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By Laurie Sorrenson, OD, FAAO
Sept. 10, 2026
Business books often encourage us to create 3-year, 5-year or even 10-year plans. Others tell us to focus only on today.
While both approaches have value, neither has been the primary driver of growth in our practice.
For the past 31 years (with the obvious exception of 2020), one of the biggest contributors to our success has been maintaining a strong focus on the next three months.
Three months is long enough to make meaningful changes, but short enough that you can see results and make adjustments. It creates urgency without feeling overwhelming.
When I look back at many of the improvements we’ve made over the years, they started with a simple question: What can we do over the next three months that will make our practice better?
A PRACTICAL WAY TO PLAN
The three-month focus shows up in many areas of our business.
One example is staffing. We know from experience that July and August are two of our busiest months. Rather than waiting until we are overwhelmed, we start evaluating staffing needs about three months beforehand.
Do we need another technician? Another optician? More front desk support?
It’s funny to look back at our hiring dates because you can often see this pattern. Many hires occur a few months before periods of expected growth. We aren’t trying to predict exactly what staffing will look like three years from now. We’re simply asking what we will need over the next few months and making adjustments before the pressure arrives.
The same approach has helped us make technology decisions.
Several years ago, we wanted to improve our contact lens ordering process. Rather than spending months debating which platform was best, we picked one and used it. We committed to it for about three months. Then we tried another one for three months. Then a third.
After experiencing each system in the real world, the decision became much easier. We eventually selected the platform that worked best for our practice, but we never would have reached that conclusion through endless meetings and discussions alone.
NOT EVERY EXPERIMENT SUCCEEDS
A recent example was our attempt to use an AI receptionist. We didn’t casually test it. We fully committed to it. Around our office, we sometimes joke that if you’re going to try something, you need to “whole-ass” it.
For three months, we whole-assed the AI receptionist experiment. We trained it, integrated it, measured it and gave it every opportunity to succeed.
At the end of the trial, we decided it wasn’t delivering the experience we wanted for our patients. So we pulled the plug.
And that’s okay.
The goal of a three-month experiment isn’t to prove that every idea works. The goal is to learn quickly, make informed decisions and keep moving forward.
ALSO APPLIES TO LARGER PROJECTS
Our current expansion project is a good example. We didn’t wake up one day and decide we needed more space because of some 10-year strategic plan. Instead, we looked at where we expected to be in the coming months and years and realized that growth was becoming more difficult within our existing footprint.
Growth hadn’t stopped. In fact, we were still growing. But we could see that continuing to grow at the pace we desired would become increasingly challenging without more physical space.
We needed another exam room. We wanted more room in the optical. We wanted our patient lounge to feel less crowded. We wanted patients and staff to have more breathing room. We believed the overall patient experience would improve if the space felt more comfortable and less constrained.
That realization led to a larger project that will take much longer than three months to complete. But even then, the thinking started with what was needed next, not what might happen 10 years from now.
TREAT DECISIONS AS EXPERIMENTS
One thing I see holding many doctors back is the fear of making a mistake.
They spend months debating whether a decision is perfect. They want to make sure they are making the right decision.
Instead, I’ve found it helpful to approach many decisions as experiments. Let’s try it for three months. At the end of three months, we’ll evaluate the results.
Then we’ll decide whether to keep it, tweak it or discard it.
Knowing the decision isn’t permanent makes it much easier to move forward.
If a new process doesn’t work, we can change it. If a scheduling adjustment creates problems, we can fix it. If a new service isn’t producing the desired results, we can modify it or stop offering it.
Some experiments take less than three months. Others take longer. But the mindset remains the same: implement, measure, learn and adjust or eliminate.
I’d rather whole-ass an idea for three months, learn from the results and move on than spend a year trying to achieve perfect certainty before taking action.
You don’t need to know exactly where you’ll be in ten years. Don’t get me wrong, we have long-term goals too. We just don’t spend the majority of our energy on our 3-year, 5-year and 10-year goals.
If you’re looking for a practical growth strategy, identify one meaningful improvement you can implement in your practice. Commit to trying it for three months. Measure the results. Then decide whether to keep it, tweak it or throw it away.
And don’t forget about your staffing! What will you need three months from now? Don’t wait until the Christmas rush and say, “Dang, we need another employee!” If you use this strategy, you would have hired someone in September or October. They would be trained and ready to go before the end-of-year rush.
Sometimes success isn’t about having the perfect long-term plan.
It may be about being bold enough to consistently take the next step.
Read more from Dr. Sorrenson here.
Read more insights from our editors here.
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Laurie Sorrenson, OD, FAAO, ABO, is president of Lakeline Vision Source in Cedar Park, Texas, CEO of ODs Care working with Half Helen, Director of Practice Management and Austin Administrator of Vision Source and the Professional Editor of Review of Optometric Business (ROB). To contact her: lsorrenson@gmail.com |
