The other day I was skiing at Squaw Valley in the beautiful sun drenched Sierra Nevada Mountains. There I was swinging over a 70 ft. crevasse, feeling the blunt force trauma of my fear of heights, clinging to the safety bar like a koala bear in a Eucalyptus tree. WHY? Because getting to the top of the mountain has value to me. Imagine the prize. I can reach breath taking terrain in perfect condition, and all the eye candy that only a panoramic view from 8,000 ft. could deliver. From there I could stand on the edge of a cornice and plunge into fresh, untracked, untouched powder. The snow that all skiers dream about yet few ever experience. I was about to get one face shot after another. Pristine perfectly chilled puffs of “pow” as I sank into a bottomless wave of bluish white crystals, floating, suspended in space. I was about to defy gravity, defy common sense, and defy my fear of falling, but OMG the reward.
On the chairlift I was getting into the performance zone. I had my helmet speakers cranked to nearly concert level as I felt every word and beat of one of my favorite Canadian bands, Nickelback. The lyrics to “If Today Was Your Last Day” still echo in my mind. In this particular track the singer shares the best advice he ever received from a friend. Let me pass it on to you.
“Each day’s a gift and not a given right, leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind, and try to take the path less traveled.”
“Each day’s a gift and not a given right, leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind, and try to take the path less traveled.”
“If today was your last day, tomorrow was too late, would you say goodbye to yesterday.”
Say goodbye to yesterday and reach with everything you have. Your success is in the pursuit and living fully on the edge, not in holding back. As chiropractic entrepreneurs we are people with a vision, a mission, and a message. We have the potential for living a life of profound meaning. We live on the edge, poised and prepared to catch the prize.
The Edge is where you get to live when you stop lying to yourself and accept that you could be your biggest obstacle. When you take responsibility you can take charge of your life. You can always be better and do more.
The edge is where the fun, the money and self satisfaction are and it’s not crowded. Few dare to make the effort and take the risk. The reason that there is a lot of room at the top is that few people have the desire, drive and determination and fewer still, ever act on it.
As an example, the mountain I ski on had 7000 other skiers on that day. Yet few dare to go big, they play it safe and just go home. Our profession is full of great people who intend to change the world, and provide a wealthy lifestyle for their families, yet most never reach their potential, they play it safe and just go home.
If you want to be happier, wealthier, and healthier then take massive action, defy inertia, defy complacency and defy cultural entitlements. Excuse me, but just when did quitting ever become an option?! No matter how you say it, sabbatical, taking a break or telling people that you are overwhelmed, it’s still quitting.
As I was editing this message a client who is living on the edge just sent me this e- mail.
“I have noticed that my "boredom" creeps up due to a combination of not knowing what to do next (which coaching has helped me figure out and prioritize) and procrastinating over the things I don't want to do. As time has moved along my "to do" list has grown as opposed to shrinking because my awareness of what I need to do has increased. So as my knowledge has increased it is more a matter of getting off my butt and doing stuff even if I don't like it. Thanks again” - Dr. P
Thinking is not acting. Thinking is work only when the idea or plan is tested in the world outside of your head. Working ‘on it’ is not the same as doing it. Self deception is seeing so many possibilities that you never decide to decide. Self deception is saying you want more but refusing to change not only WHAT you are doing, but WHY you are doing things the same way.
Look at how far you have come and accept that you will need to continue your defiance. What do I mean by defiance? To defy means to challenge yourself and make things better by investing all you have in what you want. Success is simple, do what needs to be done for as long as it takes. Get a team of advisors because no one can do it all or hold themselves accountable in every situation.
Look at how far you have come and accept that you will need to continue your defiance. What do I mean by defiance? To defy means to challenge yourself and make things better by investing all you have in what you want. Success is simple, do what needs to be done for as long as it takes. Get a team of advisors because no one can do it all or hold themselves accountable in every situation.
Each of you in one way or another have defied something in your upbringing, it might be lifestyle choice, the choice to be an entrepreneur not a worker bee, the choice to have your cake and eat it too, the choice to think big and take risks.
Each of you in one way or another has defied something in your education. Did your grammar school and college prepare you to be a technician, to fit in, to serve the machine? Mine did and I am not willing to play that role. How about you?
Each of you in one way or another has defied something in your situation. My situation was that my chiropractic business was not supporting my life as I had dreamed it. I bet yours isn’t either. I bet you want more. I bet you know you know that you have a potential that has not remotely been tapped.
As chiropractors we take a different, some say radical approach to health and healing, yet as business owners we choose to avoid the realities that success comes as a result of mental, emotional and physical growth. It’s called work, its relentless effort, but, oh my God, the reward.
See you on the lift up to the top!
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12 comments:
Great job on the blog!! Jason and I just got back from our first trip. We had a great time and are feeling very ready to take on the world! Thanks for all the support.
A topic on our pod call today was about an "ideal" patient and a few thoughts came out of the call that I was asked to "blog". Our purpose is to lead a patient from where they are toward their "ideal" state of health, not to have them meet our "ideal" behavior of what we consider to be a good patient. As long as I am contributing to their posibilities of growth and health, I am following my purpose; but I have no control over how they behave or the decisions they make. The words we keep hearing are inspire and influence rather than control. Hope this helps and would love to hear comments.
Thanks for getting the bog set up and running. I’m excited about the possibilities of having a constant dialogue as opposed to our few hours of interaction during the month.
I have been reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, and the concept of 10,000 hours is very crucial to our development. The 10,000 hour rule states that it takes 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to become an elite performer. That calculates to about 20 hours of focused, intense practice a week for 10 years.
As a young neonate in practice, this concept has seemed daunting. However when I watch people like Dr. McLeod adjust with so much focus and confidence at seminars, I know that the work is by far worth the reward.
I hope that this blog will give each of us an opportunity to expand our mental framing and perspectives on a daily basis by interacting and provoking each other with the ideas that we read and the stories that we experience. The central theme of “Outliers” is that success in not achieved through individual drive and talent, but by the community that we inhabit along the way. I’m excited to see this blog become the Hamburg strip club for many successful “DC”s.
great job today
Dr. Fitzpatrick I love your reference to the "Beatles"! when I played in a rock band I had the very same bass (Hofner) as my idol Paul.
And you are right on target about mastery and community. The other points are that training must be deliberate (goal oriented) and have a feedback loop(coaching/mentoring community) that's why we can't really master anything in a vacuum, in a cave or just in our minds. Synapotogenesis baby!
On our pod we touched on this months Smart Talk topic of developing a daily/nightly habit of setting very specific steps that you can achieve the following day. Anyway I have found this process very useful in regaining positive forward momentum. However what often happens is the negative self talk kicks in and sabotages the whole process. In other words I bitch about numbers or a patient(s) quitting. Well after a particularly pitiful and whingeing lifeline call I was advised to step back and actually start appreciating what is actually right in my life. This act of appreciation takes seconds but has really enhanced the 4 step process. And in reality we all have done an awful lot right already. As James Arthur Ray says success is like a wheel with 5 spokes - to achieve real success you need to have fulfillment in 5 areas: financial, physical, relationships, mental and however you like to define it spiritual! Well by simply acknowledging the good bits it quickly negates the doom and gloom! It makes waking up to the, as Zig Ziglar calls it, opportunity clock a heck of a lot easier!
I am not sure how this blog works but I was very interested reading Dr Johns words on leading a patient from where they are now, towards their "ideal" state of health, rather than meeting our "ideal" . This is an issue I have really struggled with - carrying the patient and being almost too invested in their outcome. I found to my detriment that meeting our ideal creates an atmosphere of pressure - I found I was literally selling and justifying each and every adjustment. I took each rejection or apparent "failure" to heart. It was my fault and having so much emotional energy vested in them was tough going. Or I held the patient as Dr Sea would say like a hostage, I was going to cure that patient regardless! I likened this whole process to having golf lessons, you go to a coach to sort out a hook or a shank, however as the weeks go by they start working on all aspects of your game even areas you were really happy with! And lets face it I am not going to eventually play like Tiger Woods! It is just not realistic! So what happens is you get frustrated, lose confidence in the coach, lose patience and quit. All because the coach did not meet my needs! Well after an eternity I have realised that patients are no different! Unless we listen and meet their requests and needs they get fed up and vote with their feet!! It may have taken awhile but fortunately I do now realise that they were never my patients in the first place and I certainly never had any control over them! In the past I gave mere lip service to their requests, now I have started to actually listen and if they are happy with their care, well so am I. This realisation that we are there to as Dr John said to inspire and influence is so true.
WOW!!! Dr. John did an awesome job of explaining his passion of seeing his ideal become a reality and his purpose of helping other achieve their ideals and inspiring possibilities. Then Dr. Bates gives a perfect analogy of meeting patient's needs while taking the pressure off of ourselves. I'm really digging these daily reminders of what really brings success to us and the people around us. Let's keep it going!
I wanted to continue on Dr. John's comments that stemmed from our POD regarding our leadership of patients. Dr. Sovinsky has impressed upon me on many occasions concerning many different topics that leadership in part is telling the person what they need to hear and then not "caring" what their response is. All of us obviously care about the patients otherwise we would not be doing what we do but we can't care about their response. We can only take care of our half of the relationship, also from Dr. Sovinsky. We can continually strive to improve our communications skills to up the odds of them getting the messge but that is about it. People do stupid things all the time and discontining care prior to what we feel is ideal is just part of a long list. Has anyone read about some mortgage problems lately? So by caring about their response to the point that it actually upsets us for longer than an initial gut reaction, if that, is really saying we don't care about the NEXT patient we are about to interact with. Because the NEXT patient needs us to be just as on purpose and focused on their needs as the patient that left. Otherwise they will probably leave too, not because we cared about them too much but because we didn't care about them enough to let the other one go.
To me, the only way to lead patients is to try and stay above all the ups and downs that they are bound to throw at me because of their decisions. If I am on the ride with them then I am a passenger/hostage, if I am hanging out on the sidelines offering another option if and when they so choose, then I feel like I am leading.
I remember hearing a quote by either Patton or Rockne that was along the lines of "a good leader should be among his men but not one of them." That is how I see my role. I don't look at myself as any better than the patients, in fact why should I expect them to know what I know but I try to avoid getting pulled to their side. I try to remain steady enough to be ready for them to come to my side when and if they are ever ready. It may sound cynical but I feel most people sadly like to be "victims" and really don't want to put forth the effort to be truly well. The thing is I don't know who the few are that really are up to the task so I need to give the same effort to everyone and for the majority I'll just keep the hand out, maybe they really will start that diet tomorrow. Probably not, but if they do or they don't I will still be encouraging them to be better.
By the way Ed, who has time for golf lessons? And, I still can't get those blue eyes out of my head. :)
Dr. Perron makes a stellar "Patient Centered" observation: "So by caring about their response to the point that it actually upsets us for longer than an initial gut reaction, if that, is really saying we don't care about the NEXT patient we are about to interact with. Because the NEXT patient needs us to be just as on purpose and focused on their needs as the patient that left." This attitude of carrying the emotional bias from one patient to the next is truly being Doctor Centered not Pt. Centered. Yes they may have hurt your feelings or failed to comply with your recomendations or even overtly dissed you. Get over it; I may be your next patient and I do not want you bringing that baggage to my adjustment encounter.
Hi. Just to say hi, and thank for the blog!! I see a big team of inspired doctors that want to be better, feel better and thrive. I learn from all of you and our coaches. Su amigo de Mexico
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