Welcome therapists and group practice owners! I’m Nicole McCance, a psychologist turned business coach for therapists. I want to give you a behind-the-scenes look at my daily routine when I was growing a seven-figure group practice with 55 therapists while raising twin babies.
I grew fast, I grew furiously, and I survived it. And the secret is that it starts with how you fuel yourself every single morning.
P.S. Not a huge fan of reading blogs? (I’m more of a podcast girl myself.) You can listen to my podcast episode all about this topic by clicking here or by watching my YouTube video below!
Your Morning Routine Actually Starts the Night Before
Here’s what nobody tells you about morning routines: they begin the night before. You need to set yourself up for success:
- Turn off the television
- Put away your phone (stop scrolling)
- Go to bed early
I used to be embarrassed about this, but I go to bed at 8:30 PM (sometimes I’ll even go to bed at 8 PM) and wake up at 5 AM. I sleep nine hours, and I know that sounds wild when you’re running a group practice, but here’s why it matters.
If you want next level results, you need to take next-level care of yourself.
Think of yourself as a vehicle that goes to 17.5 places at turbo speed every single day. A normal vehicle goes slower, maybe one or two destinations. Yours is different. You need to check the oil, put air in the tires, and add windshield wiper fluid every single morning. If you don’t, you will burn out. Which is exactly what we want to avoid when scaling a sustainable 7-figure group practice.
Start Your Day with Meditation and Mindset Work
It’s usually 5 AM and still dark outside when I tiptoe downstairs to my living room.
Everyone’s asleep upstairs, and I have these few precious minutes to myself (seriously, it’s wonderful). I lay on the floor and do something that has seriously made a world of difference for me: I calibrate my energy to match the feeling I want to create that day.
Here’s what I mean by that.
We’re all building our practices because we want freedom, right? But think deeper for a second. What feeling will that freedom actually give you? Maybe it’s ease. Maybe it’s happiness or peace. Most of us think we can’t feel that way until we get the bigger house, the luxury car, or start flying first class.
But what if you could practice that feeling right now?
What if you spent just five minutes every morning feeling grounded, calm, and peaceful? Feeling loved and grateful? That’s what I do first, before anything else.
After those five minutes, I get up and move my body with hot power yoga for an hour. If you’re running a practice, you know that tension I’m talking about. The kind that makes you clench your teeth at night when things get really busy. There’s so much energy we hold in our bodies that needs to be released. When I move my body, I release all of that, and I become a completely new person.
And it doesn’t have to be a yoga class. It can be anything that moves your body in a way that feels good, like a short walk or dancing while you make your tea.
Fueling the Machine: Breakfast Without Decision Fatigue
When I do a yoga class, I’ll get home just after 7 AM. My kids are just getting up, and I’m ready. I am the tuning fork for my family and my group practice. I need to ground into this expansive energy so I can lead.
So, this is a bit embarrassing, but I’ve been drinking the same breakfast since I was 24. That’s 21 years of the same chocolate smoothie. It’s high protein with banana, spinach, blueberries, and some powder for shiny hair.
Why? Decision fatigue.
I don’t want to waste my brain power on “what do I have for breakfast” decisions. As a leader of a multi-seven-figure business and a team of 15, I have a lot of decisions to make.
If I do these three things every morning, I feel ready:
- Meditate and calibrate my energy (5 minutes on the floor)
- Move my body (1 hour of hot power yoga)
- Have my power shake (same breakfast, zero decisions)
Your self-care has to be non-negotiable. Depending on your season of life right now, it might just be multivitamins. That’s okay. But what would you be doing if you treated your care as non-negotiable?
How I Organize My Day Before 10 AM
By 9 AM, I’m showered, caffeinated, and ready to tackle the day. My kids are at school, and this is when I do something that keeps me from dropping balls all day long: I go through my reminders app and triage everything.
Here’s the system:
- Throughout the previous day, I’m constantly talking to Siri. And I mean constantly. I’d be walking down the hall at my practice and have three different ideas just from one conversation with my admin.
- The moment a thought pops into my head like “I need to bring this up at the team meeting” or “I can’t forget to order those supplies,” I immediately tell Siri to write it down.
- I sit down at 9 AM and triage everything I told Siri the day before. Some tasks get moved to next week’s team meeting. Others get scheduled for two weeks from now when I know I’ll have blank space. And some need to happen right now, so I knock them out immediately.
This system is the only reason I’m hyper-organized. Without it, I’d be relying on my brain to remember everything, and that’s just not realistic when you’re transforming into a CEO. You need to make time for that identity shift every single morning, and it starts with getting everything out of your head and onto a system you trust.
White Space: The Secret to Not Burning Out
Between everything you do, book 30 minutes of white space. That’s nothingness. If you’re driving this Ferrari all day without stopping, you’ll blow a tire.
As you scale, messages are going to be coming in constantly. I had a clinic manager, operations manager, and an admin team of six, but people still wanted me.
I spent those 30 minutes checking in with the team. Sometimes there were no messages, so I’d grab a snack or stretch. Having that white space reduced the overwhelm and was seriously key to me not burning out.
The Post-It System for Interruptions
Sometimes the day is a complete and total windstorm, and everything feels like it’s happening all at once. When those days come, I use Post-Its for visual reminders.
Yes, I use Post-It Notes constantly!
Before I get up to answer an interruption, I grab a Post-It and write down what I’m doing. When I sit back down, I look at the Post-It: “Oh right, the email.” This system saves you from dropping balls during chaotic days.
Ending My Day as a 7-Figure Group Practice Owner
I would always end my day at 3:30 PM or sometimes 4 PM.
Then, instead of scrolling on my phone, I’d go relax in my hot tub to wind down my nervous system so I could be the best present mom possible when my kids got home from school.
We reach for our phone when we’re revved up, to distract. But what if you gave yourself nurturing at the end of your day so you didn’t need those distraction tools?
Scaling a Group Therapy Practice
I have a question for you.
What if you’re right on time?
The universe is always giving you magic, miracles, and delights. But we miss it because we’re too in our head, too busy. Create white space. Slow down. Ground in and calibrate your energy the moment you wake up.
Here’s your homework: this week, ask for help and practice receiving. If someone offers you something, say “yes please.” Then the universe will give you more.
And for those who haven’t scaled yet, I want you to know this: your to-do list will never be done.
We will all die with an undone to-do list. Own that, and it will allow you to take action and live your best life right now.
Want even more strategies for building your group practice without burning out? Follow me on Instagram or listen to my podcast, The Business Savvy Therapist!
Your Business Bestie,
Nicole
