Half full? Half empty?
If you think YOUR particular plot in the optical industry is in tenuous and somewhat tangled times these last few years, you should try navigating the publishing arena. It’s no longer a case of optimists and pessimists fisting it out for a sip from that fluctuating half full/half empty glass. More realistically it is an era of radical change in which the ways and means of delivering communication messages have morphed through to an altered state of complete rejuvenation.
This isn’t just a case of radio being nudged by television or monk manuscripts being ditched in favor of books bouncing off Guttenberg’s hot, new press. I’ve played versions of this note here before but it bears repeating with fresh wrinkles: The information you need to conduct your business, enrich your career and fulfill your obligation to delivering peak vision care changes in its delivery system virtually by the nanosecond.
You have (take a deep breath) trade publications, medical publications, consumer publications, websites, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, trade shows, education forums, CE courses, reps at the door, events in the dispensary, seminars and (this might be the most important of all) your patient all delivering information you need. And you need to filter through all of that considering what is a priority, what is valuable, what you can learn from and what needs to be discarded as useless.
With this onslaught of information hitting the crux of the matter becomes rationing precious time needed to cope with this ever-expanding barrage. It’s not really WHICH method you prefer, be it online, on paper or in person. It’s time. Yours. And you need to pick and choose on the input so it best affects your output.
It’s not really about what your generation is most comfortable with in terms of delivery be it paper or the Internet. It’s not about computer savvy or the comfort of reading from the assortment of mags next to your favorite armchair at home. It’s not about traveling to a show or taking courses at a school.
It’s time. There is only so much of it and via a self-devised system of dividing up your time you need to pick and ultimately choose what communication deserves your precious time.
So when I say thanks for reading this and thanks for letting all of the experiences delivered via 20/20 into your life, I really mean it. Thanks, for letting me spend some of my time in YOUR time. And thanks in advance for sharing in this hope-filled New Year.
