EPISODE 435: The Chiropractic Roller Coaster
Hey, chiropractors. We're ready for another Modern Chiropractic Marketing Show with Dr. Kevin Christie, where we discuss the latest in marketing strategies, contact marketing, direct response marketing, and business development with some of the leading experts in the industry.
Speaker: [00:00:00] Hey docs, welcome to this solo episode where I dive into the chiropractic rollercoaster 'cause as a chiropractor and a chiropractor in practice. Everybody is on the roller coaster. Everybody has their ups and downs and, and really what made me think about this particular topic was, uh, a confluence of a few things.
Speaker: Uh, I recently interviewed Dr. Clayton Skaggs on his new book, the Power of Doing What Matters, and that'll come out after this one comes out, uh, concurrently. Um, Scotty Scheffler one another. Major, and I'll get to why that matters. And then, um, I'm gonna share here an audio from Taylor Sheridan, who is the creator of Yellowstone in 1923, and I think it's 1883.
Speaker: He's, he's just, and also Landman, I mean, he's just on a tear [00:01:00] and he had about a four, four and a half minute. Clip here, I've got that I'm gonna share at a graduation speech. And I just thought it was really good and, and it is life. And so I'm going to, as you, as you listen to this, I want you to think about it.
Speaker: He's talking to obviously, uh, new college graduates that are going into the world. And you are probably in a different stage of life. Some of you are not. Some of you're graduating chiropractic school maybe soon, but no matter where you're at in life, I just want you to think about, you know. Being a chiropractor, chiropractor practice, whether it's, uh, dealing with the business side of things, the ups and downs, the the good times, the bad times, or the good patients.
Speaker: The bad patients, the good outcomes with the patient, the bad outcomes with the patient. Staff, turnover, I mean, all the things. And so I want you to think about that as you listen to this. And this is a, a gentleman that. Um, I mean, he is, he has hit a level of success that [00:02:00] didn't come early on, but he's hit a level of success that is, is pretty impressive, and it's just pretty impressive what he.
Speaker: Has been able to do, or obviously a Scotty Scheffler, uh, or a Dr. Scaggs, like it'd be just people that have done really well in their profession, but it's just not easy. Um, and it never is going to be easy. So I want you to think about that as we listen to this audio and then we'll come back.
Speaker 2: Today is the most free you will ever be Today. You hold absolute power over the course of your life. Your great challenge is making choices, which do not shackle that freedom because today you are free to determine the pathway of your future. You have already proven your determination, your self discipline.
Speaker 2: Your integrity and your grit, and those four things more [00:03:00] than any degree will be the foundation of your success regardless of what path you choose for yourself as someone who did not display your self-discipline or integrity. When I was in college, uh, I found myself in what we'll call the transfer portal to the School of Life.
Speaker 2: And, uh, life's campus and curriculum are well. Uh, think of that one professor who seemed determined to derail your entire academic career. It's a whole school of those sons of bitches, okay? And, uh, the school of life is where you're headed to and nobody ever graduates. There are no safe spaces and no summers off and no winter break a university beyond all it offers you through academics and the arts.
Speaker 2: And social interaction, and people from every race and nationality all brought together in a cocoon that is [00:04:00] designed to keep the school of life far, far away to prepare you for the world that's waiting. And now that world is here and you are being turned loose to it. I have compiled a list of lessons that I've learned navigating this school of life and some.
Speaker 2: Statements that I leaned on when the challenges seemed too massive to overcome when my dreams seemed to beyond my abilities, when they seem too big, foolish, even in their audacity, and yet I did achieve them. So perhaps you'll file these away and lean on them as well and achieve your dreams too. Life is a constant struggle interrupted by brief bursts of success.
Speaker 2: And that success is dependent upon the struggle, and it is contingent upon your relentless assault against it. You will be remembered for how you make people feel [00:05:00] about themselves, not how they feel about you. So be kind to those around you and to yourself. Respect cannot be demanded. It must be earned.
Speaker 2: The end does not justify the means because there is no end. The means is all there is. Judge yourself far more harshly than you judge others, but forgive yourself when you fail. Then learn from that failure and build your success on top of it, because the bedrock of success is your failures. How hard you work is the one thing you can always control.
Speaker 2: Your competition can be smarter and funnier or wittier, prettier, and none of that matters. If they can't outwork you now, however hard you work, and you're gonna like this 'cause most of you have been practicing this for four years, however hard you work, [00:06:00] that is how hard you play. Okay? Reward yourself with experiences, shower yourself in memories made with friends, family, and the ones you love.
Speaker 2: You can't choose your destiny. But you can choose your habits and your habits. Choose your destiny. Lastly, in the immortal words of Mike Tyson, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.
Speaker 2: And trust me, life punches hard. So you take the lick and then you punch back harder.
Speaker: Alright, so I hope you enjoyed that. I, I just really found it very, very apropos, um, for everybody, but also as a chiropractor. And one of the things that I, I'll take from, there's a lot, but when you talked [00:07:00] about the, the. The means justifying the ends and that it just never ends. Right. Um, so it's always about the means.
Speaker: And, and that's where I go to now to, to Scotty Scheffler who, um, you know, just won the British Open. And prior to that he had a, a pretty, um, you know, a pretty heartfelt deep, um, interview conversation about, um, you know, how you win something as big as he does, and it's fleeting. And the up, you know, you, you're happy for a day or, or whatever, but I think what stands out about Scotty Scheffler.
Speaker: Is he is not attached to the, to the end. Um, he is attached to the process, right? He is, he is not dwelling on what the outcome is, whether it's the outcome of that particular shot or that particular tournament, or frankly, his particular. Career. He is, um, all about family, all [00:08:00] about, um, his faith, and he's all about just the, the process and that, you know, in those, in those leading indicators of life, not the trailing indicators of life.
Speaker: And I think part of what. Why we might get on that roller coaster of being a chiropractor is that we are attached to the outcomes or the trailing indicators of like, how many new patients do we have? What's our revenue? You know, those things matter for sure, but too many people are focused and attached to the outcomes or the ends.
Speaker: And not the process of getting there, uh, or not the means of, of getting there. And I want you to start really considering that, and that's how you're, um, you're going to manage the roller coaster, right? The, the highs aren't gonna be too high and the lows aren't going to be too low. And, and that's one of the things that.
Speaker: You gotta have strategies and, and so I want you to listen [00:09:00] when it comes out in a couple weeks, the interview with Dr. Skaggs. 'cause he's written a book called The Power of Doing What Matters. So it's a little bit outside of maybe you know, Dr. Skaggs on the clinical side of things, but he's written a book and we talk about.
Speaker: The power of, of doing what matters and, and the strategies you need to have to maintain that kind of, that levelheadedness. Um, or what I like to call or I hear, and it's something I've been focused on for a few years in my life, is equanimity and really being balanced, um, throughout. No matter what, there's gonna be, you know, again, there's gonna be ups and downs, and we're not gonna be perfect.
Speaker: And it's, we're not expecting to be perfect, but you can get better. You can implement strategies to have equanimity. Um, and it's kind of, I, I reference it often, but as a, as a parent of young kids, I just love the, the, um, the context of the idea that you. You have to prepare the child for the world. You [00:10:00] can't prepare the world for the child.
Speaker: Too many parents do that nowadays. They think they can prepare the world for the child, and you have to obviously prepare the child for the world. And it's the same thing as a chiropractor in practice. Like you have to prepare yourself. For the profession and for the types of patients you're going to get and the types of things you're gonna deal with as a business owner.
Speaker: Um, you can't prepare all of that for you, right? It's just not gonna happen. And you've gotta be able to maintain a level of equanimity throughout your career so that you enjoy it. And like Taylor Sheridan said, is, uh, work hard, play hard. You have to have things in your life. That balance the hard work that you need to put in to do this for a long period of time.
Speaker: And, um, you know, you gotta ask yourself like, what, what do you love about being a chiropractor? Right? Um, I think one of the things that I've benefited most from [00:11:00] Strategic Coach is there work around unique ability and getting really clear on what your unique ability is and working towards that, right?
Speaker: Again, if you're 30 years old. Um, it's gonna look different than when you're 50 years old, like you can whittle down later on. Early on, you might be doing some things until you have the revenue and profits to reinvest in people or systems or technology that allows you to focus on unique ability. And again, just to define that as strategic coach defines it.
Speaker: His unique ability is something is, is an activity that fascinates and motivates you and we'll keep it within the realm of work. Um, but professionally, what fascinates and motivates you that you could do day in and day out for 40 years versus like an excellent activity? Could be something like, uh, you know, doing rehab exercise.
Speaker: You might be excellent at it, but is that your unique ability that you want to do for 40 years? You're at some point may want to delegate that off and there's other things. [00:12:00] That we can talk about within that as well. But I think that is gonna be key, is to have a roadmap to what your unique ability is and start working towards that so that you can do mostly.
Speaker: It's not all everything, trust me. Uh, I'm pretty, I'm pretty close in my unique ability. It's taken a long time, but I'm pretty close to it. But trust me, I'm not in my unique ability all the time, but I, I'm majority of my professional life doing what I love. To do and you can get there and you gotta set that roadmap to do it.
Speaker: And when you have that, that helps you deal with the ups and downs. And when you do get punched in the face like Mike Tyson says, right, it helps you because you have a clear path of doing that. And sometimes you need help what, with, what that path looks like and, and the things to get there. Um, but ultimately, uh, you need to develop the strategies.
Speaker: To, um, be able to, to handle that rollercoaster. And like what Taylor Sheridan said is to, um, [00:13:00] really focus on the means, um, as you're going along or focus on the process, not the outcome. And so that's, um, something I've been kind of thinking about a little bit. Um, you know, and just talking to so many chiropractors and, and I mean, trust me, every chiropractor has their ups and downs.
Speaker: I, uh, I'm fortunate enough and, and, and I would say blessed enough to get to work with and for many chiropractors from the startup practice to the $5 million practice. We've got some of those and, um. There's always ups and downs. They just have different zeros at the end of it. So it's not just you, uh, and find your, um, like Dr.
Speaker: Scag says, kind of your, your group of advisors, um, that are gonna help you through some of those challenging times. So, uh, you know. You can't get off the rollercoaster once you decide to be a chiropractor, especially if you're a practice owner, you're gonna be on the rollercoaster. Let's [00:14:00] just have fun on it and, uh, enjoy it and work hard and have some strategies to manage the ups and downs.