Cool Party Tricks for Introverts
If you love to strike up conversations with random people at the drugstore, move on. These are tips for those among us who dread being thrust into conversations with colleagues, family, and unknown party crashers during the holiday season party roulette. But you made it through med school, brutal residencies and fellowships, so with a little help, this will be a piece of cake.
Starting a conversation is the hard part. Most of them will go on autopilot after that, so try:
Lead with a sincere compliment. Your opening line will make the other person feel good. Be specific, e.g. “Love the lederhosen.”
E-lab-or-ate
When someone else asks you a question don’t give a monosyllabic answer. Elaborate, tell something about yourself, and get colorful.
Don’t Drift Away During Small Talk
Think of sports tidbits, the traffic on the way to the party or weather reports to talk about. It’s hard to jump into a conversation about existential angst or the fall or the Roman empire without warming up a bit first.
Be Nice
Friendly and agreeable is a lot better conversation tactics than blunt and curt. Relax and go with the flow!
Keep It Light
Unless it’s a political rally or a church event, steer clear of politics and religion. Opt instead for a conversation about the holiday traditions or your favorite bit of yuletide nostalgia.
Cool Party Tricks for IntrovertsWatch Your Body Language
Keep It Light
Unless it’s a political rally or a church event, steer clear of politics and religion. Opt instead for a conversation about the holiday traditions or your favorite bit of yuletide nostalgia.
Cool Party Tricks for IntrovertsWatch Your Body Language
Cool Party Tricks for IntrovertsWatch Your Body Language
Maintain eye contact. Avoid a defensive posture like crossing your arms. And whatever you do, don’t stare at your phone the whole time. Show people that you’re truly interested in what they have to say.
Ask Questions
We all love sharing our knowledge and special stories. Here’s your chance to play detective and find out what makes other people tick. Who knows, you might just end up enjoying yourself and making new friends. And we can all use more of those.
Are Millennials Avoiding the Doctor?
Primary care doctors may be the latest thing Millennials are scrapping, according to a survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Researchers found that 45% of 18- to 29-year-olds surveyed had no primary care provider, compared to 28% of 30- to 49-year-olds, 18% of 50- to 64-year-olds and 12% of people 65 years and older.
Make your practice Millennial-friendly
With their desire for convenience, faster service, connectivity and price transparency, Millennials are seeking out alternatives such as retail clinics in big box stores, urgent care clinics, and telemedicine sites. Many traditional practices try to keep pace by tag-teaming patients among a group of doctors, physician’s assistants, and nurse practitioners. So even though the patient may not be seeing the same individual health-care provider each visit, they’re seeing the same team.
Plus many practices are adding smartphone apps for making appointments, as well as making prices more transparent.
Will this penchant for a la carte health services extend to specialists like ophthalmologists? Only time will tell, but not many would have guessed 10 years ago that a whole generation would feel comfortable ordering prescription glasses over the Internet. And now Warby Parker is valued at $1.2 billion.
At the very least, expect many practices to shift toward the style of service Millennials have come to expect from their other health care providers.
You’ll Poke Your Eye Out, Kid!
Not that you or your patients would ever give a child a dangerous toy, the season of poking stuff in your eye is here. Last year in the United States, emergency rooms treated 251,800 toy-related injuries, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). And, a whopping 44 percent were to the head and face; and 34% were under age 6. Yikes!
And thanks to an article in JAMA Ophthalmology, you can make your patients paranoid about sports gifts, too. They found that basketball, baseball, and air guns were the most common causes of injury, accounting for almost half of all primary sports-related eye injuries.
Assuming that you’re not trying to recruit new patients over the holidays, you might try passing these tips onto your patients. Feel free to post this list from Prevent Blindness on your website.
- Avoid toys that shoot or include parts that fly off.
- Ask yourself or the parent if the toy is right for the child’s ability and age. Consider whether other smaller children may be in the home that may have access to the toy.
- Avoid purchasing toys with sharp or rigid points, spikes, rods, or dangerous edges.
- Buy toys that will withstand impact and not break into dangerous shards.
- Look for the letters “ASTM.” This designation means the product meets the national safety standards set by ASTM International.
- Don’t give toys with small parts to young children. Young kids tend to put things in their mouths, increasing the risk of choking. If any part of a toy can fit in a toilet paper roll, the toy is not appropriate for children under the age of 3.
- Do not purchase toys with long strings or cords, especially for infants and very young children as these can become wrapped around a child’s neck.
- Always dispose of uninflated or broken balloons immediately.
- Magnets, like those found in magnetic building sets and other toys, can be extremely harmful if swallowed. Seek immediate medical attention if you suspect a child may have swallowed a magnet.
- KidsHealth.org recommends that bicycles, scooters, skateboards, and inline skates should never be used without helmets that meet current safety standards and other recommended safety gear, like hand, wrist and shin guards.
- Read all warnings and instructions on the box.
- Always supervise children and demonstrate to them how to use their toys safely.
Last Chance to Save Some Cash from the Taxman
The tax year is grinding to a close and it may be your last chance to take advantage of deducting up to $510,000 in equipment purchases from your tax bill. If you’ve had your eye on a new piece of equipment for the office, now’s the time to jump on it!
Section 179 is a tax credit from the IRS code that allows you to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment, so if you’ve been eyeing a new OCT or slit lamp, you still have a few days left.
Check out this handy calculator from Section179.org to help you determine what your tax credit could be. And, as always, consult your tax advisor, read the small print and note that objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear.
Call or email us before the end of the year to see how much you can save! 800.255.5929.
Enter the Maestro! Topcon’s Spectral Domain OCT
If you’re ready for a new OCT, Topcon has you covered in every dimension with the 3D OCT-1 Maestro System. The Maestro features a high-resolution color non-mydriatic retinal camera combined with the latest Spectral Domain OCT technology. A 12mm x 9mm scan along with automated segmentation provides measurement and topographical maps of the optic nerve and retina in one scan.
The Maestro is a fully automated, affordable, all-in-one compact system that fits well into even small office settings.
Call us at 800.255.5929 or drop us an email to get the details on the Topcon Maestro!
Gratitude Is Good
Gratitude may be more beneficial than we think. A Kent State study assessed the health benefits of writing thank you notes and researchers found that writing as few as three weekly thank you notes over the course of three weeks improved life satisfaction, increased happy feelings and reduced symptoms of depression.
While the research into gratitude is relatively new, the principles involved are not.
Gratitude is a pillar in most of the world’s faith traditions. Catholic Jesuits have a tradition of reviewing every day with gratitude. The Quran recommends gratitude, saying “Whoever gives thanks benefits his own soul.” Buddhists believe practicing gratitude leads to the direct experience of the interconnectedness of all life. Many of us give thanks before meals and “count our blessings.”
Studies like this one from Harvard support these teachings. Individuals who regularly engage in gratitude exercises, such as counting their blessings or expressing gratitude to others, exhibit increased satisfaction with relationships and fewer symptoms of physical illness
There are lots of possible explanations for such benefits. Expressing gratitude may encourage others to be generous, promoting a cycle of goodness in relationships. Similarly, grateful people may be more likely to respond with acts of kindness of their own. A community in which people feel grateful to one another is more likely to be a agreeable place to live.
So practicing a little gratitude can go a long way in not only making ourselves feel better, but uplifting others as well.