Chiropractic Blog

As a small business owner, an important question to ask yourself is, "What business am I in?"

It may seem like you're in the chiropractic business, the health care business or even the chiropractic-adjustment-delivery-business.

Careful!

These might constitute an adequate "first right answer," but dig deeper. Because while you obviously examine, report, inspire, adjust and lead patients, it may not be the business you're in. Because the ability to help patients is only possible by building trust, supplying education, producing hope, changing beliefs, creating new meaning, enlarging possibilities and sharing the truth. In fact, without these, your significance is limited, short lived and rarely blossoms into influential, long-term relationships.

Your purpose is not to adjust patients. My guess is that adjusting patients helps advance or fulfill your purpose. So, what is it? You'd want to know. By not knowing, you're reduced to a human doing from a human being.

Business consultants suggest that it’s helpful to know what propels your business. When you examine your practice, what is its primary focus that motivates your decisions and direction? I’ve seen five:

Technologically driven – Technique and procedures.
Philosophically driven – The meaning of chiropractic.
Financially driven – A focus on new patients and income.
Marketing driven – Needs and perceptions of patients.
Survival driven – Staying viable to face another day.

Each driver reveals a great deal about you, your worldview and how you see yourself fitting in to the lives of patients and the world of work. If you find yourself working more but enjoying it less, it may be because you have surrendered the wheel to another driver.

Just had lunch with three Colorado Springs chiropractors. The original purpose of our meeting was to discuss potential meeting space for a monthly gathering of local chiropractors.

I’ve felt remiss by not investing in the chiropractors in my own community. I’m hoping to correct this and our luncheon was scheduled with that agenda in mind.

However, the meeting took a more philosophical tack as we each weighed in on several fundamental beliefs that this trio of chiropractors had taken as truth. For starters, is one adjustment better than no adjustment at all? And, of course my favorite, is a subluxation a good thing or a bad thing?

Do you curse patients?

I'm not talking about using profanity. I'm referring to a form of condemnation. It can sound like, "He'll never 'get' chiropractic." Or, "She's always late for her appointments." Or, "I don't see how he will ever come around to accepting what we do here."

A common telltale sign of cursing others is when you use terms like always, never, ever and other blanket assertions that are rarely true. Worse, labeling these perceptions and then speaking them aloud is a criticism and judgment that is out of character for someone who claims to advance hope and promote healing.

This week, become more mindful of the declarations you make about others as well as yourself. Make sure your words reflect what is true about possibilities, change, growth and opportunity. Speak that into the world. That's when you'll notice breakthroughs, miracles and serendipitous moments that you would have formerly labeled as mere coincidence.

Everyone has goals. The question is, are they your goals or someone else's?

If you don't have the discipline, vision or presence of mind to create specific goals for yourself, don't worry. Someone else will gladly assume that responsibility for you. And probably has. Much of the burnout and frustration we experience is the result of trying to live out someone else's notion of what we should be or do.

Still trying to be enough to obtain the approval of a parent? Or maybe you've submitted to a consultant who is prescribing inauthentic procedures or ways of being. Or maybe you've surrendered your future to an addiction or the undisciplined spending habits of your partner. The possibilities for having your goals hijacked by others are endless.

This week, claim what is yours. Live consciously. Bring intention to your life. Set your own goals and be a thermostat, not merely a thermometer.

Stalwart is defined as “strong, muscular and athletic.”

That’s how Dr. Don DeFabio describes me when he interviewed me in the lobby of the Berkeley Oceanfront in Asbury Park, NJ (home of Bruce Springstein as I was repeatedly told) back on April 25th.

I was on the Jersey shore because of an invite from Dr. Sig Miller of the Association of New Jersey Chiropractors for their Spring Convention.

Don asked if I’d submit to an interview.

Sure.

I’ve been thinking about why certain procedures and policies that are recommended by practice consultants seem to work well for some chiropractors, but fail miserably for others.

Naturally, it’s not just the “do” but even more important is the “who.”

And while that explains the apparent disconnect between what may be recommended during the weekly coaching or quarterly seminars, and what actually manifests in the real world, I’ve become present to one other dynamic that I’ve heard few acknowledge.

It's not about you.

As a child, we arrived on the scene attempting to make meaning of the world and the actions of others. We often made incorrect assumptions, attaching me-centered meanings to events and situations. ("I caused my parents' divorce." "Others can't be trusted." "There's not enough." "I'm not smart enough." "The world is a dangerous place." "Be afraid of strangers." Etc.)

It's no surprise that the habit of making these short, life-limiting pronouncements, that put us in the center of the universe, continue as we age. This handicaps our ability to show up as a servant. It cripples us by seeking to be liked. It creates a selfishness that prevents us from prospering.

What patients do or don't do is not about you. You can make it about you; in fact, many chiropractors are inclined to do so. However, the price of this luxurious self-absorption is a small, easy-to-manage practice.