Eyeworld

83 June 2017 EW MEETING REPORTER Mr. Thurmon went on to com- pare juggling to what those in the audience do every day. "I think all of you are profes- sional jugglers … managing vast, complex situations in the midst of the motion coming at you from every direction," he said. The jug- gler throws and catches, all while making it look easy. This too, Mr. Thurmon thinks, is something oph- thalmic administrators do every day. Here are some key takeaways from Mr. Thurmon's speech: • Delegate: It is difficult to let go of things you know you're good at, Mr. Thurman said, right after he threw a surprise juggling club into the audience, which, fortunately, was caught. • Live off balance—on purpose: Mr. Thurman said that while life balance is an intriguing and desir- able concept, he finds it unrealis- tic. "It's your choice, you decide what's important, you're leading changes," he said. • Practice, don't give up: "You never know how close you are to that breakthrough of understand- ing," Mr. Thurmon said, describ- ing what he called "intentional struggling." • Keep looking up: "It's not about the catches, it's about the throws," Mr. Thurmon said, drawing upon his analogy to juggling. "Un- derstand what it is you want to accomplish and what's going to take you there." • Reconcile your five spheres (work, relationships, health, spirit, and interests): These spheres, Mr. Thurmon said, do not need to be mutually exclusive but should support each other. • If the ball is in your hand, throw it: "In other words, take action when you have the opportunity." Editors' note: Alcon Pharmaceuticals Franchise of Novartis Pharmaceuti- cals Corporation (Fort Worth, Texas) sponsored the ASOA Opening General Session and its keynote speaker. "What makes this relationship work is that at any time ASCRS and/ or ASOA can be a mentor or mentee, and it goes for the membership as well," he said. "What makes this re- lationship so special is we learn from each other." Dr. Koch went on to acknowl- edge the work that goes on behind the scenes with ASCRS and ASOA. One example is ASOAnalytics, an online benchmarking program that through a series of surveys will compile data to help better advise practice operations with informa- tion on topics like practice demo- graphics and provider productivity. An ASOA member featured in the ASOAnalytics launch video said the program will help her "keep track of the financial health of my practice while also allowing me to compare my practice to my peers." The main highlight of the Opening General Session was an inspiring—and at times acrobatic —performance by keynote speaker Dan Thurmon, an author and presi- dent of Motivation Works Inc. Mr. Thurmon impressed the au- dience with a series of roundoffs the length of the stage, advanced jug- gling—with balls, what looked like a real bowling ball (to the audience's relief, it wasn't), and knife-like instruments (which were real)—a podium handstand, and riding on an at least 6-foot-tall unicycle, while juggling the sharp tools. Mr. Thurmon used his skills to highlight how members of the audience could apply them to their own lives. "What I'm asking is: What will you do, what are you willing to do, that may be different than what you have done in the past?" Mr. Thurmon said. The first challenge is to get a grip, to wrap your mind around just owning the challenge, Mr. Thurmon said, comparing it to the challenge of a famous juggler who at one point was paralyzed and literally had to practice getting a grip. "You can't always control the outcome but you can control the process along the way," he said. continued on page 84

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