Is an adjustment commodity? That is, is an adjustment delivered by Doctor A the same as an adjustment delivered by Doctor B? You and I know that even if the same technique is employed, they can be two very different adjustments. It’s easy to forget this distinction because of the spell cast by third party reimbursement. Carriers have chosen to look past this difference (even though cash-paying patients don’t). To carriers, the full body diversified adjustment, the one-bone adjustment and the energy focused tonal adjustment are all the same. To a carrier, an adjustment is an adjustment is an adjustment. A commodity. It’s easier that way. This has created a huge problem for chiropractors coming out of the third party trance: “How much should I charge?”

As the influence of third parties wanes, more and more chiropractors are placed in the position of having to do what other small businesses have always had to do: set the price for their goods or services. What is an adjustment worth?

An exercise guaranteed to make you less effective is to compare yourself with others.

There's always someone else seeing more patients, making more money and playing with more expensive toys than you. And by the way, the reverse is also true. Regardless of your situation there's always someone else in more dire straits who would gladly trade places with you.

Comparing yourself with others is a sign of ungratefulness. Envying what others appear to have is being unappreciative for what you've been given. It's one of the ugly facets of pride that blocks further blessings. It keeps us small, petty and ineffective.

Instead, be genuinely thankful. If you have a challenge, be grateful. If you have troubles, be appreciative. If you have a void you need filled, remain cheerful. It's an opportunity to prove your worthiness for greater responsibility, greater service and further blessings. Only when you honor what you have do you prove that you can be entrusted with more.

I completed my 65th in office consultation and patient focus group yesterday. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy the process of sleuthing for the lynch pin holding up practice growth and providing some objective feedback for the doctor and staff. And while most offices strenuously clean up their office in preparation of my arrival (attempting to hide some of the very issues holding them back), in spite of their efforts, from time to time I get a glimpse as to how things really work. Yesterday was no exception.

Usually it’s a couple of dozen Post it notes cluttering the front desk. Or the chiropractor who has made his desk presentable by scoping his desk piles into boxes, stuffing them into a closet he hopes I won’t peak into. This time, it was the diagnostic area of the practice—the area where they use ionizing radiation and other technology to document the source of the patient’s problem.

As I was editing the previous entry about clutter, it occurred to me that most chiropractors probably don’t have a formal new patient lead generating system. Instead, most take a passive approach—like a spider, who spins its web and waits. This may produce the occasional meal for the spider, but it’s hardly a strategy for a thriving business. You could probably benefit from a formal lead generation system.

Many chiropractors fail to realize they are first a small business, with the need to attract and keep customers like any other small business. Getting on the “list” was supposed to solve this problem. In exchange for a lower fee, you were supposed to get a steady stream of appreciative new patients. Since that hasn’t worked out liked you had hoped, you need a lead generation system.

Do you worry? The scriptures tell us not to worry about what we are to eat or wear or anything else. But we worry anyway.

Related to fear, and rooted in the future where we are powerless, worry is a prayer for what we don't want. We forget that our thoughts have power. What we give our attention to, grows. Turns out, worry helps manifest the very thing we don't want.

Oops!

When I was going through the toughest times launching Patient Media, I did my share of worrying. As a spiritual exercise, I took on the responsibility of keeping our several bird feeders filled. I saw it as a way to express my faith. It was a way of surrendering to and trusting nature. It was a way to be an instrument, attending to "the least of these."

What are the acts of faith you could perform to free yourself from worry?

If you’re a bit disoriented because things that used to work don’t, you’re feeling a bit like Rip Van Winkle, waking up after a 20-year sleep. And while chiropractic principles haven’t changed, patients and the environment you practice in has. You’re dealing with a handful of issues that must be dealt with correctly or you’ll become the equivalent of the buggy whip manufacturer of 100 years ago: obsolete and irrelevant.

Here are some of the most significant issues that have changed and some action steps to deal with them. Your ability to recognize and adapt to them is essential if you have any hope of thriving in the years ahead:

How long can you focus on a single idea or task?

Whether you're in the adjusting room, reading a book or in the middle of a prayer, many of us lose our ability to focus.

The consciousness created by effective healers (by their attention and intention) is achieved by the ability to remain present. Athletes call it being in the zone. It requires complete attention to the task at hand. Being fully present is the only way to suspend the pull from the past or the projection of the future.

If you allow yourself to be distracted by what the patient will think or do, some little worry or fear, a conversation just out of earshot at the front desk, you give up the powerful present. Achieving your goals or serving a patient is based on how well you can be present; in the now. It's what the busiest practitioners are being as they go about their doing.

The argument continues whether humans are responsible for climate changes, or that we’re simply experiencing a cyclical “slipping and checking” due to changes in the output of the sun or some other natural phenomenon entirely out of our control. As I see people choose sides (or simply ignore the conflict), I can’t help but see the similarities with chiropractic. (Naturally, I see virtually everything as a chiropractic metaphor!)

I see several connections.

1. Beliefs control the whole show. In the same way advocates who believe in global warming find it difficult to convince those who don’t, convincing those who fear germs or are afraid to have their neck adjusted is similarly difficult. Once you realize you can’t change someone else’s mind (only they can do that), you see that belief changing is an inside job. Like healing. You can create favorable conditions, but ultimately it’s out of your control.

After speaking at the Masters Circle Super Conference last October, Dr. Dennis Perman interviewed me for MasterTalk, their monthly motivation and information CD. (You should subscribe or get to one of their seminars.)

I was still high from speaking in front of 2,800 people and auctioning my necktie for Oklahaven Children’s Chiropractic Center.

I remember leaving the interview feeling that it had only lasted five minutes (it was almost 17 minutes) and that maybe I’d been a bit too frank with some of the answers to his questions. So, it was with some intrepidation that five months later I listened to it while exercising on the treadmill yesterday. Click here to listen and you be the judge. By the way, here are links to some of the resources I mentioned during the interview that you may find helpful:

Patient Education or Patient Teaching?
Million Dollar Questions
Socratic Sign in Sheets
Perfect Patients Website Service

Q: Late last year I bought your “Converting to Cash” program. I was a bit surprised as it was not exactly what I expected (it was what I needed). I have listened to the “Headspace” CD several times and started regularly reading the articles and other material on your website. I’m embarrassed to say that many of the topics that you have written about hit home.