The same scenario occurs with a practice seeing more than 400 patient adjustments per week as the one struggling at 150 adjustments weekly: The number of things being done correctly exceeds the number of correct things being done.

Many years ago, my father taught me a life-changing lesson about the difference between something being accurate and something being precise. Let's say a math problem causes you to divide two numbers so you take six and divide it by three, which equals two. Yet, the problem actually required you to take the number six and divide by three, so the real answer is two. Your math was done properly (accurately) but it wasn't correct (precise).

Chiropractors come to me every day checking to see whether my coaching program will be right for them. They tell me that they already do first day procedures with all new patients, they perform report of findings, they hold an evening workshop once per week, and they schedule spinal screenings once per month.

In addition, they hold team meetings, they attend different motivational seminars, they feel confident with their technique overall, and they're just starting to accept cash in their practice. So the next obvious question they ask is how can I help them if they're already doing all the right things?

My next question to them, "how's it working?" Their usual answer, "everything sucks right now, I'm really frustrated and my practice has been stuck at the same level for too long!"

Doing right things is a game for "wannabes" because it's the quickest, easiest way to go.

If it's a problem with their financial net worth, they can blame it on a poor performing stock or on Wall Street and the weak market or perhaps on their broker. If it's high scores in golf, they can blame it on their clubs or the wind or the speed of the greens. And if it's a roller coaster chiropractic practice, they can blame it on their advertising or the insurance companies or the other doctors in their town or maybe the economic depression that's affecting their community.

Doing right things however, is a game for champions because the first person responsible for the success of one's life and practice, is oneself. Doing things right means training harder, studying more, risking more, improving more, and being held totally accountable for the outcome.

For example, one doctor recently came to me doing many right things he had learned from going to a few seminars and listening to different tapes on the subject. However, the bottom line was that he converted less than 50% of his new patients to corrective care.

He averaged six new patients per week and while he had a corrective care plan, his pricing was much too low. It absolutely shocked him when I told him one of the first things we'd do was raise his fees. After all, he wasn't converting then! We were also going to eliminate his relief care alternative which scared him to death because that's what all the rest of his new patients were choosing!

We completely broke down his new patent system and broke down his own personal delivery skills with new patients, which was not an easy task at all. But, it's now three months later, and he's averaging eight new patients per week, converting 75% of them to corrective care, and he's increased his fees by more than $500 in his corrective care plan.

It felt completely awkward to him, like he was wearing two left shoes for a while, but that's exactly how it feels when you're doing things right! His practice has sky rocketed and now we're going to tear down his workshop and make him feel awkward all over again until he learns to do his workshop right. Except this time he's eager to jump into the process because he's no longer focused on his outcomes. Now, he's committed to doing everything right in practice.

I'm not suggesting you place a dynamite stick to your practice (or at least not all at once). I am strongly advising you, however, to break your practice down starting first with the places where you know your practice isn't doing things right. It will take awhile to get it right, but it's the best investment you will ever make in your practice.

This impacts patient education, team training, financial consultations, patient conversions, patient re-signs, evening workshops, outside talks, screenings, and much more. Once you've got it right, you start over and break it down again, but this time it's because you learn to take the things you're doing right, and do them even better! It's a constant and never-ending cycle of improvement, a practice philosophy in itself.

Don't feel you have to do all of this on your own. That can lead to a lot of wasted time, energy and money (not to mention a mountain of frustration). It's better to do three things right, than to do ten right things in practice. So, don't settle for accurate, get precise! Get a coach whose primary focus is in the area of performance, where doing things right isn't just a slogan -- but a way of life.