“It ain’t what a man knows that hurts him. It’s what he knows that ain’t true.”
                                                                                                         ~Josh Billings

–Some people ask, “why we even bother to try and teach and mentor chiropractic students on what ‘real world’ practice is all about”?  The reason behind their wonder?  ”Students already know everything”, they say.

Admittedly, the sarcasm is often times well-placed… The fact is you can read all you want about how to fly a plane, but until you go out and do it for real, learning directly from a pilot whose actually done it thousands of times before, you have no clue as to what it really takes to fly. As Dr. Tom Owen puts it, “knowing is not going”.

While at Logan, my classmates and I would discuss what our future practices were going to look like someday… and what our lifestyle would be like as doctors and no longer as starving students.  But none of us knew.  The things we did “know”, and just accepted as undeniable truths, turn out to be the same myths that students still accept as undeniable truths even today.

Graduation happens… And then what?  We quickly if not rudely awaken to the fact that it is not at all like we dreamed of while sequestered in our “theoretical” environment on campus.

The myths I’m referring to are those relating to what it takes to be a successful doctor of chiropractic, and learning or assuming what it takes to build a thriving practice to help (far) more people (than what you are able to right now).

The irony is this “knowledge” leads instead to stunted success and to limited growth in practice.

Reality is, of graduate DCs who REMAIN in practice, many fight just to make overhead.  Others maybe produce enough to provide for their family, without much left over.  Some manage to build something they’re proud of, but practice is still missing something…

It’s not as fun, and it’s more stressful than they expected or dreamed it would be.

And I now know why this is….

The students who believed the myths become doctors who still believe the myths.  They still have not figured out that the myth is just that… a myth.  It’s what they know that ain’t true that hurts them.

If you’re reading this and you are still in school, you must not buy into the myths.  Doing so will be detrimental to your future.

If you’re in practice, and it’s just not as what you at one time believed it would be, you must identify which one(s) you accepted and are still believing as truth.  I won’t repeat the oft-used “definition of insanity” here, but have you reached a point yet where you’re tired of the headache you’ve developed from beating your head against a wall?  Because as long as you adhere to the same myth, the wall ain’t moving.

Once identified, correct the mistake by applying truth based on sound principles and on the required attitudes, actions, concepts, and procedures.  And watch what happens next…

School prepares us well with basic doctor skills, and to pass our boards.  We graduate as competent DCs, knowing when to treat and when to refer.  But school is not where we find the knowledge and skills necessary to  grow a self-sustaining referral practice in the real world.  It is, however, a place where many of the myths alluded to originate or are promulgated.

Is it any wonder why so many of our colleagues struggle to make it when it should not and need not be that way?

Do something about it!  A Chinese proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago.  The second best time is now.”  Correct the mistakes, re-route the ship.  I promise you, your true potential is far, far greater than where you are at today.