Trust and Discipline...trust in the process and discipline to stay on track...and not just when things are "going bad or good." I can completely understand where you are coming from dr kelli...and I'm sure most of us have had the same thoughts and feelings many times. However, in my personal experience when I let go of the idea, "We've been growing consistently for awhile...when is it going to fall apart?" And trusted that as long as I continued to work on the right things with consistency and discipline the huge upswings and down swings tended to go away. I'm just going to get my personal thoughts out here, please bear with me...as I alluded to on a previous post, I didn't realize the amount of work that really goes into this process. I've always been ok at most things...I didn't really study all that much in school, just enough to get by. I never really practiced that much in sports, if it didn't come naturally I either quit or moved to something else...my jobs in high school and college were pretty cush, just made enough money to cover my "bills" and a little left over to have some fun. I was your typical, laid back guy that didn't get to excited or frustrated with life. Fast forward a few years and I brought that same attitude to practice. We grew pretty well from the get go, I was happy for the first few years and then I got frustrated. After my 1st year in practice we never grew...sure we would have a few better weeks and months, but we always went back to that original level. Well, after 8 years and 6 managment companies...all of whom had at least a couple of good ideas if you didn't mind not sleeping at night, we came across DCM. And initially, with the excitement of learning something new and in my mind legitimate, guess what? We grew! in the first 6 months, we grew about 30%...we changed all the Veneer on the outside, but i was still the same on the inside...lazy, no drive, complete avoider of "work." So, what happened...we proceeded to have our worst months ever in practice. My initial thought was, what happened? I've changed everything and how could this have happened, does this crap really work? However, after a few tongue lashings from the coaches and after I cried for a little while and licked my wounds, I got back to "work." You know, maybe once a week or so, maybe I will check out these things called "PODS" every other week, but do the homework? that's for those who don't already know it all like me. This stuff is easy ( I know, pretty delusional right?) So one day, on one of these PODS, Dr. Frank called me out...this was a little before BrainSpa last year...I had been in DCM for about a year at the time, and I had not done my homework or any other work for about a month at that time...and being a little smug I confessed that I hadn't done my homework. Complete silence on the line...I was like "oh @#$%, I'm about to get a chewing," which is what I expected and then we would have a good laugh and it would be over. However, what was said really struck me to my core. Dr. Frank said, "Dr. Patterson, if YOUR life, YOUR practice, YOUR finances, YOUR family, etc., etc. isn't how you want them, it is YOUR FAULT." This is exactly what I needed to hear...not some sugar coated BS, the TRUTH. Before this, I would think to myself..."how can exercising every day, reading and preparing for the pods, working ON my business, myself, etc every day...really work? I mean, isn't it really that cool marketing idea I read about to get more New Peeps in the door the answer? How can looking at and breaking down every aspect of this chiropractic business and incorporating these systems really work? Well, then came Brainspa, and I remember talking to Dr. Frank, Dr. Sea, Rich and all the other great mentorites there who are there to help us all succeed and saying to myself, "I know I can do this," and when I saw all those circles up on the monitor, about all the different juggling we have to do...I thought great...this is going to take some work. And you know what? I came back from Brain Spa, and kicked it up a notch, and we grew again...Then, the holidays came around, I let myself get distracted again, I didn't really change although I told myself that I had...and we shrunk back down a bit. Fast-forward a few months of misery, smiling on the outside and dying on the inside and I talk to Dr. Sea and after crying about my problems, he hit me with "You don't TRUST this process, you don't TRUST your business, you don't TRUST the systems, you don't TRUST anything...and he was right, I mean...I've always roller coasted, the key word there is COASTED, we would gain momentum and then I would STOP! I, ME, Numero Uno...it was all me, a self-fulfilling prophecy of why work at it, because it is all going to go away again. And not just in my practice, but my life as well (like the 2 are different). So there it was, staring me in the face and I had to look in the mirror and realize I hadn't really trusted in the process that the coaches and everyone was trying to share with me. And as all the coaches pointed out, my self-discipline sucked...so, there you have it. Now fast forward a few more months...and this is where the discipline comes into play, to work ALL the systems, simultaneously, consistently, day in, day out...7 accounts, the weeks where you may only have $50 left over, Do it! It creates a habit. Rejuvie, do them! Or you will not have the personal energy to sustain the growth, all of the systems, focus on incorporating and doing them, they work! Trust in the process, the systems, the coaches...have the discipline to stay the course...I'm sorry I am rambling on and on there is a point to this whole piece. #1 I don't have anything figured out by a long shot, we are just now beginning to see the fruits of this work, however I wanted to let the reader know that if the biggest procrastinator, lazy, non-focused, non-driven, you fill in the blank member of DCM can make a change, you can too. I have a long way to go, and I'm sure there will be speed bumps along the way...I have no delusions that we are anywhere close to the goal yet.
Is it easy? Not by a long-shot, however, if you think you are doing everything, take a look in the mirror and really get honest with yourself...if you don't like what you see, to quote Dr. Frank "it's YOUR FAULT...now, do something about it."
Thanks for listening/reading...I appreciate this forum for allowing me to share a bit about myself from time to time...I hope I didn't offend anyone, I just wanted to share my perspective. Have a great week, and can't wait to see everyone at Brainspa!
