Your Pharmacy’s Biggest Competition

Have you ever wondered who your pharmacy’s biggest competition is?

The answer is not the big box across the street or the popular online pharmacy. Instead, it is much closer to home. Just take a look in the mirror. Internal barriers are much more potent than anything external. As the pharmacy leader, you need to do the hard work to enable your employees and business to be the most successful they can be. 

You Are Your Biggest Competition

Are you negatively competing against yourself? Things we often do can get in our way of achieving ultimate success. Check out these 9 ways you could be your own biggest competition below, and start taking positive action today to grow and get ahead.

Here are nine ways you are your biggest competition:

1. Procrastination
2. Ego
3. Unhealthy foods
4. The knowledge you neglect to learn
5. Lack of discipline
6. Distractions
7. Bad habits
8. The negative behavior you’re nurturing
9. Self-doubt

Procrastination

Procrastination is when tasks are put off, unnecessarily delayed, or past their deadline, regardless of the negative consequences. No matter how organized or committed you seem, you might have found yourself online rather than working on the books. Your willpower and motivation are low.

Chronic procrastinators have higher levels of stress which can no doubt lead to health issues down the road. About 20% of the population lets procrastination supersede their goals and responsibilities. Procrastination is a significant contributor to being your own biggest competition.

Examples: Year-end is approaching, and you rescheduled meetings with your accountant 5 times. Instead of getting next week’s schedule done, you read posts on Facebook.

While We Waste Our Time Hesitating and Postponing, Life is Slipping Away. — Seneca

Ego

Ego is described as part of the personality that identifies you – it’s who you think you are, which can sometimes lead to a bit of a false identity. It’s also described as the part of your personality that carries on relationships with the external world and can sometimes be undesirable. Many people consider ego an abundance of over-confidence. However, you can develop a negative ego – that won’t work for me. I see this in many pharmacy owners; your sense of self is negative.

Examples: You refuse to accept your mistakes or underestimate business challenges are signs of an overly positive ego. Nothing ever works in my state, or marketing doesn’t work for my pharmacy, are examples of a negative outlook.

Unhealthy Foods

Eating healthy can be like good medicine. As a pharmacy owner with a lot going on, it can be easy to eat anything within reach when you’re hungry. Eating a healthy diet is key to keeping your mind healthy and quick. Sugar crashes are bad for you, and being hangry makes everyone unhappy. 

Don’t expect to get 100% out of yourself if you’re not putting the right things in your body. Have healthy, protein-packed snacks available at the pharmacy. You can buy in bulk at the warehouse stores. These can be for you and your employees. I would give them for free, and you could ask for a donation jar to help offset the cost. Don’t let crappy food hinder your and your team’s effectiveness. 

Examples: Having candy and baked goods available for snacking instead of healthier, blood sugar leveling food. 

The Greatest Wealth Is Health – Virgil

Knowledge You Neglect To Learn

Neglecting to learn something new when it can make a positive difference now or in the future is a common pitfall with business owners, particularly pharmacy owners. You are busy. When you do invest time and money into professional development, it is often focused on the clinical side, not the business. Put effort into learning new things as constantly as you can. Listen to podcasts while driving. Get Audible for books. Learn from other business owners outside of the pharmacy world. 

Here are some of my favorites:

• The Game Podcast
• Books by Russell Brunson
• Magnetic Marketing Podcast
• 1 Page Marketing Plan Book
• Financial Independence books and podcast
• Pharmacy Profit Summit (ok, shameless plug!)

Examples: You keep seeing that 10x business accelerator event happening in the spring, yet you don’t buy tickets because it will be a hassle to find coverage for your pharmacy. 

Lack of Discipline

Discipline means having the ability to complete a task that’s not interesting or being positive despite not feeling like it. Another way that I like to think about discipline is the ability to focus on what’s best for the long term and not just what is easiest for the short term. A lack of discipline implies that you won’t tackle the challenging projects, even if they benefit your pharmacy. 

Examples: You want to quit having weekly employee meetings because of the extra prep time you have to endure. You haven’t gone to talk with the new doctors’ offices yet because you haven’t updated your marketing materials in 2 years. 

It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up. – Babe Ruth

Distractions

A distraction is anything that interrupts your attention, or that draws attention away from your primary task. It can be so easy to get distracted by all the things going on at the pharmacy, so it’s essential to recognize these distractions and minimize them. Distraction can also show up as being disorganized. You don’t have a clear, prioritized plan of the items you need to do, so you just work on everything a little bit, and nothing gets completed. 

Examples: Employees come to you for every minor issue in the pharmacy, constantly breaking your attention on your tasks. You don’t have a system for tracking all the tasks you need to do and the due date; therefore, you drop the ball many times, which creates several little emergencies. 

Your Bad Habits

A bad habit is a repetitive negative behavior that can keep you from being your best. It can be annoying, repulsive, or people may even avoid you because of it. Moreover, it’s been a long-standing pattern of behavior, and, the truth be told, you probably don’t even like these bad habits yourself. Habits are hard to break, while they are easy to form. It takes awareness and then commitment to break them. 

Examples: Repeatedly not following through on your promises made to employees. You complain about the industry troubles constantly. You solve problems for your employees instead of helping them figure it out on their own.

The Negative Behavior You’re Nurturing

Having a negative behavior can be challenging to realize and negatively influence others. It can become toxic to those around you, especially if the conduct involves being aggressive (or passive-aggressive) or assuming things about situations and others. A negative disposition is more than having a bad day; it’s like having a bad day every day. Running a pharmacy is more challenging than ever before. Some pharmacy owners have become their pharmacy’s biggest competition by letting the negativity take hold in their future outlook.

Examples: You have an employee that is always late, and instead of having a difficult conversation, you let it slide while giving passive-aggressive comments. The pharmacy has become full of tension instead of a joyful workplace. 

People with a positive attitude are influenced by what goes on within them. People with a negative attitude are influenced by what goes on around them. — Keith Harrell

Your Self-Doubt

Doubt is feeling a lack of conviction or uncertainty about yourself; it’s doubting your abilities. Self-doubt can be the most prominent cause of being your own biggest competition. It can manifest in various ways, like negative self-talk, lack of confidence, and never feeling good enough. It can be paralyzing, problematic, and make you think you’re not qualified. Nowadays, it is often called imposter syndrome. You are not alone in being afflicted with this. Self-doubt causes many intelligent and capable people to not reach their full potential. Surround yourself with people that lift you and up and believe in you. 

Examples: I could never be as successful as that other pharmacy owner. I don’t deserve to be recognized. Who would want to pay for my services?

Get Out Of Your Own Way

Stop being your biggest competition by first being aware of what is holding you back. Work on changing your daily habits, reduce meaningless tasks, be positive, get enough sleep, set goals, and plan your days accordingly. I like to make a schedule for themed days of the week. 

As a pharmacy owner, I had:

• Marketing Mondays
• Team Tuesdays
• Workflow Wednesdays
• Therapeutic Thursdays
• Financial Fridays

These days helped me bucket my to-do lists and focus for the day, so I was more efficient when working. 

You can start your day with a list of tasks you want to accomplish or even things you want to work on with your staff. Start making a hit list – a list of must-get-done today’s tasks. I like to keep a master list and then decide what has to be done each day. Many apps and software can help you manage your lists and due dates. Use whatever method will work best for you. 

Every once in a while, do a self-evaluation and ensure you aren’t being your pharmacy’s biggest competition.

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