A PR pro and a doctor walk into a bar

I had lunch this week with my college roommate who is now a physician. And found that our practices share something remarkable in common.

It had been a year since we last caught up, so we were asking about each other’s work and progress. He specializes in treating patients whose primary care physicians haven’t been able to help. People fly in from other states to see him. He does a bunch of sophisticated lab tests and has expensive equipment that most doctors don’t.

But then he surprised me by admitting that, recently, he’s noticed that the most valuable contribution he makes in his patients’ lives is working with them to reduce the pressure they put on themselves to always be busy. Reducing digital distractions and carving out at least a sliver of each day to find some mental stillness make a huge impact for them.

He was equally surprised when I told him that I’ve found myself playing a similar role with my clients. About five years ago I started encouraging PR pros to guard against the perceived obligation to be permanently connected, always-on. And the people who have listened have enjoyed even greater productivity – but more importantly – better results. They’re not only more emotionally healthy – they’re more creative and effective because they’re not torn in 27 directions all the time.

We found that we both love the same bestseller on this topic (Essentialism by Greg McKeown), and he wrote down the lesser-known books and podcast episodes that I’ve studied and applied to my training materials.

I’ve synthesized the most important lessons on this subject for PR people and will be sharing them next week on a webinar called Work Smarter, Not Harder in 2020: Get Beyond the Daily PR Grind to Get Better Results WITHOUT Being Tethered to Your Phone 24/7.

Register now – it’s free for PRSA members. If you’re not a member, you can pay the à la carte rate of $200 or check out a blog post I wrote this time last year with some free tips.

Whether you join me for the webinar or not, I wish you a wonderful 2020 and hope you navigate it with your mental and physical health intact.

P.S. If you’ve heard me speak on this topic within the last year or so, this webinar will be largely familiar to you. If you’d like a review, feel free to join. If you think you’ve got it down, then spend that hour setting a plan to implement what you learned. 🙂