–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.

  If you’re a newer visitor here and you have a few minutes, go ahead and review some or all of my prior posts.  No really, go ahead… I’ll wait…

  I’ve focused on why so many DCs struggle in practice.  Really and truly, with what we have to offer a suffering humanity, we should be the #1 Healthcare choice in America and throughout the world.

  I noted that I believe part of the problem traces back to false assumptions made early on, while mere students in Chiropractic College.

       It’s time to flesh that out a little more. 

   Our Colleges and Universities teach us the technical aspects of “being” a doctor.  And that is their role, by the way.

   You’ll recall we’re first taught an understanding of the basic sciences… the “ologies”.  It should be comforting for students to learn that no patient has ever asked me how many times NAD+ enters the Krebs cycle.  And I can tell you exactly how many times I’ve used a microscope since 1992… uhh, once; and that’s because my eight year old wanted me to check out his snot under the lens of his new gift. 

   Where was I?  Oh yes… In school we learn to identify subluxation and other pathology, to diagnose, and to treat with chiropractic technique or refer out for further diagnostics.  Upon graduation, we are hopefully at least “competent” entry level physicians.

   Now some of us are “beyond competent”.  You or some of your classmates may be (have been) exceedingly skilled at the “doing” of chiropractic.  You’ve learned how to adjust people, and you’ve seen the results. 

             But that’s not enough if you plan to do well in practice!

   As a chiropractor, you are a doctor; however, once in practice you are not automatically within a physician referral loop.  Your practice will only grow and do what YOU decide and act upon to make happen.  In fact…

    A chiropractor in private practice is really an educated entrepreneur. 

   Stop and repeat that last sentence, and let it sink in.  If you plan to be in your own practice, like it or not you are an entrepreneur! 

   And the skills and information needed to be successful are over and above what you’ve been trained for in school!

   Michael Gerber, author of “The E Myth” refers to this as truth as “The Fatal Assumption”.  He writes that so many business owners have made this unfortunate leap in their thinking:  “If I understand the technical work of a business, I understand a business that does that technical work”. 

 In our case, the technical work is “being” a doctor and “doing” adjustments.  Gerber continues, “the technical work of a business and a business that does that technical work are two totally different things!

   Stew on that for awhile.  I promise we’ll continue with this idea in my next post, because although it may not be the whole enchilada, it’s at least the Grande Combo, and too large for one ordinary blog post to handle.

 Are light bulbs starting to go on?  Care for guacamole with that? 

 Stories such as these are heard over and over in our profession.  Remember the “myths” we discussed in my last post.  Hers was a common one… “I was on fire for chiropractic… I didn’t need anybody to tell me how to do it”. 

      “I’ve got this”

      “I’m all over it”

      “A coach or a consulting group is for someone else… I’m smart, mentally tough, and I’m going to be THE doctor in my town… all I need is just to “get through” this academic stuff…”

 We can call it pride, or extreme self-confidence.  Doesn’t really matter because it really boils down to a (hopefully by now) familiar truth… You don’t know what you don’t know.  So therefore you don’t really know what you’re missing from your tool belt.

 It’s like building a house.  You’ve got:

• Lumber?  Check!
• Saw?  Check!
• Hammer?  Check!
• Nails?… Where are my nails??

 There’s nothing to hold it together.  Too many docs have their practice held together with duct tape and chewing gum.  More about that in the next post, as we continue on Why Most Chiropractors Struggle In Practice…