them head on. If we don't, the future of community pharmacy will be threatened even more than it is today.

As you can see, one little phrase can mean many different things. Acknowledging "it's your time" has a tremendous impact on you, your pharmacy and community pharmacy in general. So, the next time you hear the phrase and think about your time, you can choose to step up to the plate, take control of your time, meet the challenges and realize the opportunities all while you make more money and enjoy the time you have. 

We have great news! We've developed a workbook called The Inspired Independence Time Optimizer to help you manage your time even more efficiently and effectively.

Why do we do what we do?

Our vision and mission is to help independent community pharmacy owners achieve all their goals and dreams, inside, outside and after their life in pharmacy. In doing so, we are helping community pharmacies survive for many years to come.