February 2009

Turning conscious treatment into an unconscious habit

by Dr. CJ Mertz

There's a revolution taking place in chiropractic today, one that's redefining our identity for the 21st century, and creating new and unprecedented opportunities for your future. The real question is whether your practice paradigm is designed to "satisfy the conscious" or to "train the unconscious."

Habits are funny things. Good ones are as hard to break as bad ones. People who exercise five days a week, have a hard time missing a session while people who work out infrequently have a hard time getting to the gym. If you're truly inspired to build a lifetime family wellness practice, I believe that first you have to change your operating premise regarding the purpose of your care.

Today, most patient education is directed to patients' conscious mind yet, it's the unconscious mind that influences the development of habits. Talking to someone's "head" is futile because the cortex only holds information on a temporary basis. The conscious mind is stimulated by what's new and if the person hasn't anchored a new habit (unconscious) before your "what's new" wears off, he or she stops -- it's as simple as that.

There are essentially two groups of people who take vitamin C. The first group only takes it when they begin to feel sick and continues to take it until they feel well again. The second group takes between 500 and 2,000 mg. of vitamin C daily to enhance the ongoing repair and revitalization of their body. The same is true about those who eat salads. The first group eats salads most regularly when on a diet and will continue to eat salads until they've reached a satisfactory weight or clothing size. The second group eats salad regularly, again to enhance the ongoing repair and revitalization of their body.

These two examples reveal core habits that members of one group have "automated" in their lives, thus making daily habits easy. If your practice is to see its greatest transformation in patient results and practice growth, you must learn to make chiropractic a habit in people's unconscious mind. Do you see the parallel? People are either using your care until they feel better or they're investing in it to enhance the ongoing repair and revitalization of their body.

You might be thinking that if you teach vertebral subluxation I'm not referring to you. Well, in order to have a new habit you must first have a new belief. Notice I didn't say more information or new information, but a brand new belief. For most patients who hear about vertebral subluxation, they have added this information along with everything else they've learned. In order to make a new belief there must be a complete break from the old. Chiropractic must go from being "additive" or "alternative" to "it's how I live!"

Our nerve systems require the habit of ongoing repair and restoration if we're to live a life of vibrant health and well-being. Getting adjusted once per week is a habit directly connected to a belief. If not, then it's just new experience added to everything else we already know and do. Your habit isn't connected to a feeling. First it has to be connected to a belief before it can transform something powerful into your life.

Information (patient education) is only as valuable as it inspires a new belief (unconscious) that separates itself from anything we've ever learned or done before. Why? Because it's in this magical place that real change, real habits and results can begin in our lives. We don't add chiropractic to people's lives, people's lives are altered because of chiropractic. The conscious mind is constantly distracted, which leads you to chase symptoms whose coming and going will simply be led by how a person is feeling. The unconscious mind is never distracted and its habits are led by things that don't change -- beliefs -- versus things that always change -- feelings.

People don't think twice about paying a little more for higher octane gas because they believe it will help their engine work better and last longer. When you learn to lead people toward making a habit of chiropractic you've helped them truly top their fullest potential in life. Your income and your future will depend on you learning these skills. In tumultuous times when the winds of economic change are swirling, the chiropractic teams that serve people who invest in chiropractic as a core belief and core habit are the most profitable and most purposeful in the world.

Let me show you the difference because it can change your practice forever. While you can absolutely learn these skills, they don't arise by themselves. Attend my free webinar at www.teamwlp.com or just give me a call. After all, it's the development of your habits that ultimately leads to the development of the chiropractic lifestyle habit in others.

(Dr. CJ Mertz is the founder and head coach of the prestigious Waiting List Practice chiropractic training organization. For seminar tickets and information on WLP coaching services, please call The Waiting List Practice at 877-TEAM-WLP).