Last month, I talked about how a 20‑meter shift in a vineyard turned good wine into something unforgettable—and how the same kind of intentional refinement can elevate the way we treat patients and develop our teams. It was about artistry, nuance, and seeing the individual instead of “blending” everyone into one generic plan of care.
This month, let’s talk about what happens after the artistry meets real life.
Because here is the uncomfortable truth about improvement—clinical, operational, or personal: it almost never fails for lack of a good idea. It fails because we quietly quit on the idea the moment it stops being easy or convenient. The documentation shortcut, the new evaluation flow, the commitment to give timely feedback; all of them sound great on Friday and feel impossible by the following Wednesday.
And that is where this month’s theme comes in:
Habits are not built by never missing a day. They are built by coming back and never quitting.
When the “Reserve” Plan Meets a Tuesday
In the Napa story, those Reserve Cabernet grapes did not end up 20 meters closer to the mountains by accident; someone chose that row, paid attention, and kept choosing it over time.
No one said, “Well, it rained this week, so let’s just throw everything together and hope it works.” The difference in the bottle came from a thousand tiny, consistent decisions.
You and your team do the same thing when you step out of “blend mode” with your patients and staff. You slow down just enough to notice what makes a person unique and adjust your approach. That is your artistry at work.
But unlike grapes, your workdays talk back.
Patients cancel. Prior auths get denied. The schedule explodes. Suddenly that beautiful “reserve”-level workflow you designed—better documentation flow, better patient education, better mentoring—runs smack into a Tuesday.
The temptation in that moment is to go back to the big stainless-steel tank: blend it all, get through the day, survive. And sometimes, for that day, you should. The key question is not “Did I keep my perfect streak?” It is “Did I come back to the better way as soon as I could?”
The Real Skill: Returning to Better
Think about three areas where you have probably set intentions in the last year:
- A better documentation habit
Maybe you decided to close one note before you leave each treatment room, instead of saving everything for the end of the day. For a week, it works. Then you get an overflow of walk-ins, a complex family conversation, and you walk out with six open notes.
The old story says, “That’s it, I knew I couldn’t keep this up.” The new story says, “Today was the exception. Tomorrow I’m back to one note before I leave the room.” The habit is not the streak, it’s the return.
- A better attitude with difficult situations
Maybe your resolution was to stay curious instead of cynical when new processes roll out—especially around tech changes. You promised yourself, “I’ll ask, ‘Can this be better?’ before I complain.” Then the latest update drops, something breaks, and you find yourself venting in the breakroom. That doesn’t make you a fraud; it makes you human. The move that matters is circling back to the conversation and asking, “Okay, frustration aside, what is one small way we could make this better?”
In every case, what separates average from artistry is not that the artist never has an off day—it is that they come back to the work, again and again, when most people quietly stop.
Designing Habits You Can Actually Come Back To
If you want more “reserve” outcomes in 2026—better patient experiences, better staff engagement, better use of your systems—you do not need bigger goals. You need smaller, repeatable actions that you can reenter after a messy week.
A few practical guidelines:
- Make the habit small enough to survive your worst day
“I’ll completely overhaul my documentation this month” is a blend-tank goal. “For my last patient of each half-day, I’ll complete the note before leaving the room” is a reserve‑row habit. One is easy to abandon; the other is easy to restart. - Anchor the habit to something real
Tie your comeback to existing cues: opening your schedule, logging into the EHR, starting your first eval, or finishing your last check-out. That way, even after you miss, the environment itself keeps tapping you on the shoulder. - Pre-decide how you’ll respond when you miss
Instead of hoping you will “do better,” write the rule: “If I miss a day, I always show up the next available day, even for two minutes.” No drama, no shame, no big restart date. Just the next rep.
From Nuance to Never Quitting
Last month’s blog was about nuance: How paying attention to the subtle differences in people, processes, and potential turns “good enough” into something remarkable. This month, consider this the sequel. Nuance is how you design better experiences. Never quitting—coming back after the miss—is how you keep those experiences alive long enough to matter.
So as you look at your patients, your staff, your workflows, and frankly, your own habits, ask two questions:
- Where am I tempted to blend, when I could be an artist?
- Where am I tempted to quit, when I could simply come back?
If you can keep asking those—and keep returning to the better way, even after imperfect days—you will not just make “estate-level” changes. You will build a culture where coming back, refining, and trying again is normal. And in allied health, that might be the most powerful habit of all.
Scott Williamson, MBA, CAE (ret), is the president of Quality Outcomes and the executive director of education and events for OPIE Software. He can be contacted at scott.williamson@opiesoftware.com.
