Coffee Grinds - The: "I was gonna" Syndrome
What gives us the edge over others is learning from their mistakes or habits that have contributed to our lives. Having the opportunity to grow up with three older brothers, the I was gonna syndrome came out on several occasions. There were various chores that were expected to be done and were not, mysteriously fell under the excuse of “I was gonna do it.” This “I was gonna” category still may affect us today. My brothers, bless their hearts, had the I was gonna syndrome down to an art and science, and periodically I still hear it today.
From the fondest childhood memories of your past, you may have picked up good and bad qualities that have affected your practice and personal effectiveness today. Think about it – from your ability to confront issues, to over thinking something, to finishing unfinished projects, to waiting for the phone to ring. How do you handle these matters? Implementation of a marketing idea, training a new staff member, cleaning up clutter, simple remodeling job, buying a new piece of equipment, getting paperwork and chart notes completed, doing reports, finally taking care of those patients, over chatting, under chatting, not having a purpose, not having a mission statement, spending too much time on Ebay, coming to the office late, leaving the office early, and so on and so on, with out a doubt we could add more to the list.
This year, work on the 12 most important things you want to improve in your office and your life. Don’t waste any time on what you don’t want, accentuate the positive and focus only on what you want to improve. We all have many traits that are always a work in progress.
For instance, making sure everything is done at the end of the day, making staff members accountable for their duties, having practice improvement plans and adhering to it, staying off the computer unless it is absolutely necessary, complimenting the people that you work with, having a mission and purpose statement that defines you and your practice, and once again, the list goes on.
It is not just about the I was gonna syndrome but breaking the habits that continue to hold us back. Looking back at your family heritage, your family gave you far more good qualities, traits and habits than bad. Somehow, the bad habits such as the I was gonna syndrome stick out because they are the ones that we most want to change and strengthen. If this is one of the phrases that you use for an excuse to under achieve, it is time to change it from I was gonna to I am going to. By just putting a general statement out in the universe you don’t make an affirmation to achieve or create any thing unless you start your sentence out with I am going to.
So, if you still think we have things to do to improve our profession and make a difference in this world, please don’t look back and wish it was different because you were caught by the I was gonna syndrome
From the fondest childhood memories of your past, you may have picked up good and bad qualities that have affected your practice and personal effectiveness today. Think about it – from your ability to confront issues, to over thinking something, to finishing unfinished projects, to waiting for the phone to ring. How do you handle these matters? Implementation of a marketing idea, training a new staff member, cleaning up clutter, simple remodeling job, buying a new piece of equipment, getting paperwork and chart notes completed, doing reports, finally taking care of those patients, over chatting, under chatting, not having a purpose, not having a mission statement, spending too much time on Ebay, coming to the office late, leaving the office early, and so on and so on, with out a doubt we could add more to the list.
This year, work on the 12 most important things you want to improve in your office and your life. Don’t waste any time on what you don’t want, accentuate the positive and focus only on what you want to improve. We all have many traits that are always a work in progress.
For instance, making sure everything is done at the end of the day, making staff members accountable for their duties, having practice improvement plans and adhering to it, staying off the computer unless it is absolutely necessary, complimenting the people that you work with, having a mission and purpose statement that defines you and your practice, and once again, the list goes on.
It is not just about the I was gonna syndrome but breaking the habits that continue to hold us back. Looking back at your family heritage, your family gave you far more good qualities, traits and habits than bad. Somehow, the bad habits such as the I was gonna syndrome stick out because they are the ones that we most want to change and strengthen. If this is one of the phrases that you use for an excuse to under achieve, it is time to change it from I was gonna to I am going to. By just putting a general statement out in the universe you don’t make an affirmation to achieve or create any thing unless you start your sentence out with I am going to.
So, if you still think we have things to do to improve our profession and make a difference in this world, please don’t look back and wish it was different because you were caught by the I was gonna syndrome
House Blend - Someone Is Talking; Is Anyone Listening?
When my father talked to me, he would sometimes ask me, what part of this conversation don’t you understand? I fully understood all that he had said, but I either did not want to face the truth or I was just to lazy to do what he asked over and above suffering the consequences of not listening. Recently, we have had several challenges that have faced our profession and fortunately we have come through these challenges unscathed.
Chiropractic should be a way of life not just a way to make a living and have the extras in life. When chiropractic has been jeopardized either in the community, state or nationally, participation by our colleagues in our profession has been limited. The leaders of the profession are giving out the information to build a strong and viable profession that has a higher sense of purpose, credibility and integrity. What is needed is not the same group to do all work necessary to build but for all of us to work on projects at local levels to guarantee our success.
Let’s start with what is easiest, and that is to start educating and explaining chiropractic to the public. Not in such a way that we are promoting discounted care just to get people in the door to educate them. In essence, we are educating potential patients to believe that all chiropractic care is at a discount. That has been the marketing method used for years to teach people about what we do. The state and national associations should be responsible for information that goes out to the public with the same message to help heighten their awareness.
It is the responsibility of every chiropractor to do their part and do tasteful marketing and advertising to promote chiropractic as the standard for natural health care and to stand up against drugs and surgery. Our offices should be full of patients that come in from multiple referral sources, newspapers, websites, television media, and other media venues that show chiropractic in a favorable light. Chiropractors that hold their heads up high and have a philosophical belief system that is not mottled, but modeled by our forefathers that believed in a different set of health care values and had strength to stand together and fight for what they believed. Is anybody listening? Why are we waiting for the next disaster to hit our profession before we do something as group? Doctors that are ready to stand together and contest our foes in the health care arena? It is as though the young have forgotten our history and where we came from as a profession. It is important not to forget where we have come from and that what has brought us to this point is the passion, truth and our belief system.
The higher your strength for what you do, the conviction of your principles in philosophy and ability to love your patients and those around you is, the larger your capability to serve more and give more back to your family, patients, and your profession. If you want to continue to complain be complacent and not participate in the bigger scheme of things then continue to do what you have been doing. As doctor Phil says, “How is that working for you”? That in it’s self should help you to reflect on your position in your life and where you may want to go from here.
Chiropractic should be a way of life not just a way to make a living and have the extras in life. When chiropractic has been jeopardized either in the community, state or nationally, participation by our colleagues in our profession has been limited. The leaders of the profession are giving out the information to build a strong and viable profession that has a higher sense of purpose, credibility and integrity. What is needed is not the same group to do all work necessary to build but for all of us to work on projects at local levels to guarantee our success.
Let’s start with what is easiest, and that is to start educating and explaining chiropractic to the public. Not in such a way that we are promoting discounted care just to get people in the door to educate them. In essence, we are educating potential patients to believe that all chiropractic care is at a discount. That has been the marketing method used for years to teach people about what we do. The state and national associations should be responsible for information that goes out to the public with the same message to help heighten their awareness.
It is the responsibility of every chiropractor to do their part and do tasteful marketing and advertising to promote chiropractic as the standard for natural health care and to stand up against drugs and surgery. Our offices should be full of patients that come in from multiple referral sources, newspapers, websites, television media, and other media venues that show chiropractic in a favorable light. Chiropractors that hold their heads up high and have a philosophical belief system that is not mottled, but modeled by our forefathers that believed in a different set of health care values and had strength to stand together and fight for what they believed. Is anybody listening? Why are we waiting for the next disaster to hit our profession before we do something as group? Doctors that are ready to stand together and contest our foes in the health care arena? It is as though the young have forgotten our history and where we came from as a profession. It is important not to forget where we have come from and that what has brought us to this point is the passion, truth and our belief system.
The higher your strength for what you do, the conviction of your principles in philosophy and ability to love your patients and those around you is, the larger your capability to serve more and give more back to your family, patients, and your profession. If you want to continue to complain be complacent and not participate in the bigger scheme of things then continue to do what you have been doing. As doctor Phil says, “How is that working for you”? That in it’s self should help you to reflect on your position in your life and where you may want to go from here.
Espresso Shots - How to Optimize Your Website
When I suggest optimizing your website, I don’t necessarily mean Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Google Analytics or any other external optimization tools. Internal optimization is just as important as the fancy external optimization. For the most part, you (or your staff) may not even be the one designing, building, and upholding your own website, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take steps to make sure it’s up to the highest standards and is easily viewed and available to patients and potential patients.
First, check the design of your website. How many colors does it have? If your website uses more than 3 primary and 2-3 minor colors (for links and highlighting), you may need to reevaluate the color-scheme of the site. The design of your website must be easy to read and must look professional. If your website looks like a child’s toy, with lots of bright, saturated colors, then it will deter people from your site. You must have instant readability. How many different fonts are used on your website? If it’s more than 2 different fonts, then you should reevaluate the use of text and fonts style within your website. The key to a successful website is leaving the site uncluttered by too many different things going on at once. Everything boils down to readability. In addition to these design tips, keep the most important content, images, information, etc. near the top of the page. This doesn’t mean clutter up the top third of your website with everything. Instead, it means that things like your practice’s name, contact info, links to important pages, and key information should be read first.
After you have checked the design of your website, it is time to check the content. Are you using keywords within your content (the text of the main area) that have to do with your practice, chiropractic, and you? For example, if your practice is in San Marcos, then you should have sentences and phrases within your content that reflect this such as “Family Chiropractor is the leading San Marcos Chiropractic care facility serving patients throughout San Diego County”. Along those lines, all of your text links should be words or phrases that directly relate to their links. For example instead of having the “Click Here” part of the text linked to your contact page, use the phrase “Contact Family Chiropractic”. The reason to do this is so search engines like Google and Yahoo can connect those links and phrases with keywords people use to search for your website.
Is your content relevant? Does the content explain who you and your staff are? Does it explain what services you provide? How about why people should choose you over any other chiropractor? Does it provide information on chiropractic and its importance? Does it have your hours of operation and contact info like a phone number, clinic address, and an email? Make sure the information is readily available to those on the web because a person online will move on to the next website that can provide them with the information they need if yours does not.
First, check the design of your website. How many colors does it have? If your website uses more than 3 primary and 2-3 minor colors (for links and highlighting), you may need to reevaluate the color-scheme of the site. The design of your website must be easy to read and must look professional. If your website looks like a child’s toy, with lots of bright, saturated colors, then it will deter people from your site. You must have instant readability. How many different fonts are used on your website? If it’s more than 2 different fonts, then you should reevaluate the use of text and fonts style within your website. The key to a successful website is leaving the site uncluttered by too many different things going on at once. Everything boils down to readability. In addition to these design tips, keep the most important content, images, information, etc. near the top of the page. This doesn’t mean clutter up the top third of your website with everything. Instead, it means that things like your practice’s name, contact info, links to important pages, and key information should be read first.
After you have checked the design of your website, it is time to check the content. Are you using keywords within your content (the text of the main area) that have to do with your practice, chiropractic, and you? For example, if your practice is in San Marcos, then you should have sentences and phrases within your content that reflect this such as “Family Chiropractor is the leading San Marcos Chiropractic care facility serving patients throughout San Diego County”. Along those lines, all of your text links should be words or phrases that directly relate to their links. For example instead of having the “Click Here” part of the text linked to your contact page, use the phrase “Contact Family Chiropractic”. The reason to do this is so search engines like Google and Yahoo can connect those links and phrases with keywords people use to search for your website.
Is your content relevant? Does the content explain who you and your staff are? Does it explain what services you provide? How about why people should choose you over any other chiropractor? Does it provide information on chiropractic and its importance? Does it have your hours of operation and contact info like a phone number, clinic address, and an email? Make sure the information is readily available to those on the web because a person online will move on to the next website that can provide them with the information they need if yours does not.
