How do you define success? To me, how one defines success is very personal. It’s not always about money, although money is the traditional way some people keep score in the game of success. But does money really equal success? Always? Sometimes? Always to some people and sometimes to all people.

So, how do I spell SUCCESS?

• “S” is for the one letter that all patients call a “B” on the Snellen chart. Even after you tell them it’s an “S,” they still say “B” the next time they read the chart. To be a successful optometrist—or, as the patient might say, a “BucceBBful” optometrist—you sometimes have to forgive your patients. They’re only human after all and I’ll bet you yourself have made stupid, give-me-a-break kinda mistakes from time to time. No, you haven’t? Never? OK, if you Bay Bo.

• “U” is how you understand your success. I understand that I have a nice house and car because my wonderful forefathers dug themselves out of whatever muck they started in and taught each generation to do the best they could with whatever gifts the good Lord gave them. For example, I can snap my fingers and shoot a beer cap across the room with laser precision. That took four years of college to master. I’m almost certain my forefathers would understand that is cool as can be.

• “C” is for just make ’em “C” better. When in doubt, try that with your next patient. It seems to make them happy and that makes you more successful! The opposite rarely works but is a common approach with recent grads. Ask my earliest patients, who never returned.

• “C” again? But this “C” is different. This “C” stands for “cents.” If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make “cents.” The road to ruin is paved with good-hearted optometrists who give away their services and goods for nothing, just to be nice. Optometry is at least board certified in that department because we constantly sign up for any vision plan, no matter how dumb. You cannot be successful unless you make a profit in your office, so make sure your decisions make “cents.”

• “E” is the elephant in the room. We all have some variation of pachyderm stomping around, whether it’s our “ego” or our “enemies” or our “energy” (too much means loony, too little means puny). Or it’s our “evil receptionist,” who we are afraid to fire. (I’m married to mine, so what’s your “excuse”?) You know your elephant. Dump it! (Please do not email my wife about this.)

• “S” is for “shhhh.” Quiet yourself. Get zen. Find your happy place. To be successful, you have to know when to chill. You do not always have to be productive. In fact, if you are my friendly optometric colleagues down the street, you never have to be productive. Stay home with the family. I’ll handle the patients for you. I’m just that kind of guy.

• “S”... The final “S” is for “stay.” Stay true to yourself. As the should-be Grammy winning song (that I wrote) says, “Be who you are.” However, the “S” for “stay” does not mean you should be “stuck.” That’s not the ticket, people. “Stay” means keep your practice and your life true to your ideals and beliefs—unless of course those beliefs and ideals are “sick,” in which case you’re “sunk.”

What is success? I’ll let you know after I visit my grandbabies this weekend.