FM Walsh & Associates Inc.

Women of Substance: Dr. Carolyn Anderson

Dr. Carolyn Anderson is truly extraordinary – she really thinks BIG!  In addition to being an eye surgeon, she is also an author, motivational speaker and entrepreneur!  She owns 6 companies – Dr. Carolyn Anderson Eye Surgery, Langley Surgical Centre, Images by LSC, Impower Age, Impower Med and Impower Women.  We sat down over dinner and she shared the following tips for building the life you want.

The combination of medical doctor and entrepreneur is a rare one;  what fueled you to become an entrepreneur?

My driving vision has always been to touch as many lives as possible;  I wanted to bring that to life and I felt the best way to do that was to build different businesses.  The best part of being an entrepreneur is the excitement of not knowing how things will turn out.  You get an idea, you start building and it always turn out different than you expected.  And I like having control over my destiny –  it is up to me to make my vision come to life, to build the life I want.

I am going to ask the question every woman is thinking right now:  How do you do it all?

It’s a combination of wanting to accomplish certain things and then doing only those things that are impactful and that move me forward.  I hand off the stuff I don’t like doing and that I am not good at.  The one thing that has really driven my success has been learning to leverage and delegate.  I get my team on board with new business ideas – I get their input and ideas on how we can make an idea successful.  Combining our expertise and energy we have accomplished some remarkable things!  All of them have a do it now attitude.

Another important thing is self-care.  I get up at 5AM and work out every day – it gives me energy.  And then I just hang for a half hour writing in my journal, reviewing my goals and meditating.  This gets me energized and focused for the day ahead.  Too many women spend all their time looking after others and give nothing to themselves.  You have to recharge your batteries on a daily basis if you want to be successful.

I have always been extremely goal-focused.  Every day I write down 6 key things to get done that day – 1 key thing for each business.  This keeps me always moving forward and focused on what I need to bring me success.

I also do a weekly planning process;  every Sunday evening for 1 hour, I sit down with 8 blank sheets of paper – one for each business and one each for Family and Fitness.  I have a goal for each one and then quickly write down all the things I can do this week to move forward and accomplish that goal.  I know that even if I only get one thing on each sheet, I am getting closer to making that goal happen.  I have been doing this for years and it works really well for me.  The key to building success is not doing the occasional big thing – it is actually about building continuous improvement on a daily basis.  I am always asking myself:  What can I do this week to move myself forward?

Talking with Dr. Anderson is very inspiring.  The tools she uses are simple and extremely effective.  If you find yourself struggling to get the important stuff accomplished on a daily basis, give her tools a try – I think you’ll be surprised at the results you’ll get.