“Keep your eye on the ball!”

It’s tempting to look where we want the ball to go, rather than remaining present up to the moment we connect. Not being present is one of the hazards of being human. We’re easily distracted. Yesterday’s argument. Tomorrow’s rent.

When we surrender the present to the past or the future, we disempower ourselves. We can’t change the past. The future isn’t here yet. All we really have is the now.

This is especially true in the adjusting room. As much as there might be comfort in a linear, predictable, recipe-book approach to patient care, it’s only when you are fully “with” a patient that you have maximum influence. This is part of the art of chiropractic. It’s this “being” that makes whatever “doing” you do 10X more effective. Those who can keep their eye on the ball deliver legendary care: adjustments with “the extra special something.”

I’ve noticed that the chiropractic leadership in California is contemplating plans that could up the number of continuing education hours from 12 hours per year to 24. I’m sure there’s a good reason for this. But I can’t think of one.

Ostensibly, continuing education was instituted in an attempt to bring field doctors the latest breakthroughs and innovations that have occurred since their formal education. If you’re a medical doctor who has successfully shunned the office visits of drug reps, then sure, getting to the convention center might be valuable. Or maybe you’re a surgeon who could benefit from learning the newest techniques at limb prosthesis derived from success with veterans returning from Iraq. In medicine, these annual updates probably make sense.

What’s so new in chiropractic that it requires an additional 12 hours of post-graduate education every year? Newly discovered vertebrae? More accurate orthopedic tests? Advances in intra examiner reliability of motion palpation skills?

If you marvel at the performances of Cirque du Soleil or the recent achievements of Olympic-level athletes, you’re familiar with what the organizing properties of our nervous systems, combined with years of practice, can produce.

Same in your office: organization and practice.

Is your office organized? Let’s assume the areas of your office that patients see are orderly. But what about the other parts of your office?

The cancer in hallway closet.
The polyp in the bottom file cabinet.
The chaos of cables behind your computer.
The putrefaction of unread magazines.
The cyst of never-consulted seminar notes.
The tumor of misfiled records.
The ulcer of unfinished projects.

You may be successful at hiding the disorganization from patients but you can’t hide it from yourself. It slows you down. It impairs the health of your practice. It blunts your effectiveness. It interferes with the function of your office—keeping you at amateur status. Get organized.

Repeat aloud:

"I'd love to, but I can't."
"It sounds wonderful, but I shouldn't."
"If I could, I would, but I can't."
"Thanks for the invitation, but I can't schedule it in."
"I appreciate you thinking of me, but I'm unable to."
"Maybe another time, can I take a rain check?"
"I'm flattered, but no."
"No, but thanks for asking."
"No thank you."

Many of us have an underdeveloped ability to say no. As a result we find ourselves drawn into countless off-purpose tasks, over-committed and eventually resentful.

What does "no" mean to you?

You won't like me.
You'll never ask me again.
I'd be hurting you.
You'll ask someone else.
I'll be letting you down.
I'd disappoint you.

These are nice stories, but most likely untrue. By allowing them to run your life, you tend to live outside-in, rather than inside-out. Be generous. Serve. But for most people a no just means no.

Yesterday, I returned from spending 2½ days with one of my chiropractic heroes, Dr. Larry Markson, attending his new program called The Cabin Experience.

The event, which takes place in a gorgeous lodge on an island in the middle of Salmon Lake in Western Montana, is the next phase in Dr. Markson’s evolution as a leader and influencer. Before I explain how I benefited (and how you would as well), I’m going to tell you a little about Larry—an individual who rarely prompts feelings of ambivalence and who, it seems, is either revered or reviled.

Are you doing the practice part of practice?

Undisciplined professional athletes just want to play the game. They don't want to do the drills. They don't want to practice the fundamentals. They don't want to be bothered with the free throws, the batting cage or the practice scrimmages. They just want to play the game.

But winning is all in the preparation. Are you prepared?

How often do you practice giving a report of findings?
How often do you rehearse the questions of your consultation?
How often do you mentally perform an adjustment?
How often do you visualize your intentions fulfilled?
How often do you get to the office early to "work out?"

The most effective chiropractors (and chiropractic assistants) show up warmed up and with their head in the game. This takes practice. If you don't practice, you don't get better. Patients deserve your best. Moreover, patients expect your best!

Garbage in. Garbage out.

You’ve probably heard this phrase before. Maybe even used it. If not, it simply means that faulty conclusions are based on faulty data.

When combined with the definition of creativity (rearranging the old to produce the new), it creates a more somber conclusion: without new input you’ll be stuck in your rut with the same old results!

That’s why it’s so important to read, especially outside of chiropractic. That’s why it’s so important to turn off the television so you’re not filled with the same fear-based herd mentality that patients bring in with them. That’s why it’s so important to try new foods, take new paths, take new risks and do the opposite of what everyone else is doing.

To remain salty, spicy and be a change agent, it’s critical that you get some new, high-quality inputs. That way you can be a more influential input for patients.

I’ve noticed an interesting shift in my seminar audiences when, during my initial introduction I review the five ways they can become offended by what I’m going to speak about. I’ll share these five ways in a bit. But why all the thin skins these days? Why does it seem so easy to offend others? Why have so many become so brittle?

I’m guessing that the political correctness that permeates our society is part of it. But being offended is a lot like claiming that guns kill people. Or that germs cause disease. (Neglecting the trigger pulling and depressed immune system requirement.) This is a refuge for the least discerning who find it expedient to make broad generalizations and then become uncomfortable or indignant when others find lapses in their crudely created and simplistic worldview.

No. Being offended is an inside job, like recovering one’s health or losing weight. If you get offended by what follows (or you already are), you did it to yourself. Congratulations!