LIFE IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS: A Consultants view of the Doctors we work with.
- I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. I can’t believe I’m in this place. It takes me forever to find my way out.
- I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I didn’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I’m in the same place, but it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
- I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in. It is a habit. My eyes are open. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
- I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
- I walk down another street.
TODAY IS THE DAY TO WALK DOWN A DIFFERENT STREET! I did it at forty, and you can do it at whatever age or situation you find yourself. It is never too late.
Why do doctors lament their situation, give lip service to change, but fail to act? There is not one practice out there that cannot change their course. Not enough patients, too high an overhead, not enough production: Make a change. The one constant in a small consumer based business is change. If the customers vote with their feet and you are not growing, something is wrong: Make a change. What if I make the wrong change? It is still better than waiting for the other shoe to fall. Make another change. The human default setting is to move toward success. Fail, make a change. Fall short the next time, make another change. Each change brings you closer to the solution. Each change adds experience the hard way, but you learn. Each lesson gets you closer to the outcome you want. It is our job as coaches to help you move more quickly to the solution: To facilitate change, and minimize mistakes. The problem is that many of you won’t change. It is as if you are self sabotaging your own efforts by finding yourself paralyzed by analysis of a problem that we run up against every day. You’re like the guy in the scenario above. You keep walking down the same street, and falling in the same hole, but never considering taking a different path. It has become a habit, and a habit is just a grave with the ends kicked out. It is not the economy, the demographics, poor marketing or anything else but you.
One of my favorite authors, and motivational speakers is W. Clement Stone. Written half a century ago, he really nails it.
Outcome Formula: From W. Clement Stone
E + R = O
Event + Response = Outcome
The basic idea is that every outcome you experience in life (whether it is success or failure, wealth or poverty, health or illness, intimacy or estrangement, joy or frustration) is the result of how you have responded to an earlier event or events in your life.
If you don’t like the outcomes you are currently getting, there are two basic choices you can make.
- You can blame the event (E) for your lack of results (O). No doubt factors exist, but if they were the deciding factor, nobody would ever succeed.
- You can instead simply change your responses (R) to the events (E), or the way things are until you get the outcomes (O) you want. You can change your thinking, change your communication, change the pictures you hold in your head (your images of yourself and the world) and you can change your behavior or things you do. That is all you really have any control over anyway. Unfortunately, most of us are so run by our habits that we never change our behavior. We get stuck in our conditioned responses. Attitude isn’t the only thing, but it is the main thing that gets us through.
There are certain truths in life that, for some, come with great difficulty. Getting older and looking back gives me a unique perspective of life’s lessons. I caution you to embrace these truths of life and move toward success.
Truths about Life:
- You will learn lessons. I have always felt that nothing happens by accident. Situations are placed in our path by our own omissions or commission to test and refine our character. I will have to admit I probably put my hand on the hot stove four or five times before figuring out that I will get burned every time. At some point it is healthy to look at every challenge as an opportunity. It is an opportunity to learn, re-focus, change course, and continue to improve.
- There are no mistakes—only lessons. Too often I find doctors shucking the blame and putting all their circumstances on someone or something other than their own choices. This is a waste of time and an error in perspective. You are in what I call the “brown pasture syndrome”. You think you are worse off than anyone else.
- A lesson is repeated until it is learned. Like the doctor we work with that has successfully ended 4 marriages, and thinks that this is a wealth building strategy, many of us get stuck in the “ground hog loop”. Every day, the problem ends up repeating itself because you are failing to learn. There is no learning without application. They are the doctors that in this example tend to go from step 1, to 2, to 3, to 4, then 4 again, and again, and again. Your goal in life should be step 1, change and improve, step 1, change and improve….
- If you don’t learn the easy lessons, they get harder. (Pain is one way the universe gets your attention). What does it take to get you doctor’s attention. If you are not getting the results you want, call us and let us help you change. What does it take for you to make a direction correction, or attitude change with an accompanying change in action. Don’t let bankruptcy, business failure, or divorce, or mediocrity keep you from being the doctor you always knew you would be. Everyone needs a coach, give us a call.
Let’s agree that procrastination, letting someone else do it, and resigning ourselves to mediocrity is not our lot in life. If any of this resonates with you, don’t wait for the sun to set on a decision for action. Email me at [email protected] or call my cell at 972-523-4660 and let’s talk. It will be the most important discussion you will have in your entire career