Spotlight vs Floodlight: Mastering Focus as an Optometry Practice Owner | E290

·32 min·3 clips

Dr. Nick Lillie explains how seeing 78 fewer comprehensive exams this year resulted in the same revenue for his optometry practice.

Dr. Nick Lillie opens by discussing his practice's early-year analysis, noting a deliberate reduction of 78 comprehensive exams with no revenue loss, due to downscheduling and adding a new associate. He transitions to the episode's core topic: attention management for optometry practice owners. Lillie references concepts from Amishi Jha's book 'Peak Mind', introducing the 'flashlight' analogy where attention can be a focused spotlight or broad floodlight. He explains that early in his career, he had a floodlight approach, aware of everything but not examining anything deeply. Lillie outlines three types of attention: spotlight (focused on one task), floodlight (broad situational awareness), and juggler (constantly switching between issues). He emphasizes that living in the juggler mode leads to burnout. As the practice CEO, he stresses the need to control where attention goes. Lillie identifies reasons for losing control: trying to do too much, stress from insurance or financial pressures, constant interruptions making him the bottleneck, and autopilot days. He shares strategies like training attention through mindfulness, which he defines as dedicated effort to the task at hand, not meditation. On patient care days, he takes a deep breath before entering exam rooms to focus entirely on the patient. For staff management, he holds one-on-one meetings to gauge office culture, consciously avoiding distractions during these conversations. Lillie advises practice owners to analyze where their attention goes hourly or daily, then adjust. He closes with a metaphor about a blind man who discards his stick after gaining sight, relating it to evolving beyond past dependencies as a leader. The episode blends personal anecdotes with practical frameworks for optometrists.

As heard by us

A practice owner's attention becomes the constraint when growth depends on constant availability.

Running an optometry practice becomes less a matter of doing more and more a matter of deciding where attention should go. This focused episode turns scheduling, staffing, and interruption into a practical business problem, with the host connecting about 78 fewer comprehensive…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a fuller schedule without turning every interruption into your job?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Optometry: The Ultimate O.D.