EPISODE 485: What I Learned from My 6-Week Immersion Trip

Hey, chiropractors. We're ready for another Modern Chiropractic Mastery 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.

[00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of Modern Chiropractic Mastery. This is your host, Dr. Kevin Christie, and excited to be back with you in the sense of I haven't recorded a podcast in a couple months. I was, uh, just got back from our six-week immersion trip to the Cotswolds in England, and I wanted to do a solo episode when we got back, uh, to, to discuss that and some of the Things I thought about, learned, some of the just ideas around it, things I think you can, you can take from it and apply to your own life and, and, and practice.

So I wanted to kind of do a, a post six-week trip, uh, episode, and I hadn't... I, I batched all my episodes leading up to that trip, so this is the first recording since being back. It was, uh... I love podcasting. I mean, we're, when our, uh, MCM, this podcast is in its ninth year. I've been podcasting for 10 years. Uh, we had a, the modern, uh...

Sorry, we had, [00:01:00] yeah, we had the Modern Desk Jockey podcast prior to that. You could still look at those old episodes. That was pretty cool. Uh, but yeah, it was, uh, something that, um, I love podcasting, but I also love taking little breaks. I think this is the second time I've taken a two-month break, and I just batch really well to, to be able to do that, so it...

You, you gotta hit it hard on podcasting for a while to be able to batch, uh, those eight episodes. Uh, but, uh, here we are. We're, we're back. We're back. But, uh, let's go into the, um, you know, kind of backstory of this six-week trip. I've told it before, and it was pretty cool when I was gone, and I had posted on social media a few times, and people had reached out to me, you know, it was like, "You know, I remember when you mentioned this years ago that you wanted to do it.

It's cool to see you finally do it." And yeah, this was years ago. This was, you know... My, my wife and I have two boys, six and four now, and we had thought of this idea, [00:02:00] um, prior to our first child being born. I had actually first heard of the idea in my strategic coach meeting. I think it was in 2018.

Could've been '17 or '19. The years, uh, are, are flying by. But there was an older gentleman that, in our group that had talked about he had just got back from a six-week trip to Scotland, him and his wife, and I was like, "That sounds amazing." And, and then when I kind of thought about that idea, um, Laura and I weren't married at the time.

We were together, and then we kind of floated the idea, and I was like, "I'd love to do it, you know, when we have kids, and, and get them immersed into different areas of the world for six weeks." And so we had set a goal for when our, our kids were, um, the youngest. Uh, we're, we're, we, we have two, and we're stopping at two.

We, we always wanted two, and by the grace of God, we, we were given two. Um, and we said when our youngest was four, we would start doing it. We didn't really wanna do it with, uh, you know, babies and [00:03:00] toddlers. So we, um, we, we had earmarked once our second child was born in 2022. It's like, let's make it the summer of 2026, and, and here we are.

We, we... It took a lot of effort. Um Took a lot of, uh, vision around it. It, it wasn't, it was not always a, a smooth process to, to get to it. It wasn't smooth leading up to it. It wasn't always smooth during it. Uh, but I think that's part of the experience, right? And some of the times you have to make those sacrifices and know that it's not always gonna be rainbows and sunshine when you do something big in your life, and this was obviously big for us.

And I want, I wanna challenge you not... Like, I don't, you know, care if you wanna do six weeks. This is definitely not for everybody. Um, I definitely had a little bit of kid fatigue after four weeks. We spent a lot of time together, which was great, and we'll do it each year. We're-- Every summer we're gonna do a different place and, and, and I love it.

Um, but what is... Like, what would [00:04:00] be a big vision for you, um, if you are, uh, you know, if you, if you're, um, if you have a significant other, or you have kids or family or not, like... But it doesn't have to be in your personal, it could be in your professional, it could be both. But that's where I think the R factor question from Strategic Coach plays such a, a big part of getting clear on what your, uh, vision is, right?

And I've mentioned the R factor before, but I'm gonna do it again. And that simply is, is if you-- if we were meeting here three years from today, and you were to look back over those three years to today, what has to have happened during that period, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy about your progress?

And this is a great que- we ask this question to all of our prospective coaching clients. It's... I email it to them when they r- they, uh, fill out the form to, on our website to have a discussion with us [00:05:00] And we ask that question because I wanna know. I wanna see where their vision is because, uh, my-- our goal as a, as a coaching company is to help you reach your goal, and if we can't tease that out of you, then how are we gonna get there?

'Cause coaching is more than just, like, improving your OVA and your new patients and things. Those are definitely part of the process, but w-we try to have a bigger vision for our, uh, clients. And the R factor question is one that you can ask and, like, you know, push yourself on this. Like, what would it look like for you and your family or yourself to do something big in your life or, uh, profession that's a little uncomfortable?

'Cause, 'cause frankly, this was very uncomfortable, right? To, to be able to do this trip, uh, but very well, well worth it for sure. So I'd love for you to, to answer that question and just jot down, take pen and paper and write down. Again, if you were meeting here three years from today and you were to look back over those three years to today, what has to have happened during that period, [00:06:00] both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy about your progress?

And I remember I've answered that question. You know, I've been a part of Strategic Coach since twenty thirteen. And I've answered that question quite a few different times over the years. Um, but that this was our vision, right? And it was even a little bit longer than three years when we first started it.

But one of the things that I knew I needed to do, uh, is have self-managing company, uh, and, and in my case, two self-managing companies, you know, a private practice and, uh, MCM. And, and frankly, I couldn't have done this trip without my team at MCM. Um, Becky, I mean, just really runs the show and, and it really allows for that.

Um, I couldn't do it without my team with Dr. Gage and, and, and Kayla and everybody and our interns that we have and our staff at the office. So there's just no [00:07:00] doubt I could have done that and, and, and you have to build a self-managing company. You should be able to do... You should be, you should be wanting to do that anyway.

Uh, and it really helps you to... You know, even if it's just like I just know a lot of chiropractors that struggle to even to be able to take, you know, a one or two-week vacation and, and it shouldn't be that way. And, and it's a little bit later in this episode I'm gonna talk about how you can do that even if you don't have another, uh, doctor working in the, in the clinic, right?

So, um, having a self-managing company is really, really, uh, vital for your life and for your, for your world there. And so that was something that I knew I needed to do, uh, and I teased out what that looked like for both my businesses, and that was ultimately, um, the roadmap for me to be able to get there, uh, was to have a self-managing company.

And yeah, definitely there was like finances of being able to, uh, afford to do the trip. We, you know, this is an immersion trip we did, so it wasn't like necessarily [00:08:00] we're going out to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner like you do on vacations. Like we, we had a cottage and a full, you know, kitchen and all the things, and we would grocery shop and cook.

Yeah, we went out to dinner here and there and lunch here and there, and we did day trips here and there, and we did stuff like that. But it was really, um, uh, frankly, we didn't spend more money, uh, while we were there than we do in our personal life. So it wasn't like that was a lot. Now the, the cottage was, was an added expense.

Uh, the flights, you know, I got a lot of that paid for by points 'cause we do, uh, I, I do a very, um I don't wanna call it intricate, but definitely I have a pl- uh, a plan. You know, we spend a good amount of money on both businesses on our credit cards and points and this and that with all the mastermind stuff, and so we use a lot of points for the, for the flights and, you know, the rental car definitely...

That was the other thing, is I drove for, I drove for five and a half weeks on the wrong side of the car, wrong side of the road, and a lot of the roads only can fit one car, and you have to pull off when [00:09:00] another car's coming at you. So I learned how to drive really well there. It's, uh, my third time driving in, in the UK.

I, I shouldn't say just the UK, but, uh, the UK and Ireland. Uh, I've been s- drove through Scotland one year, drove through Ireland one year, and then now, um, England, and so getting better at it, getting better at it. But yeah, there were some added costs, but nothing crazy. But then yeah, I, uh, when I left the practice and the summer months were slower, I, I, I paid myself less out of the practice for it.

Um, so there was things I had to figure out financially and, and do all that. And that's where planning and having a vision, like, 'cause if you don't have a crystal clear vision on what you want to achieve, then it's really hard to, uh, reverse engineer it to get it done, right? And that's where you need to...

I, I, I really implore you, um, to do that, and that's something I think we do a great job with our, with our clients, is getting clear on that vision and then kinda step-by-step getting there. So one of the things I also did when I was there was I, I took a [00:10:00] hiatus from listening to podcasts. So I'm a huge podcast listener.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed with all the podcasts that I'm trying to listen to and catch up with, and I said to myself, I said, "You know what? I'm not gonna listen to any podcast episodes." And I gave myself the ability to save one podcast episode from the various ones per week, and then I would listen to those when I got back, so I could save six, which I did.

And, uh, I just wanted to, you know, I, I kinda wanted to take a little bit of an information diet um, from the podcasts. I didn't wanna sit there and be listening to podcasts all the time like I kinda do at work and things and traveling and gym. And so I, I did take a break from that, but what I did do was I picked out two audiobooks that I was listening to.

I, I did sign up for a month gym at the... when I was in England, so I did work out and I would listen to it, or I'd get up early and so I'd listen to it sometimes, uh, before the kids got up. Um, [00:11:00] and those two books were, uh, really good actually. I really, really enjoyed it. Um, uh, one was "What to Make of a Life" by Jim Collins.

Uh, Jim Collins is the, you know, from "Good to Great," uh, fame, and so he had a book called, uh, "What to Make of a Life." And then another book called "The Earned Life," and that is by Marshall Goldsmith, uh, and that was a good book as well. And you can kinda see a theme there. Um, I don't want you to think I'm going through a midlife crisis, right?

Um, but I wanted to... I had heard about these books. I heard about them before, and I was like, "You know what? I'm gonna save them for that trip. I think that'll be good to do." Uh, I didn't wanna do like a heavy business book. Uh, I was reading a biography, uh, when I was physically reading a book, so I didn't wanna listen to necessarily a biography.

And so what I did was, um, I read-- I listened to these two books, and I wanna take s- I got some really good [00:12:00] nuggets out of that, and it was pretty applicable to certain things that we're gonna talk about in this episode and that, uh, we all have in practice. I kinda posted about it a little bit as well, um, 'cause I said to myself, it's like, you know, the book title, "What to Make of a Life"- And then The Earned Life I had posted in the Facebook group when I was in England was like, you know, it's kinda, um, you could relabel it what to make of a career or what to make of a chiropractic practice, um, and the earned career or the earned chiropractic practice.

And, uh, I think if you listen to these books and you start to apply that to your life and your practice, it really makes a lot of sense. But a couple things I wanted to take from each book was, uh, let's start out with What to Make of a Life by Jim Collins. He talks about, uh, the fog, and, and the fog is the disorienting period that follows a cliff, which a cliff is a life-altering event, job loss, scandal, an ended career, a death, a major success that leaves you asking, "What [00:13:00] now?"

Um, he, he h- did a good job of giving a ton of examples throughout history and current day of people, um, that have, um, experienced this cliff. And sometimes it wasn't like... You know, he gave an example of two NFL players from, like, the 1970s who had great careers, and then the ending of a professional sports career is obviously a cliff.

Um, and then they went into something else. They-- One went into politics, the other one went big into philanthropy and made... Just had this whole, like, second act that was, in their minds, just as big as their first act. And he talked about some, you know, some, uh, actors who did that. He talked about some business people that have done that.

Gave a lot of examples of people that reached a cliff. And again, it doesn't mean you're, like, I mean, at the cliff and, and, and, and it's all bad, but just it's, it's an end to something, right? It's an end to something. And, like, for me, it resonated was because [00:14:00] when I left for, for my trip, I exited patient care, and so I'm taking my second stab at exiting patient care and really focusing on MCM And that's a cliff for me, right?

That's a cliff. It's a life-altering event. Not in a bad way, but it, it can be... A cliff can be a good ending, right? A necessary ending. And so Collins found that even his most accomplished subjects went through real stretches of confusion and loss identity after a cliff. The fog isn't a sign of failure, it's a normal, near universal stage between the old life and whatever comes next.

Collins himself experienced this as a, a teenager after a failed attempt to reconnect with his estranged father, which is part of what drove him into write- writing the book. Okay? So it can be something that's, uh, you know, not, uh, positive as well. It can be a positive ending, it can be a negative ending.

It's the cliff, and then it's followed by kind of a fog. You know, I think a lot of you listening can [00:15:00] think about times in your life, and I've had them, where you're just in that fog because you've just had that cliff moment, right? And so then he talks about the, the kind of the third part of this, which he, he labels as, uh, simplex stepping, is his answer to how you get through the fog.

Rather than needing a fully formed plan or destination, you take the next, uh, you take the best next step visible from where you're standing, see what that reveals, and then take the next step, best step for the new position.

So if you're leaving chiropractic school and you're becoming a, a doctor, like that's a cliff, right? And you're gonna be in the fog as a early DC, almost guaranteed. And then you got a simplex step, right? Take the n- best next step visible from where you currently are standing, and see what that reveals, and then take the next best step from the new position.

Repeated [00:16:00] over time, these small, non-committal moves compound into clarity and eventually a new identity. His example is Katharine Graham, who spent years, seven years, simplex stepping into her role at The Washington Post, one modest decision at a time before the Pentagon Papers and Watergate gave her the moment to show who she'd become.

He goes a whole story into that, right? And so the concepts that sit inside this framework basically He, he has a framework that is, uh, f- uh, cliffs, fog, and fire, right? A cliff disrupts your life, the fog is the disorientation that follows, and simplex stepping is the mechanism for finding your way through the fog towards a renewed sense of purpose, which he labels as that new fire, right?

That new fire is that new sense of purpose. And, uh, again, bringing it back to my scenario now is like my, my, my fire right now [00:17:00] is to, uh, take MCM to even bigger levels than it already is, right? Um, but there's gonna be a little bit of fog. There was fog when I was on my trip for six weeks. Um, and that was why it was great to listen to this book first when I got there.

It was really nice to, to have that and say, "Yeah, this is where I'm at right now. I'm kind of in the fog, and but I've got a fire, and I just gotta keep on simplex stepping and trust the process," 'cause it's hard to trust the process sometimes. And I think all of you can relate to that either currently in your situation or in the past, or at least maybe everything's great for you right now and you haven't had the f- the cliff yet, and but when you do, 'cause it's gonna come, it always does, and usually there's multiple, you'll have this to be able to look back on and maybe reread this book All right, so then the second book, um, The Earned Life by Ma-Marshall Goldsmith.

One thing I loved about him is he has the, [00:18:00] the AAA framework, and that is aspiration, uh, followed by ambition, followed by action. Okay? So his core framework has three parts that have to work together. Aspiration is the pursuit of something bigger than any single goal, a way of being or serving others that has no finish line.

Uh, example, be a better parent, live with integrity, or you just wanna be the best doctor, and you wanna serve, and you want, like, to have a great standing in the community as, as a chiropractor. You have the career aspiration, right? And you may have some mentors and role models that you look up to and you aspire to be.

Right? And so again, just to reread that, is you need to have an aspiration, the pursuit of something bigger than any single goal, a way of being or serving others that has [00:19:00] no finish line. And then the ambition is a specific time-bound goal with a defined endpoint, right? You hit it, then set a new one. Okay?

So there's an ambition within that aspiration, right? So your aspiration as a chiropractor is to, uh, have a great career, be a servant, get people better, enjoy what you're doing, and you're an associate right now, that's awesome, but you have an ambition of owning your practice at some point. That would be a, a time-bound goal.

That would be an ambition that is serving your aspiration. And then third is action. What you actually do moment to moment and day to day, and I think this is where a lot of chiropractors struggle. Kinda going back to the R factor question, the R factor question is going to be really the ambition, right?

A three-year [00:20:00] time window maybe, um, but it serves an overall aspiration. Um, and then the actions that you need to do to get there. A lot of chiropractors don't have the ambition or not, or, or they're not clear on the ambition. And if you're... Or some chiropractors that are only doing it for the money, and they're not really patient-centered, they're lacking on the aspiration, uh, side of things.

But then frankly, a lot of chiropractors struggle on the action. Like, what you actually do moment to moment and day to day that's going to help you achieve your ambition, that, that goal, that's gonna then serve the aspiration that you have. His point is that aspiration and ambition alone are just intentions.

An earned life Only happens when your daily actions actually align with your ambitions and your aspirations. Ambition without matching action is wishful thinking, right? So let me [00:21:00] reread that. Ambition without matching action is wishful thinking. Action without ambition or aspiration is just busywork with no direction.

That happens all the time, uh, not just to chiropractors, but think about all the people that are busy doing what, right? Uh, so action without ambition or aspiration is just busywork with no direction. So you gotta have the aspiration, the ambition, and the action all in line, serving each other, and that's how you have an earned life.

Um, he talks about another thing here, I'm not gonna dive too much into it, but he talks about his LPR, which is life plan review. This is the practical tool for closing the gap between what you intend and what you do. Uh, modeled on a business review routine Goldsmith learned from, uh, former Ford CEO Alan Mulally, the LPR is a structured, recurring, typically weekly check-in where you score yourself against a short [00:22:00] set of active questions.

Things like, "Did I do my best to pursue, pursue X goal today?" And, you know, - and frankly, like, - listening to these two books and everything, it, I think it's gonna help me be a better coach. I'm gonna apply some of this stuff with people, I'm gonna really make sure they have the aspiration, ambition, and action.

Uh, it's gonna help them get even clearer on the vision that our clients have so that we can help them even, even better, right? Um, so the idea that LPR is really measuring and reporting on, on your own follow-through repeatedly and honestly is what actually converts stated ambitions into lived action.

And it's follow-through, not intention, that determines whether you end up, uh, with regret or fulfillment, right? I mean, so many people live with regret versus fulfillment, right? Um, and so where would this information from What to Make of a Life and The Earned Life, um, [00:23:00] would, would resonate with you, and how could you apply that, uh, to your life and your, um, you know, your, your, your personal life and professional life, and how can you get even better?

And that will segue me into the biography I was reading. Every morning I was getting up and reading. I didn't finish it. It's, it's, it's a Churchill, um, biography. It's actually three books, and I brought one that was 800 pages and made through a good chunk of it. But, uh, I just love history, and I was in England.

I was like, "Why not? A better time to do that." And it was fascinating to read the Churchill book as I'm listening to What to Make of a Life And to, and, and the earned life. So if you know, like Churchill had a, he was involved with World War I as a decision maker and, and, uh, I think it was Gallipoli. He just had a, um, a, a massive error.

Like it really derailed his political career for, for like [00:24:00] over a decade. And that was his cliff and fog. Um, but it, you know, and, and then he just kept simplex stepping through that. And ultimately, uh, you know, in World War II, he, he had that second act there, and that fire was what helped him with that.

And then if you think about an earned life, I mean, he was very aspirational, very ambition- ambitious, and he took the actions over a long period of time to g- he wasn't a perfect individual. Didn't have a, had a very, uh, even though he was, uh, born very wealthy. Actually, it was ironic too, it, it kinda worked out.

We went to a Michael Buble concert, and it was in a palace, a massive, massive grounds and palace. This whole thing was awesome. It was actually the palace that Churchill was born in, right? So he came from a ton of money and prominence [00:25:00] over like centuries actually. Uh, but his parents were pretty horrendous, and he didn't have a great childhood, so it was fascinating to see how he worked, um, through that.

So that was a book I read and still working through. I'm gonna keep reading it. Uh, it's been really good on that. Um, couple other things. Uh, I'm gonna write a new book. I'm gonna write a new book. Uh, we, you know, we had our first book. That was in 2019, came out in early 2020 right before the pandemic ironically.

Um, and it's time to write a... That was a marketing book. Uh, we're gonna write a business book for chiropractors, starting to framework that out. I have no timelines for it. I'm not putting myself under pressure. Um, I, you know, I wrote my other book. I, I legitimately wrote that book. Parker University edited it and produced it, and I mean, it just was a, it was a whole thing It wasn't like one of those books that you write for just marketing purposes to get lead magnets and stuff like that, like a lot of people do.

It was a, it was a real [00:26:00] in-depth book, and I know many of you read it, and it came with a workbook. So I'm gonna, you know, do another book that's gonna be a real book and not just like a lead magnet book like a lot of people do, uh, around business. So I'm excited about that. Again, no timeframe on it, but, um, it's gonna happen.

Um, all right. So the other thing we did was we... In London on June 20th, we had our patient experience master class. Me and Chris Chippendale co-hosted that. That was really, really fun. We, uh, two buddies of mine own, uh, board game cafes in London. There's a couple of them where it's a really cool like restaurant bar, and you can play board games, and they have a, a meeting area in there, and we hosted in there with AV and the whole thing.

And we had a lot of UK chiropractors there, and we, uh, uh, we got a ton of good feedback on the class. And then we stayed and had dinner and played board games with like eight of us, including my wife and kids and came, and it just was like just a really wonderful time. And I, and I learned a lot from Chris.

[00:27:00] Um, I learned a lot from our, the attendees that were there. It just was really nice. A few of them I had had communication with over the years and got to meet them in person. That was just really, really good. I'm gonna do a mash- a, a patient experience class in Boca Raton, Florida in September. Um, you can email me.

Uh, I don't have any of the information right now, but if you want, wanna be on a list for that, kevin@modern-chunky.com. I'm gonna make it reasonably priced. It'll be here in our office. We can set this up as a, um, a nice lecture area. We can, we can fit up to like 25 people in it. We got tables and smart boards and the whole nine yards for AV.

So we're gonna do it here. I'll, uh, I'll do it myself. Uh, Chris won't be able to make it over, uh, for that, but it was really cool. Uh, really, really enjoyed that. Um, and then lastly, I kinda mentioned like how to take a vacation, right? So a lot of you, it stru- it's hard to do one or two weeks, and I really implore you to find a way to make that part of your year.

And even if you have to shut the [00:28:00] office down, what I've coached people to do before is look, okay, how much... Let's just, let's just take two weeks. If you take two-week vacation How much revenue do you typically make in a week, right? So let's just say you make 10,000 in a week. So if you took two weeks off, you would lose $20,000 in revenue.

Let's say, um, the vacation costs you 8,000, so you're, you got $28,000 there, right? Um, to, to figure out. And you, you would wanna use a sinking fund. Now, let's say the 28K, I'm gonna shave off, uh, 3,000 of that, and I'm just gonna bring it down to 25K because oftentimes what happens is, um, when you do leave for a two-week vacation, you see more people the week before you leave than you usually would have that week, and you see more people the week that you get back than you usually would have.

So you make a little bit more money that, that week before you leave and a [00:29:00] little bit more money the week after you get back, and that... So let's just shave off a few. So just make, you know, easy numbers, $25,000, um, that you need And what you would wanna do is prepare ahead of time, you know, a year in advance and say, "Okay, I, I want, um, I want 17,000, uh..."

Let's just say I'm gonna, I'm gonna want $16,000 in my business saved up for that loss of revenue, and I need $8,000 in my personal life for the vacation, right? So in your personal life, you start a, a year's worth, and let's just say you, um, you put in $650 a month into a sinking fund earmarked for vacation, right?

So it's worked into your budget every month. You move 650 from your checking account into your personal savings account, so you're, you're saving for the actual vacation. And then on your business side, you say, "You know what? I need, over this next year, I need $1,250 a month is gonna [00:30:00] go from my operating account to a savings account to save for that loss of revenue."

You save it up. Then when you leave, uh, for, uh, your trip, you move that $16,000 from your sinking fund savings account to, back to your operating account for a buffer. People still get paid, bills get paid, and things like that. And that's just frankly how you prepare for a vacation if you're a solo provider and you do not have an associate doctor.

If you have an associate doctor, you might have a little bit of lost revenue, and you can prepare for that, but it's a lot less, obviously, than if you don't have an associate doctor. But the benefits of taking these vacations, I, I can't explain it to you enough how important it is for your longevity, for your family, for your mental health, for burnout prevention, for enjoyment of life, for all the things, right?

It really helps create a deep life, which Cal Newport would talk about, okay? So I just wanted to [00:31:00] leave you with that. Uh, my trip was awesome. It wasn't all perfect, and that is okay. Uh, there was, again, challenges in MCM going into it. There was challenges in my health fit, uh, practice going into it. There was challenges with kids when we were there.

There was travel things and delayed flights and, like, it's not easy to do six weeks. But it was well worth doing it, and I challenge you to come up with what's worth for you and your family to do and work towards making that happen.