I’ve been learning to surf since 2005. It’s tough since I don’t live on or near a coast - so I have to travel far and  wide for surf. Both the east and west  coasts of Canada have surf (brrr) and  we’ve fallen in love with warm water  surf of Central America.

Despite not being able to surf on a regular basis, I’ve seen some great improvements in my skill with the investments of time and money that I’ve made so far, yet I’m not where I want to be. There is still lots of surf I can’t handle, and sometimes my surfing gets worse instead of better (Re: My Christmas Vacation in Costa Rica). 

Yet here are the things I’ve learned from surfing that apply directly to succeeding in chiropractic practice.  And as a chiropractic coach and consultant, I work with chiropractors day in and day out on these challenges as they show up in practice. Whether you surf or not, you’ll get this:

• Success and mastery won’t just come to you. You have to create it.  It is not a matter of ‘luck’.
• Your head space and mindset matters! Your subconscious mind is always looking to validate what you believe to be true. Check your head or get a coach to check it for you.
• Get clear on your big vision and keep it in the forefront of your mind, even when you are not getting results. Keep perspective.
• Set realistic goals to reach your vision.
• Don’t be so hard on yourself. It doesn’t help you get what you want any faster or easier. It probably makes matters worse.
• Plan your work and work your plan. Consistent action is the only way to achieve your goals. Actions are the small things that create the BIG thing: Success!
• Repetition is key. Just because you’ve done something once doesn’t mean you don’t need to practice.  
• Recognize the first step is unconscious incompetence: you don’t know what you don’t know. A scary place!
• Next is conscious incompetence: you know what you don’t know.  At least you can seek out answers and get help.
• Then comes conscious competence and you start to get the mechanics of the skill. Ahhhhh finally! If you want to be mediocre, stop here.
• After hard work and refinement, it becomes unconscious competence where you don’t have to think about what you are doing because it is so ingrained in your nerve system - and you are on your way to mastery!
• As soon as you think you’ve got a skill, something will happen and you’ll be back at square one again. Shake it off and go again.
• Patience is key - you can’t rush nature and you can’t push the universe.
• Be prepared, develop strong foundational skills and work hard - the opportunity will come to you when you are ready.
• Results don’t happen immediately!  Real successes are not quick fix solutions. Get to the cause.
• Don’t always do what everybody else is doing. Be exceptional.
• Be grateful for what you have and what you are given! Gratitude every step of the way is key.
• Take responsibility for everything.
• Get back up. Paddle back out.
• Everything has a Dip: excitement phase, frustration phase, uphill battle phase, and then success.
• Don’t start something unless you want to push through The Dip to get to the other side - otherwise it is a complete waste of time and money.

Chiropractic practices always have a Dip, whether it be starting a practice from scratch, buying an existing practice, or changing your practice from a pain-based model to a wellness model.  We get excited by the idea and we start the process.  We soon get frustrated by the lack of immediate success, wonder what we got into and either quit or press on.  Those who continue to keep their vision big and take action on their plans eventually push through The Dip.

Your DIP could be building a dream team staff, it could be breaking through the glass ceiling of the volume you’ve always maxed out at, it could be starting your practice, or changing your chiropractic practice to a wellness model. Or something else entirely.  But your good idea starts to seem like a bad idea when you are in The Dip. That’s when you know you need help!

If you want support getting through The Dip, email me.  I’d be honoured to help coach and consult you through the process and help you get the success in chiropractic practice you are looking for!

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Tags: communication, Success, Surfing, The Dip, wellness practice management

It’s easy to be mediocre.  A mediocre person, a mediocre mother, a mediocre friend, and certainly it is easy to be a mediocre chiropractor.  Look around, most everyone is doing it.  Mastery however is difficult.  Mastery takes hard work, dedication and keeping a big vision in the forefront of your mind and the stamina to follow through.  To be an overnight success takes 10,000 hours of work.  It means you have to push through The Dip. 

What does it take to be a master in the art, science, and philosophy of chiropractic? Even more importantly is what does it take to be a master of communication about our truth of health, healing and chiropractic?  As a start you need to understand personality types and communicaiton/behavioural styles of people. You need to LAASR your Visit 1, Visit 2, Daily Interactions, ReAssessments & ReReports communication to lead people forward.

Do you know what the common denominator of all successful chiropractic practices have? Chiropractors with certainty.  They are clear on their vision and how they are going to achieve it.  They know what they bring to the table.  And they speak their truth boldly and in a way that people can hear them.

Are you the best chiropractor you can be?  Are you communicating chiropractic to the people in your office and community so that they ‘get it’?  Can you turn people on to a healthy lifestyle that includes chiropractic care for them and their families for a lifetime?  Write down what having mastery in your chiropractic career would look like. Then write down the things that would need to change or improve to get there. What support do you need?  A coach?  A consultant?  Practice management tips?   An action plan? Accountability?

Most people get successful ‘enough’ and help ‘enough’ people.  They hit a plateau and get comfortable.  Are you pushing yourself towards mastery?  It’s your life. It’s your practice.  You get to choose. Let us know if we can help. There are too many people sick and dying in your community because they don’t know what you know.

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Tags: 10000 hours, Chiropractic Coach, Chiropractic Coaching, chiropractic profession, coach, communication, consultant, LAASR, Leadership, mastery, mediocre, mediocrity, Motivation, Practice Management, Success, The Dip, wellness chiropractic practice management