Dr. Darren Pollack and Shannon Russo-Pollack dedicate themselves to the needs of DASHA® clients in multiple locations during the week while simultaneously juggling the demands of having two young children. In other words, they’re busy. Just like you. And in an age of cultural immediacy, with nonstop information flow and technology, it can feel challenging just to stay a step ahead of everything. So how do Dr. Pollack and Shannon do it? We wanted to know. We asked, and this is what they had to say:
DASHA®: How do you organize your personal life?
DR. POLLACK: My personal life is about spending the most time possible with my family, so I work out early in the morning to get it out of the way. Because we have long workdays, we make a point as a family to start the day off right and to eat breakfast together in the morning, especially during the school year. There is always room for more improvement in our structure.
SHANNON: I tend to be an overachiever, Type A personality, which works in that I am able to take on a lot of things, though I sometimes get compromised in giving 100 percent on a task at hand (because I’m worried about all the other tasks). I love making to do lists and dividing up personal goals by the month, and then further separating them into weeks. Keeping organized on paper allows me to work toward fulfilling my visions and to eliminate the meaningless tasks.
DASHA®: How do you organize your professional life?
DR. POLLACK: Patients always come first. Every morning at work, I go through the schedule, the charts of today’s patients, the services we are providing, and then I circle back, once again, to each patient I will personally be working with. I float by to check in with each DASHA® location from time to time, and I also handle the bookkeeping duties. Everything flows smoothly when I stick with this system.
SHANNON: I have found that for me, the best way to delineate between my professional and personal life is to keep a color-coated calendar (hello, red, orange, purple, yellow, I live my life by you!) and shut down the computer on Friday evening, with everything for the week ahead planned and set in my professional life, so I can then give my full attention to family and friends in my personal life. In this way, I can make sure I don’t shortchange anyone or anything.
DASHA®: What are some of your dream organization projects you would like to do for your personal life or home that you haven’t gotten to yet?
DR. POLLACK: I want to build my own new home. One day!
SHANNON: I’d like to tackle my filing cabinet at home. I’ll have to put that one on my list!
DASHA®: What are some of your dream organization projects you would like to do for DASHA®?
DR. POLLACK: We’d like to network all of our locations internally, so we are all on the same network in every location. We are working toward that goal. We’re always working on improving the infrastructure, to ensure we are giving the best possible experience to our clients. Eventually, we’d like to add more locations in NYC as well.
SHANNON: DASHA® is always a work in progress. I am not as much of a dreamer as I am a doer. Right now, we are starting a renovation on our Flagship location. My plate is pretty full. I tackle one big project at a time before moving on to the next, so I can make sure it gets done right.
DASHA®: Are there enough hours in the day? How do you decide what activities and people should take your time and which activities and people you can spend time on because they will either enrich your life or make it easier?
DR. POLLACK: As an adult, we will never feel there are enough hours in the day. We didn’t get 25, only 24. My family comes first. And at work, my staff comes before me – they are the ones interfacing with the DASHA® community, and it’s important to make sure their needs are met first – they can also tell me firsthand where they see areas for improvement in how we do things. When it comes to physical fitness, I won’t let my workout and training obsessions affect my personal or work life, so if I have to sacrifice sleep, I will.
SHANNON: On rare days, it feels like there are enough hours in the day, when I can follow my list and stay on schedule. I try not to beat myself up. I can only push my body and brain so much. The day is over when one of them stops working, and then I get to try again the next day.
DASHA® Enterprises, LLC works with independent practices and servicing providers that offer an integrated holistic solution to reach your total body well-being. The “independent client providers” share our philosophy of total body health and work with us to bring you an all-inclusive experience
DASHA® wellness & spa is a luxury lifestyle brand and New York City-based wellness center created to offer a truly holistic approach to wellness. To learn more, visit dashawellness.com.
