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Something a bit lighter today…or maybe just deeper – but sit down as it’s a 3-4min read that will wind you down after big day.
…I sat down to reflect on a recent motorbike trip through Tanzania and ended up having an epiphany.
Not the kind you get from a business book. The kind you get from riding a 450cc through the boondocks of East Africa, covered in dust, with absolutely nothing to do but think.
Throughout the trip, I kept coming back to one thought: How incredibly lucky I am just to be born in Australia.
A 0.31% chance. I had absolutely nothing to do with it. Pure cosmic luck.
So I wrote down every major turning point in my life — the ones that actually mattered — and I examined how each one came about. I came up with 16. Then I did the same with the things that hadn’t gone so well (there’s no shortage of those either).
The pattern was unmistakable.
The turning points that created the life I’m proudest of? They came out of the blue. Unpredictable. Delivered by the universe. I didn’t consciously chase them down.
The things that went sideways — like the sheet metal factory I bought that went belly up? I’d forced those. Chased them down. White-knuckled them into existence.
Because when I look at most Practice owners I work with, they’re doing exactly what I used to do with the stuff that didn’t work.
Grinding harder.
Forcing it.
Believing that if they just put in more hours, more effort, more control — eventually the Practice will bend to their will.
And look, there is nothing wrong with working hard. But in my experience, forcing things tends to come with some unintended consequences: higher stress, weaker relationships, and often a lower sense of fulfilment in life.
Which is basically the opposite of why you became a Vet in the first place.
So here are the 7 lessons I pulled from those turning points — the things I’d tell my younger self. And I reckon they apply to you and your Practice right now.
I was always very clear that I wanted financial freedom, great health, great relationships, and to feel fulfilled throughout the process. Not just at some imaginary finish line. The question I continuously asked myself was: “If I was to die tomorrow, would I have any regrets?”
That was my guide.
For you, I’d ask: Do you actually know what your version of a great life looks like?
Not just a revenue number.
Not just “more profit.”
What does the day look like?
What time are you home?
Who’s at the dinner table?
How does Monday morning feel?
Most Practice owners have never sat down and gotten genuinely clear on that. (I know because it’s something we work on with Clients)
They’re running hard toward a number, without asking whether the number will give them what they actually want.
Every major turning point in my life showed up as an opportunity without guarantees. They were unclear. Messy. If I’d known what was involved, I probably would never have started.
Ignorance isn’t bliss. Ignorance is necessary.
I see this one in Practice owners all the time.
“I want to raise my prices, but what if clients leave?”
“I want to step out of the consult room, but what if the team can’t handle it?”
“I want to invest in coaching, but what if it doesn’t work?”
What if you asked “what if it does?” instead?
Curiosity rather than opinions. That’s what allows creativity — and that’s what’s required to build a practice that gives you your life back.
Here’s the formula I landed on: Spend 90% of your time in the present, 5% thinking about the future, and 5% reflecting on the past.
The only thing that will change your future is an action in the present.
If you’re spending your Tuesday evening worrying about what happens when your head nurse leaves, or replaying last month’s terrible P&L in your head at 2am, you’re burning energy on things you can’t change.
The only thing you can do is take one useful action tomorrow morning.
A playful approach to life and not taking myself too seriously have made the journey an adventure rather than a trial.
It allows me to laugh when things go south. And things go south a lot.
Here’s the bit that might sting a little: The good ideas I didn’t enjoy doing never worked out.
I might have been excited about the possibility of what something could become, but if I didn’t enjoy the creative process, it never flourished.
If your Practice feels like a prison, that’s not just a lifestyle problem. It’s a business problem. Because when you’re miserable, you make worse decisions, your team feels it, and your clients sense it.
Medicine. Business. Life. You weren’t meant to choose between them.
I’ll never be the perfect partner, have perfect health, have perfect friends, feel perfectly happy all the time, or get 100% of my investments correct.
Be okay with the fact that there’s room for improvement in every part of your life. Consistently. And that’s okay.
Otherwise, life would be dead boring.
This one hits Practice owners hard because most of you are perfectionists by training. You were taught that a 1% error rate in medicine is dangerous. But you’ve carried that standard into business, where it’s paralysing you.
You don’t need perfect systems to step out of the consult room. You don’t need a perfect team before you can take a holiday. You need good enough and the willingness to evolve.
Being okay with uncertainty has proved to create a life I’m proud of. Doing things I wasn’t sure how to do, but trusting I’d find a way eventually.
Most things in life have inherent risk. Love. Business. Investments. And definitely riding a 450cc motorbike through the boondocks of Tanzania.
There are always things that can go wrong, and sometimes they do. But being aware of the risks and trusting I can manage them has allowed me to have experiences that the majority of humanity will never get.
In uncertainty, there are possibilities you will never dream of. Living in the known means you’re living the present based on the past.
If you’re waiting until it feels “safe” to raise your prices, delegate your surgeries, or invest in your own growth, you’ll be waiting forever.
Safety is an illusion. Progress requires a step into the unknown.
The amount of things that have worked out in ways I could NEVER have predicted or planned, when I was okay with not knowing… well, it’s just sheer genius.
Kudos to you, universe creator.
This one changed everything for me.
Believing that life is there to serve me, not to harass me, has allowed me to find opportunities (often solid learnings) from my biggest screw-ups, without drowning in the emotions of failure or fear.
Investments that went wrong? Tuition. Expensive tuition, sure, but tuition I applied to the next investment.
Businesses that went broke? A masterclass in doing better next time.
A brawl with my wife? An opportunity to examine what happened and handle it better next round.
I say to myself all the time: “If life happens for me, not to me — what’s the gift in this? I know it’ll all work out perfectly. It always does.”
And for you?
That staff member who walked out last month?
That client who left a one-star Google review?
That quarter where the numbers went backwards?
What if those weren’t things happening to you — but for you?
What’s the gift? What’s the lesson? What changes because of it?
Letting go of the belief that I know better than the energy that knows how to create universes allows me to surrender situations and trust that however they turn out, they were meant to. And in some way, they’re there to serve me.
Looking back on those turning points, I had to chuckle at the sheer ingenuity of it all. There’s no way I could have planned or predicted how my wife and I ended up together, the business ideas that arrived out of nowhere, or the investments that came from left field when I wasn’t looking.
Life is a marvellous adventure. I’d rather dance with it than try to control it.
Because if you want to make God laugh, tell her your plan. I reckon the same is true for your Practice.
Stop trying to force it. Get clear on what you actually want. Say yes to the scary things.
Trust the process.
And for the love of Veterinary medicine, have some fun doing it.
P.S. We’ve got another Workshop coming up… This time, I’ve called in one of the legends of this game…
See who it is here –> https://apa.acceleratepracticeacademy.com/entry
Sam Bowden has spent 15 years as a practising vet. He has owned two practices during this time, each of them achieving phenomenal results in growth and profitability. He has devoted his last 12 years to helping practice owners increase their happiness, work-life balance and profitability. He is the founder of United Vets Group | The Ultimate Veterinary Practice | Complete Vet Systems | More Vet Clients Websites | Accelerate Mastermind Group | Vet Business Manager Program | The Dental Academy His skill set is combining long-lasting mindset changes together with proven practical strategies to allow practice owners and teams to reach their full potential. He is considered a leading educator on how to increase profitability, work-life balance and happiness in the veterinary industry.
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