The Right Stuff
Searching for a solution to a problem while assuming you already know the answer doesn’t work. It’s insane.
While reading an exercise/nutrition newsletter I came across a question and answer column. It may be the middle of winter, but the quest for a flat stomach is still on everyone’s minds. A reader asked, “What is the best kind of sit up I can do to get rid of my belly fat and get a six pack?” The “expert” answered that sits ups, and for that matter any other kind of abdominal exercises, aren’t going to help you in your quest to shrink your midsection. He went on to explain that it’s your diet that needs to be addressed. The right diet will eliminate that fat around the waist faster than any exercise, including aerobic exercise, like running.
This got me thinking. Is there a right answer to the wrong question?
The reader was essentially asking the wrong question. It’s not, “What kind of sit up will help me lose belly fat?” that should be asked. Sit ups don’t help you loose belly fat. There is no answer to the question. This question assumes you already know the answer, that sit ups will reduce belly fat. What should be asked is “What do I have to do to lose belly fat?” This question will allow you to dig into a much bigger basket for your answers and therefore you’ll be able to pull out more possible answers.
Searching for a solution to a problem while assuming you already know the answer doesn’t work. It’s insane. You must approach your questioning with a wide open mind. You need to consider all possibilities, not narrow your search to what you already think you know.
Chiropractors and Chiropractic Techs already think outside of the box when it comes to health care and have discovered the body’s incredible capacity to heal itself. When you have a pain you don’t first run to the medicine cabinet for relief. You get adjusted first. Most people assume that medicine has the answers for their pains. They don’t turn to chiropractic, diet, or exercise first for their pain relief. They ask the question, “What drug can I take to relieve this pain?” versus, “How can I get relief from my pain?”
In starting with the assumption that drugs and surgery are only options for pain relief, you’ll limit your answers. If you assume that sit ups are the key to belly fat loss, you’ll never look to a diet for the answer.
Perhaps, like the six pack seekers, you are asking the wrong questions in your quest for practice growth. It seems to me the worn out chant, “I just need more new patients,” is the equivalent of what kind of sit-up can I do to get a six pack. If you assume that all you need is new patients for practice growth, you’ll never look at other systems that may be askew or even non-existent in your office.
You must first acknowledge that you do not know it all. Ask the right questions. In so many words, staying dumb is the smartest thing you can do. This also relates to what we call coachability. People who ask the wrong questions aren’t very coachable. There is no right answer to the wrong question. Uncoachable people aren’t open to all possibilities, not even the opinions that they are paying a coach for. They are filled with ’ya-buts’ and excuses. They might be doing things, but like doing sit ups, they don’t get the outcome they want, because they don’t ask the right questions. Therefore, they aren’t getting the right answers and aren’t doing the things that will work.
How coachable are you?
“To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge.” –Benjamin Disraeli
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.” –Confucius
It seems as though everyone thinks there is a magic bullet. We all search for “that one thing,” whether it’s a quest for a six pack or business growth. The fact is, “that one thing” isn’t just one thing. Most success is a puzzle and it comes in many key pieces. While new patients are important to practice growth, they are only a piece of a grander picture. An important gage for practice progress is our statistics and this is a great place to start your questioning. There are many dimensions to statistics and many different things that they can reveal to you, provided you stay dumb and ask the right questions.
Stay dumb and prosper!