What if I told you that you could make the decision - today - to make changes that will enable you to truly pursue and achieve your full potential in your practice? (Wait. Don't stop reading.
Your full potential is limitless. But you have to be "on purpose" and back it up with systems in order to achieve it. If you do not back up the positive energy achieved, your positive passion alone will falter, without ensuring the right things happen in your practice to achieve that higher level of success.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, it's important that you don't try to make too many changes at once. That leads to feeling overwhelmed and throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Try to land on three things you want to tackle. Go after those areas that speak the strongest to your heart. Some ways to improve your practice might not sound like something you want to do and that's fine. At a later date, it might. Just focus on three things that strike a chord with you right now.
If you think you are beyond significant growth at this point, you are wrong. I have helped doctors who have been burned out for years on end. However, by applying these proven techniques and systems, I've seen countless stalled practices revitalized and become active, cash-strong, pre-pay, high-energy practices. I've seen it over and over and over again.
So, How Do You Start?
Set goals. Start anywhere; I don't care. Set a goal that you will greet every single person you see with a smile. But it's critical that you do set goals in the area in which you want to improve. You can't just show up each day and say, "Well, I'll do the best I can and that will be that." No. Set goals, record your progress and then try to blast right past whatever your goals are. Soon, you will be having fun blowing through the goals you set.
Get "On Purpose" and Stay There
In order to make the advancements you want in your practice, you have to be on purpose. You cannot be focused on obstacles and stress, since you are what you think. If you are spending your time focused on your worries, you are not being on purpose, and your patients and staff will feel it. It's not an option. All your advancement will be achieved while you are on purpose.
After the insurance regulations changed, making it harder for chiropractors to get paid, I remember the mood changing in my father's practice. It made it harder to stay on purpose, and things were just less fun. You may be reading this and thinking, This is easy to say, but you are not facing the debt, lack of patients, etc., and all the pressure it brings. Right, and guess what? The beginning to turning things around is to avoid filling your day with thoughts of those pressures.
If you want to be on purpose, don't think of your bills and stress. Think about your patients. Think about the difference you are making in your patients' lives. Think about your favorite patients and what you did to increase their quality of life. Stay focused on what made you excited to become a chiropractor. Focus there. Now, go to work while being on purpose.
Combine "On Purpose" With "Systems"
After you "re-achieve" being on purpose, it's time to apply systems that will keep you on track and advancing. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. Apply proven systems with a track record of success. Why try something not already proven, risking a waste of time and energy? Use only proven systems.
Execute, Execute, Execute. Do It. Do It. Do It.
If you are going to advance, you need movement. "Paralysis by analysis" can quell all of your growth and advancement. Make moves, gain momentum and keep going. End excuses. Excuses are just trap doors that make it OK for you to not advance. End them. For every excuse you can give, I can find a chiropractor who had it worse but overcame the situation to excel. If you think you have a bad location, I can find chiropractors who have soared with far worse ones. If you think your debt is too deep to allow you to grow, I can find a plethora of folks who had far worse debt and removed it from their practice like it was nothing - once they got on purpose and applied proven systems to their practice.
Uh Oh, Here Come the Obstacles
As in the movie Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come." Well, if you seek advancement, they also will come, with "they" being the obstacles. And guess what? Just welcome them. Greet them with a smile and say, "I've been expecting you." If you aren't bumping into obstacles, you aren't trying hard enough. You can acknowledge the obstacles that meet you, but just smile and move on. Don't focus on them. Just keep moving forward and enjoy the ride. Obstacles are nothing to stress over. They are just part of life and part of advancing. In every endeavor, they always will be there. You will make mistakes. You will learn from them. But do not allow them to slow you down.
Dr. A and Dr. B.
Dr. A made 80 attempts for advancement over the past three months; however, 20 of these attempts proved to be mistakes. Dr. B was very careful and made only 10 attempts; all 10 proved to be correct. While Dr. B. made 10 perfect steps, Dr. A made 60 net steps. Who moved farther? The moral of the story is that more attempts at imperfect moves are far more effective than careful, minimal attempted moves. I am not advocating making rash, volatile decisions - you still need to think out there.
Training AND Doing Make for a Shorter Learning Curve
Let's say you are working on a new patient education presentation, with the eventual outcome of a pre-pay at the end of the presentation. The first time you and your staff give this presentation will be among the very worst. After 10 presentations, you will be better, and after 20, better yet. However, between presentations, it makes sense for you and your staff to practice them. The combination of giving the actual presentation and practicing it will allow for a shorter learning curve; although, regardless of how much time you spend training for these, your first real presentation will not be that great. So do both: real presentations and practice runs.
Push Yourself Into the Uncomfortable; Relish and Enjoy It!
You will not be that good at some of the tasks you need to master to accelerate your practice. Do them anyway. Any time you grew, you probably were put in a place of discomfort in order to get there. This is true most of the time. So welcome it. Cherish it! Just like when you meet obstacles, it's going to happen, so just smile.
When I gave my first speech, I was horrible. I was not a natural-born speaker. I would practice my presentation, but there was no avoiding that I was going to be bad my first time on stage. But I took the hit and kept coming back for more. To get where I wanted to be, I had to learn how to become a decent speaker. The same thing applies for you trying to reach your true potential.
Stay Positive - Keep Taking Your Swings at Bat
Being positive naturally leads to growth. Negativity leads to stagnation. One reason people tend to not really pursue success or strong growth is fear. If you don't try, you can't say you failed, right? Sometimes you need to try and fail, but keep trying. It's the only way. Expect obstacles and setbacks as part of the process and keep smiling. When you attempt something the first time and you stink, just say to yourself, Well, that's to be expected; I will be better next time, and enjoy the ride.
| Problems and Solutions | |
| Problem: Patients drop out of care too soon.
Problem: Low collections.
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Problem: Not enough new patients.
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You Literally Save Lives
Let's not forget why you got into this profession. Chiropractic saves and enriches lives. Again, think of your favorite success story. That should make you glow. Allow the passion to take over. All the things that stress you out can be corrected, and the whole process should be fun! Enjoy it. Are you ready? You already have everything you need. All you have to do is do it.
Take three things you need to advance today, and get after it. And don't forget, you need proven systems in place to fix each area for the long term. If you don't know what the right system is, ask around. Talk to your mentor. Give me a call. The answers are there. You just have to be on purpose and willing to keep moving forward. And when you do move forward, expect the obstacles. Welcome them. Smile at them, but keep staying on purpose and keep moving, backing up all your progress with proven systems that will fix each area permanently.
Dr. Brent Detelich, former president of the Stem Cell Institute of America (www.americastem.com), is a 1993 graduate of Parker College and a second-generation chiropractor. During the past five years, he and his medical team helped to train more than 300 practices on medical integration for the purpose of offering safe, effective and compliant regenerative therapies.