Disciplining the Doctor

by William D. Esteb

"Spare the rod, spoil the child," goes the old adage. Disciplining a child is considered one of the highest forms of love by the writers of Proverbs. But the discipline missing in chiropractic isn't the punishment given patients for their poor spinal hygiene or missed appointments. It's the doctor's discipline in setting a good example and being an excellent specimen of good health. I can hear it on the telephone when doctors call and I can see it on doctors at seminars. And patients see it too. You're out of shape!

Forget about elaborate new patient procedures. Ignore a new incentive plan for your staff. Abandon your new affordable fees. And you might as well give up your plans for a family practice of well patients. Because if you're out of shape physically or mentally, besides setting a poor example, you don't have the energy necessary to inspire patients or your staff. In the same way you've become lethargic, so has your practice. For many doctors the stats have to take a nose dive or the staff has to mutiny before corrective action is taken. It's just like your patients. They wait until they are desperate before dialing the seven digits of your phone number. The phone numbers doctors call are more likely to be of a practice "management" company, a new seminar, or the local purveyor of airplane lessons. While these diversions may be satisfying momentarily, they treat the symptoms instead of the cause.

The cause is rarely procedural. It is almost always the doctor's mental and physical condition. It is the underlying cause of many practice-related challenges.

Mental Conditioning

When it comes to the chicken or the egg, this is the egg. This is where it all starts. If your brain is out of shape, every other aspect of your life and your practice is out of shape. Few would disagree. But how do you know if your brain is out of shape? Here are some neurological tests you can administer privately to find out:

1. What was the last good idea you came up with?
2. When was the last time you laughed so hard your side ached?
3. What was the last non-chiropractic book you read?
4. How many hours of television do you watch each week?
5. What was the last risk you took?
6. What was the last time you tried some new type of food?
7. When was the last celebration you had with your staff?
8. When was the last time you had goose bumps?
9. How much alcohol, chocolate, or potato chips are you eating?
10. How long are you sleeping each night?

It is said the most powerful aphrodisiac is the brain. Similarly, the most powerful practice aid is your brain. You can't get water from an empty pail. So if you want to be more creative, more alive, and have more fun, you've got to put new ideas in your brain. Something difficult to do pounding on backs all day, isolated in your office!

"Feed your head," warbled Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane. But a drug-induced high isn't what's needed here! Doctors in the throes of burn out are already high on television, M & Ms, or self-pity. Caregivers such as doctors and chiropractic assistants find reclaiming their life difficult because they are often reluctant to invest in themselves, either out of guilt or wanting to avoid a feeling of selfishness. However, without working on themselves, every other aspect of their life and their practice remains unhealthy and out of balance. It's not a question of whether the investment will be made, it's simply when. How uncomfortable does the status quo have to get before circumstances give you the discipline necessary to heal yourself?

Here are a few ideas you might consider in the care and feeding of your brain.

Set higher standards. A common denominator among many searching for answers is they have low standards. Or worse, no standards! Set some new or higher standards for your life. How many hours of mind-numbing television will you allow yourself? How many non-chiropractic books are you going to read this month? This year? How many hours of sleep do you really need? How much family time are you reserving each day? Each week? Clean out your closets, your desk, and your life. If you have trouble being accountable to yourself, share your standards with someone who you want to "nag" you (probably not your spouse!).

Take meaningful risks. Fire walks, ropes courses, rafting trips, or bungy jumping are exotic, but the sizzle is unlikely to last but a week or two back at the office. More meaningful would be to regularly attend a local Toastmaster group. According to surveys public speaking is considered by many to be more terrifying then death! When you confront this fear and master it, it will improve every other aspect of your practice. Guaranteed! But because you can't buy anything to show off and there aren't any high-tech buttons or gadgets involved, many instead will opt for the hypnotic seminar speakers and more visible exhibitions of risk-taking. Even if you don't want to speak to groups or do lay lectures, improved public speaking skills will skyrocket your practice.

Find a mentor. At the upper reaches of any career or accomplishment it becomes increasingly difficult for masters to find mentors. This happens to doctors, seminar speakers, and tennis pros. Someone, somewhere is always doing what you want to do faster or better. Find them. Seek them out. Ask someone to challenge you to reach higher, push harder, or help you abandon ideas and habits that no longer serve you. It's hard for your staff or your spouse to hold you accountable. Find someone who can catch you faking it or not giving 100%.

Sanction incompetence. You have stopped growing. To begin growing again you have to be willing to be "dumb again." Some chiropractors decide to launch a political career, dabble in the state association, take up hot air ballooning, start their own seminar, or open a satellite office. Yet rarely do these learning opportunities return the doctor's investment back to their patients or their practice. Instead, they distract from the focus of the practice to threaten their income or their future enough to force them to rededicate their energies. This is the Russian Roulette School of personal motivation.

Physical Conditioning

If your brain is healthy and you feel creative, vital, and alive, chances are your body is in good shape too. But for all too many chiropractors, the only exercise they get is walking from their parking space to the office and between three adjusting rooms. Hardly a cardiac conditioning program!

Like it or not, your physical appearance creates the first and most lasting impression of you and your practice. If you're 10 pounds on the heavy side or start wheezing after a flight of stairs, you're setting a poor example. Rarely are patients healthier than the doctor. Maybe this is why most chiropractic offices are merely pain relief centers and few patients bring in their children or remain for wellness care. A fat doctor is an incongruency that sabotages a patient's respect, compliance, and willingness to refer. It's not just unhealthy, it slows you down and reduces your capacity to serve and grow.

While the importance of being in top physical conditioning is rarely disputed, how to get the discipline necessary to make it a habit seems elusive. Because you're out of shape and don't have any energy, it makes it difficult to want to go out and work up a sweat. This conflict will not go away by postponing the start of your regular work out program or surrendering to the lack of instant gratification.

Here are some ideas you might consider implementing that can help you and your practice by improving your physical fitness.

The buddy system. If you recognize you don't have the discipline necessary to sustain a work out program long enough for it to become a habit, enlist the motivation of some "peer pressure." Find a friend (again, probably not your spouse!) that is interested in working out and do it together. Being accountable to someone else can be helpful, especially during the early stages. Let's face it. Some days you won't want to go run around the nearby high school track. It helps to have someone else push you into doing what you know you need to do.

Buy some discipline. This is for movers and shakers who don't have the necessary discipline, don't have any friends, or can afford to hire someone to make them do the right things. Hire a coach or a personal trainer. Explain that you'll make up excuses not to work out, but that you're paying them to hold you accountable. Look in the yellow pages or ask around at a gym.

Set some goals. Virtually every new endeavor can be more successful if you have some measurable, attainable goal. Whether it's a lower resting heart rate, the ability to finish a 10K, run a marathon, or some other goal. Start small. There's no hurry. The key is to remain interested long enough until your workout is a habit and you start getting squirrelly when you miss one.

There's a myth circulating in our culture that if you work real hard, long enough, you'll get to sit on the beach and enjoy exotic tropical drinks and not have to work anymore. It's just a myth. Instead, we must stop and smell the roses as we live our lives. Instead of a "serial" life like our parents who went to school, got married, worked, retired, and finally got to Hawaii, most of us are more likely to live a "cyclical" life. We are more likely to take sabbaticals, change careers, and go back to school before we ever retire. In fact, many of us will never retire. The key is balance while enjoying the process.

Remember getting your first bicycle? Once the training wheels were gone and you could ride around the neighborhood unaccompanied, your bicycle was a way to escape. With the wind whooshing past your ears and the ground blurring beneath you, you were free. You'd pump real hard to get to the top of the hill so you could coast down the other side without effort. If you're still in search of the effort-free life or the effort-free practice, remember, like your bicycle, you can only coast by going downhill!

Buy the book
My Report of Findings
Originally published in 1993
240 Pages
US $24.95

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