It has been very apparent to me that we have a lot to do with our own achievement or collapse. What I want to you to think about are all the positives that we have achieved in our profession to date. We are so busy making sure that we are mentally prepared for failure, we forget where we came from and where we are going. It is so important to reflect on this with a feeling of triumph over failure.
I, for one, will not be part of the failure because I believe that we need to step it up and take part in each others’ success. Whatever you are doing in your practice right now that is positive, make a concerted action to double it. That does not include the amount of time we are wasting shuffling papers from one side of the desk to the other in what we think is an effort to build our practice. The reason that this has not worked is due to the attitude towards our profession and our colleagues and the fact that it is easier to let someone else do it while we sit back and complain.
What is the difference between success and failure? There are all kinds of doctors that have great ideas of what should be done to achieve success. Why are they not taking a leadership role in their respective towns or cities? The answer to that question is simple. It is because they have come to a conclusion that fear and complacency are barriers in practice and in our profession, but they are unwilling to do anything about it. So, the positive change is coming today.
We are going back to the roots of Chiropractic to remember the reasons that we became chiropractors in the first place. We are going to look first at ourselves instead of blaming the outside factors such as payment reimbursements, other health care fields, our own lack of continuing to grow through our knowledge, or the philosophy behind what we do as chiropractors. We are the next generation of leaders for our profession – old and experienced as well as the young and naïve.
The common ground that we share as chiropractors is all about adjusting patients and helping them create a wellness and health paradigm that will shift the consciousness of an entire population’s way of thinking. We need to be affirming our thoughts and beliefs and putting them into places that can be seen and shared with others by utilizing multiple forms of media. First we must shift our own thoughts and beliefs. Start seeing the opportunities for yourself and your practice and start making it happen.
If you have seen the movie Forrest Gump, there is a scene where Forrest gets on the bus and meets Bubba who has a background in shrimp and shrimp boats. Bubba is obsessed with what he knows about his product and wants to make sure that everyone shares in his excitement about this knowledge. Understand that up until now, the blame game has been outside of you. From now on, it is within you. If you are not enthralled with your chiropractic truth (your opinion about what you represent in chiropractic), look in the mirror for the person to blame. If you are not screaming about your enthusiasm for chiropractic from the mountain top, once again, look in the mirror for the person to blame.
If you are currently involved and active in the profession, working for the greater good, clip this article out of the paper and send it to someone who needs to read it; someone who knows what to do, but is neither delegating nor following through on what is necessary. If there is someone out there that is taking from the profession without serving or giving back, make sure they get this article. Understand that without everyone’s participation towards victory, it will continue to evade us in our practices and as a profession.
Whiners have never said or done anything worthwhile; they have a contagious personality that has a can’t do attitude. Quite frankly, I hope this article will be controversial enough to make people think on a different level about allowing those in our profession that enjoy doing nothing to be exposed and pushed into doing the right thing. It isn’t so much about them as much as it is about the people that need chiropractic health care; the people who have not yet been told about the benefits or the features that could change their lives if given the chance. Let’s just conclude by saying we are either in or out depending on our level of contribution to chiropractic. If you are out, then go look for something else to do and get out of the way.
