Time mark…8:39 EDT… Canada scores the tying goal in second period against USA. More goals to come for sure!
Who says goals don’t count. All of Canada is glued to the television tonight to watch their team play a round robin match against their arch rivals. Imagine when the games really count.
Goals are powerful measuring sticks for everyone wheteher you are Olympians, hockey fans or chiropractic patients. So often we forget to use strings of goals to connect the patient with where they are to where they need and want to be. Unlike a hockey game, there are more than 60 minutes of a game to play in health, wellness and life. We have an oppportunity and a responsibility to inspire and direct our patients with attainable and far reaching goals.
I focus on developing an early understanding of stress and the functioning nervous system. This is where my goals start with the patient. Developing a new awareness for the habits that are taken for granted is a priority. I relate the processing of stress with the reactions that I locate, measure and palpate within the spinal core. My goal is touch and tell. My goal for the patient is an ah-ha. I use all the tools I have to get that ah-ha. On a big goal basis I use the NSFI score to set a goal of neural spinal change and functional improvement . I have xray images to talk about long standing and life altering changes. I use the scans and the images to reinforce my message and to confirm my certainty. My goal is to inform, inspire, and interrupt the subluxation patterns.
I have a multitude of other goals for my patients and my community. A primary goal in this category is referrals. I believe that chiropractic is an authentic grass roots movement that is for the people. It is a simple yet profound message that can easily be relayed from neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend and within the family. Asking my patients to refer their closest people to me for chiropractic care is an automatic in my office. My beliefs are represented by my goals.
Time mark…9:06 PM and the score is 3 goals for the USA and 2 goals for Canada. Goals are everywhere and sometimes there arn’t enough of them when you want them. ( 20 minutes to go. Lets see if there are more Canadian goals in the near future)
“All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.” So says Blaise Pascal who just happens to be one of the understated geniuses of Western thought. I took his advice and for the past few weeks I have done just that; sit and contemplate the next great adventure. You may have noticed the lack of blogs being posted as a consequence.
Here are some thoughts about being a chiropractor and producing chiropractic that have filtered out from that quiet room.
Its all about the relationship. No matter how we deliver the adjustment, the greatest change comes about from a change in perspective. A shift is neccessary from being the doctor to be viewed as their”trusted advisor”.
We must streamline our thots and procedures to service thousands of new patients. Our systems are too cumbersome at present to take it to the people and get them to respond . In this incredibly fast paced, technology based, communicative world its appropriate to ” call the question” early and service the patient with incredible and reliable service with identifiable outcomes.
We should be willing to work in an abundant mindset and build businesses that reflect our creative expression of greatness RATHER than show up and dutifully put in the houtrs each day.
Chiropractic’s message is incredibly simple to understand, accept and promote. Who doesn’t get that stress contained within the spinal core can disrupt a spine, a body, a life and eventually a community.
Its a good time, if not the best time, to refresh our vision of commitment and our business practices. If we are willing to risk our greatest assets: time and reputation on a daily basis, then its appropriate to seek rewards of equal value. What is it that drives you to be in the office daily? If its the paycheck then its definately time to rejig. If you are focusing on your retirement options then your dream is busted and your demise is imminent. Legacy should be replacing retirement thoughts.
Chiropractors,like all other workers, are inherently lazy at their entrepenurship. The creative side of life is not meant to be numbed by the repetiton of innane work. There is a reason that we chose to eat what we kill. Entrepeneurship keeps us hungry for success and success demands creativity. As Dave Mager always reminds us,” Game face on…everyday”
Well, that’s it from the easy chair. Maybe the room needs to be a little less quiet as I come up with solutions. Stay tuned as I share some useful practice and positioning thots.
A patient who has been with me for about 6 months now shared this observation with me today. He reminded me that he had been to another DC before consulting our office. He has a long, long history of debilitating LBP with the usual radiations etc. He also has sleep difficulties combined with RLS and so was medicated to try and sleep with less pain and spasticity. His original DC was a young grad working in a downtown rehab styled clinic. The doc was thankful that he had access to the MRI’s because they “absolutely contraindicated adjustments” and so the course of extended care was only focused on core strengthening. No manipulations, no passive stretching just core retraining. My patient was faithful to a fault and finally recognized that he had tapped the expertise of this lad with no appreciable improvement and called to see if there was some way to ease the chronic pain.
I’m not going to comment on the selection process in the colleges but the results are evident when the majority of candidates are kinesiology grads with a biomechanical background. The challenge that faces all DC’s is defining what makes them and their offerings of chiropractic unique. There is certainly nothing that warrants chiropractic uniqueness in a better approach to core training. For God’s sake lets all get over the distinction between fixation and subluxation. What makes the chiropractic approach unique is that the “lesion” that emerges as a consequence of altered neural tone and a limitation in the expression of innate is a subluxation. A component of the subluxation process is a vertebral reaction that may or may not exhibit a fixation in the biomechanics of a segment or two. We all endure fixations either episodically or chronically. It’s part of living in a gravity and motion dependent existence. Remember the original definition presented by Palmer via Stevenson in 1927. There were three necessities to claim the existence of a subluxation: loss of position and inevitably motion of 2 contiguous vertebra; an alteration and eventual closure of the IVF and most of all an interruption in the expression of the Innately tuned mental impulse. Well, 1 and perhaps 2 are associated with fixation but there must be a shift in neural-dural tone to qualify as a subluxation.
If you remember my model of subluxation for patient orientation using the three layers concept, then it is so easy to understand that layers one and two associate with fixation while a persistent disturbance interfering with the communication along the 3rd layer of neural-dural tone means that the person is no longer suffering from the limited biomechanics of a fixation but rather, they are developing devastating health issues related to the loss of vital communication. Subluxations are identified and adjusted by chiropractors and so that is what our role is within the community of healers and health care providers. We are also incredibly capable of coaching and advising how to optimize the results while under adjustive care and to share and care for people to limit the potential to become subluxated. There is a lifetime of work to do in our communities let alone within the world.
Back to my patient… I identified that indeed he was subluxated in several regions of his spinal core. We reviewed his neural efficiency patterns and looked at the destructive changes to his spine. He was definitely fixated in many regions including his lumbo-sacral region. Undoubtedly the tissues in this region were generating tremendous pain and restrictions. Joints and soft tissues hurt like hell when they are damaged and stressed out. We identified his limitations in lifestyle management and we laid out a care plan that addressed his immediate issues and offered to care for him through the reorganization time frame encompassing recovery, restoration and finally, wellness care. He was told that this was to be a collaborative effort for him to achieve the best results BUT if he chose to just use adjustments as a therapeutic approach, that was OK as well. This thing called an adjustment works whether the patient is totally compliant with lifestyle modification or not. In my years of parenting and “spine-parenting” I have learned it is wise to be creative in inspiring people to achieve results. Guess what? He is feeling better and healing at the same time. If we were to look at his MRI and biomechanical parameters he would still be in trouble but his neural scans are shifting and easing. He describes many wellness improvements such as clearer thinking, less night pain and spasticity, improved digestion and more mobility in the spine and he is happy! It’s probably all a placebo because his structural metrix are all abnormal still. I agree whole heartedly with the young DC that manipulation of this man’s lower spine is risky and non productive.
If managing the deteriorative fixation was the goal of care, I suppose all that I would be left with is the surface approach to soft tissue and mobilization with movement. As a chiropractor my eyes are on the subluxation and if there is a chance to adjust it, and why wouldn’t there be, then this man will improve and heal. That’s the law of nature that is embedded in the philosophy and the principles, all 33 of them, of the chiropractic doctrine. Of course there is limitation of matter but so long as there is a life spark and enough time, there is an opportunity to heal on many levels.
It’s just right to be and act as a chiropractor if you are going to call yourself one. It’s a glorious and noble profession that has spent too much of its time trying to fit its philosophy and practice into the square hole dictated by medicine and chiropractic licensing boards. Be the artist that you know you are and stop defining the care you do as a modified physio approach. Find the subluxations and adjust them. There will be much more healing going on at that table and it won’t be limited to the person lying on it.
Happy New Year to all of you who read and respond to this blog. 2010 is already becoming a powerhouse of change. We have filled up the two coaching spots that were available and so my amazing assistant, Linda, has bribed me to open up two more. You are welcome to call in and see if my communication training and my methods of practice development are right for you. If not, I get a chance to meet more cool people from around the globe! Be well and Be Great!
James Cameron’s new movie Avatar comes out this week. I’m not much of a sci-fi buff and I remember literally crawling under the seat when Alien first came out so to believe that I am a Cameron groupie is a bit of a stretch. What I do love doing is reading compelling interviews given by really creative people. Cameron is a Canadian and so I believe there is a little give back when he grants the interviews. Regardless, he spoke in length to The Toronto Star and the focus was more on his journey than being a movie promo. I loved when he described himself as being an “explorer and an artist””. This resonated with me to my core. I have memories of poring over the National Geographic (for more than the bare breasted African women!) as a kid and dreaming what it would be like to explore the far reaches of the globe. To this day I am in awe of the Victorians as they launched themselves into the voids of sea, mountains and deserts, totally unprepared but striving to be a part of the next great discovery. I think of DD and BJ as they took on the establishment and promoted a new perspective that highlighted the injustice of outside-in, torturous medicine. I think of the everyday pioneers who I have rubbed shoulders within our profession. The amazing ones are chiropractors who love the entrepreneurial spirit. They are the artists who look at ways to share the great message and to plumb new depths in the understanding of human potential and health. The less than amazing ones; and there are many; are the entrepreneurs who use their chiropractic knowledge and degree to build a business for themselves without regard for the profession.
Choosing to be a chiropractor allows us to be explorers and artists. If we relegate our careers to being just a job and to being the means for providing an income, the days over the tables will be long and very tedious. On the other hand, if we look at the world as an enormous playground and realize the devastating effects of subluxation on human health and potential, we can stand, awestruck and imagine how big our worlds are. I spoke with a DC in China last week and he reminded me that that there were only 5 DC’s in Beijing. That’s about one for every 3 million residents. He told me that some crappy entrepreneur had gone to Taiwan and sold weekend courses to the public and the medics on the use of Activator Methods. An amazing, 50,000 people had gone through the program. The number is staggering and needs to be clarified but you can see the intent. The DC whom I spoke with was a pioneer of a different breed. He wants to keep the message of chiropractic pure and asked me to share some good language hooks to tell the right people the right message about us. It all comes down to intent and in the end that intent reflects our integrity.
Another artist that explores the far reaches of his given talent is Victor Wooten. He’s a bass player and for a treat, catch this youtube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR6t47pV8Qc and note how fast this guy’s hands can move on the bass. He’s truly amazing and when others ask how he can do it he says that he does what he can with his talent but where others see perfection he sees opportunity to grow from his flaws. He runs a bass camp for kids and when he was interviewed he made the comment that playing the music is the easy part but the real challenge is learning and becoming who you were meant to be through the use of your talents.
Chiropractic adjusting and practice management are the easy parts. What they do for you is the real question. You have been gifted the brains and the opportunity to share a very unique story. What you do with it is why I want to be with you as we explore the next frontiers. It’s time to get our houses in order and get on with the exploration through our art. Become unconsciously competent at adjusting and running the practice so that you can awaken to the new reality of sharing this chiropractic story with millions of people. It’s the hippest message around and the youthful DC’s that I work with confirm that the old is dead and the new is just beginning. Let’s make 2010 the beginning of the end of narrow minded thinking. Let’s be explorers like the Victorians and artists like the Renaissance masters. Let’s put aside our egos and change the world together.
That’s, at least, how I intend to use 2010.
Happy holidays everyone. Wasn’t 2009 interesting? I want you all to plan on being even greater in 2010. A legacy project that I have been working on for the last 2 years will come to life in 2010. It’s all about you, philanthropy and chiropractic. Birthing greatness begins by believing in the scope of your influence on a worldwide scale. Are you up to it? Details in the New Year.
Whether the practice is older and in need of a recharge or young and quiet in too many spots, the question I get asked in coaching all the time is, “How do I get past this stagnant point?” In almost all cases it’s not rocket science. The energy that brought the practice to life, needs to be rekindled and the best strategy to do so is create intensity by compressing the day. I believe that one of the worst places to be stuck in is an empty office. These are places that were designed to be full of life and exude life. Sporadic bookings with no momentum kill that energy and kill the spirit of the doctor and the team.
I remember having a conversation at a seminar with my dear friend Jim Sigafoose. He said it best when he was at his first Parker seminar as a lonely, underachieving DC. When asked how he was doing in practice he would say, truthfully “I’m seeing 500!” Although he was actually adjusting a fraction of those 500, he was “seeing” them. He never lost the vision of where his practice would be one day. The rest is legendary.
When you awaken to start the next practice day, you have a choice as to how it will play out. It will either drive you(nuts) or you will drive it. Most DC’s chase a dream of more, more and more rather than realize that there are production limits to the system you have set up. So often DC’s read about monster practices that can occur overnight with the right marketing etc..These are probably the same DC’s addicted to infomercials or MLM schemes. The reality is that the practice you have is a perfect reflection of your level of clinical and management skills combined with entrepreneurial expertise.
I suggested that compression of the schedule was a good starting point. Even if you are seeing a few patient visits in the hour or in the morning, schedule them all in the same slotted time frame. This gives the perspective of a full practice; it creates a buzz of momentum in the flow and most of all it frees the day up for you to spend the time entrepeneuring. This simple cluster booking saves you the indignity of waiting for the one patient. Remember that an efficient appointment book is scheduled horizontally and then vertically. I created the ABC’s of staff responsibilities, where A stands for Appointment book management. I will review these ABC’s at a later date.
Once the cluster booking has been firmed up, it’s time to literally go to work. Servicing the patient is the easy and straight forward stuff for us. It’s the allocation of time and energy to be the CEO that needs to be learned and implemented. I suggest that you agree to work at least 40 hr a week until your plate is full. Not that hard a request. If you do the math and allow for missed appointments and slow times you would only need to, at most, invest 27 hours in adjusting, examining and reporting time to see 250 pv/week. That leaves a full 13 hours to be the CEO(Creative Exceptional Organizer)(DF’s acronym). Sadly most DC’s see the 27 hours and book a play date instead of working their plan for the other 13.
I know this sounds pretty Dad and Mommish…put the nose to the grindstone but there is a reality of getting paid for the system that you create and manage. I once trained with a hedonistic coach who was all about maximal efficiency and minimal hours. My practice languished for some time until I reorged the schedule. Let me just say from business experience, and I know billionaires who gladly put in 60 hour weeks; work should feel like play, so learn to love the business as much as you love adjusting.
Interested in learning how to be great in practice and create your own Greatness Action Plan? Book a free consult time with docfletch. Fill in the Mind the Gap info and send it through. You can also just call Linda at 905 831 9696 and she’ll set aside 20 uninterrupted minutes to have a chance to chat about coaching and growing the practice.
