Law #3 of the Go Giver is the Law of Influence which says that your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first. When I teach these laws I like to look to see how (or if) I am using them in my own life. I discovered (thankfully) that I am, indeed, using the Law of Influence in my therapy practice in particular.
I used to have a fairly set schedule in seeing therapy clients. I like to have my mornings to do things around the house, go to do my workouts, etc. so I would start seeing clients in the late morning and go until about 5pm. I liked that schedule; it gave me lots of time for my personal life and time to do some networking in the evenings if I wanted. I had clients asking me about coming in earlier in the morning and some asked about coming in after their work at 5 or 6pm but I said “no”; this is my schedule. Looking back, that now seems rather self-serving and kinda mean….
After becoming a Go Giver coach and learning about the Law of Influence and putting other people’s interests first, I looked to see how I could do that. I opened up my schedule more to accommodate my clients’ needs. I see clients earlier in the morning but am still able to work out because I’m getting up an hour earlier and I’m seeing clients until 6 or 7pm some evenings. I’m not networking in the evenings as much but am finding new networking groups during the day. I also have more down time in the early afternoons during which I can get billing and paperwork done which is freeing up my weekends which is when I used to do those things. All in all, my new schedule is working out pretty well. It works for me but better yet I know that my clients are better served and that’s the way it’s supposed to be!
