July 2003

When you've been given a task, have you: a) often not done it because it wasn't important enough to you; b) done it just good enough to get by; or c) done it with pride and with an underlying desire to do it as well (or even better) than anyone else has ever done it before?

Success is about wanting something and wanting it with all of your heart. When watching a sporting event, how many times have you heard about the winning team that "they just wanted it more than the other guys!"?

You can't be just a part-time winner. You can't be a winner in the office and a loser at home or spiritually. Just like you can't be a winner at home and a loser in the office or spiritually -- nor a winner spiritually and a loser in the office or at home. Winning is a 24/7 deal.

If you feel you're winning in one area of your life and losing in another, you're probably not.

Let me share a simple philosophy with you, that of plate spinning your life projects versus juggling them. Jugglers may juggle three or four items if they're really good at it. Yet, if one item is in the air, the other two items are not.

Think about the following scenario using this model of juggling.

Your practice is doing great but your spouse hasn't seen much of you and your spirit feels tugged at from all angles. So, you start spending more time with your spouse and your practice stats start decreasing and you really feel your spirituality being tested. Now you focus on your spirituality and both your practice and your spouse show signs of being left out. This constant juggling is what I believe leads to stress and dis-ease in one's life.

What's the other opinion? The plate spinning philosophy on life is the answer.

My family and I were vacationing in San Diego in the mid 1980s when I saw a Chinese plate spinning expert. She placed the plates on wooden sticks and spun them. She had 18 sticks balanced with 18 plates spinning on them. Once they were all in motion she very effortlessly added a little spin to each of them from time to time. She balanced and spun those plates for more than five minutes without much energy at all. It was at that moment I decided to never, ever juggle my life again. I was going to give each project my all. Once they got going, I would give them a small amount of energy and just enjoy the show.

You might spend great quality time with your family, have your dream practice and be spiritually connected that ties it all together. Not to mention, when you master spinning three plates, who is to stop you from adding more to your life? It's amazing and once you get all those plates spinning, you'll find that keeping them spinning is much easier than juggling one thing up and two things down. In fact, I've found that some plates need very little attention once they are moving in the right direction.

Let's all become master plate spinners and get over the constant stress of juggling our lives, practices and families. It can be done and it is great fun!

Years ago, when I was active in the martial arts, I witnessed an interesting thing. A young man entered our dojo (training hall) with a very blackened eye. When questioned about why he wanted to learn a martial art he said: "It's not to learn how to fight -- it's to learn more about myself".

With that very philosophical answer he was enrolled in our school. Approximately four months passed and he had his first promotion to yellow belt. On Saturday morning he received his yellow belt. Then some time between his Saturday promotion and Monday training he received something else. On Monday he showed up at the dojo with two very blackened eyes!

If you're wondering what this story has to do with chiropractic, as a practicing D.C. for 17 years and a chiropractic coaching consultant for four years, it reminds me of what I see all too often with new chiropractors. They come out of school with all the knowledge to serve the masses only to discover they often don't have a clue about running the business of chiropractic. That's worse than two black eyes by the way!

Your chiropractic degree, like the martial artist's yellow belt, is not where the process ends. It's where it begins. It is a beginning that some can run with and most aren't sure about. Your chiropractic career is, or at least should be, a passionate mission of exploring the possibilities in front of you.

Practice, like life, should be a journey -- not a destination. When you get wherever it is you think you should be you can't just rest on your laurels. Hopefully, that arrival will create a goal of a new journey. If not, remember this old saying, "You're either green and growing or ripe and rotten." It's your choice.

An older, wiser friend once told me that people are often down on what they are not up on. So, considering my 17 years of incredible practice, the nine satellite locations I've opened, the four years of chiropractic lecturing and the 40 offices that I consult, allow me to give you a game plan for success after graduating from chiropractic school.

*** Be passionate about being on your chiropractic mission.

*** Visit at least 100 practicing D.C.s prior to picking the one you wish to learn from.

*** Dedicate at least one year under the tutelage of your new found mentor.

*** Listen, learn and absorb their years of experience. Why reinvent the wheel?

*** Toward the end or your associateship, start traveling to areas (if you wish to leave the town you are associating in) where you think you might want to live and practice.

*** Keep the friend/mentor on your side and as a friend forever. Leaving a practice should be like a child moving out of the home, not like a divorce.

*** If the mentor can guide you to the practice of our dreams (and I hope our dreams are big) let it happen. If not, hire a proven coach to guide you through. Again, why invent the wheel?

*** Enjoy the journey.

To some this may sound too easy and others won't know what it sounded like at all because they stopped reading at the martial arts story. If YOU made it this far, you can certainly follow this sure fire recipe to chiropractic success. The choice is once again yours!