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Hello, and welcome to this week’s episode of Empowering Women in Chiropractic, brought to you by ChiroSecure. I’m your host, Dr. Cathy, and this week, I really want to talk to you about not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. Are you walking the walk? Welcome Is your office a representation of what you’re saying?
And let’s talk about it from a patient’s perspective. So I’m going to apologize up front. I might ruffle some feathers. I might tick some people off, but really I’m just coming at you with love. And I’m coming at you with what is coming back to us as a profession. What I hear from the students, what I hear from the doctors that I work with and what I hear from patients.
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So let’s jump right in and we’ll try to not ruffle your feathers too much, okay? But we just might. So first and foremost, I’m going to ask you just the most blunt question in the world. Do you have a mirror in your house? Do you use your mirror before you walk out the door? I know you do. I know you do.
But do you hold that same mirror up to your practice image? And I’m not talking about if you look like a Barbie doll, or if you look like Kim Kardashian, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about, are you a good representation of the product that you’re bringing to the market? If you’re selling health, or Do you look like the epitome of health?
Are you taking care of yourself? Have you showered? Have you brushed your teeth? Have you washed your hair? Have you put on nice clothes? Because the reality is I teach at universities and sometimes I really wonder if the students have even showered that month, right? Because they roll out of bed, throw on whatever sloppy clothes they have with stains from last night and they show up in a business class and I’m looking at them going, if this is the amount of.
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Respect you put toward your education. What are you going to put into your practice? Because that whole when I, then I mentality when I graduate, then I’ll take it serious. When I have a practice, then I’ll get dressed properly. When I have patients coming in, then I’ll talk like a doctor. When I have when I, then I doesn’t work because who you are and who you show up as is a habit.
It is a product of years and years of choices you have made. So when it comes to how do you show up in your practice, that is a product of who you are and what you’re bringing to your daily life, as well as to your practice. And look, we all go through tough times. We all go through struggles. I went through a really tough time for a couple of years and Thankfully, my staff kept it together and kept us going because it was hard going through what my family was going through, but you show up, and you put your best foot forward, and you try to be the best representation you can be of what it is that you’re professing.
So if you’re talking about health and Being able to vibrate at a higher frequency and allowing people to function at their greatest capacity, then we should be a good representation of that. Again, I’m not talking about looking like a Barbie doll. I’m talking about how are you taking care of yourself?
How are you dressing yourself? How are you showing up? How is your team showing up? Making sure that you’re showing up in a mindset of, we are here to help people with the most important thing they have. And that is, So if you have patients who are coming to you and they’re struggling because they’re 400 pounds overweight and you’re talking to them about how taking a little bit of weight off might help their body to heal and function better, then you’ve got to be the example that shows them, if I can do it, you can do it.
And if you’re talking to them about that they want to quit smoking, But you’re still smoking? It’s time for you to stop because if you can do it, then you become the encouragement that they can do it. So being able to walk the walk with your patients is so much more important than just being the person that can talk the talk.
Because it’s one thing to get up and stand and talk and tell all these wonderful things, but then you go in the back office and you’re doing the exact opposite. So what are you bringing to your patients? What do you bring into your community and what are you bringing to your profession? Are you professing health?
And are you an example of that health? So again, it’s not just about how you look, it’s how you talk, it’s how you dress yourself. It’s how you present yourself. It’s how your team presents your office to the patients, or when you’re out in the public, how you present your office to the public. to the community.
One of the big things I’ve had doctors talk to me about for years and years and ask me about is how do you welcome more families into your office? Set yourself up, set your office up, set your space up to look like it is a place for families. If you want to have kids, then have a kids area.
It may be a kids room, or it may just be a little corner where you have some little toys, or a little kid sized table, or maybe you have a kids adjusting table. Maybe you put outlet covers in all of the outlets to show the kids. Parents, hey, this is a safe place for your children to crawl around. Maybe you’d be sure that there are no small items on the floor, like no paperclips or no staples or no little teeny tiny Legos.
Or, like I learned the hard way, maybe we don’t have markers within reach of little kids who can scribble all over the walls in your office and, scribble on a super important picture in your office. It’s what are you doing to show your community who you are and what you stand for? And, Are you a good representation of that?
If you’re out there talking to people about making sure that they’re incorporating the five aspects of health, if that’s important to you, and you’re talking about diet, rest, exercise, positive mental attitude, and a nervous system that’s free from interference, right? Proper mental impulses. If you’re talking about the five aspects of health in that regard, are you a walking example of what that is?
those look like when put into practice, right? And so are you walking around being positive and impacting your community with empowering words and motivation or inspiration or something that they can take and use in their daily life when life gets tough? It’s a matter of, are you being that person that you’re putting out to your community?
And don’t get me wrong. There are people who are able to portray one thing, but really in the back, they’re living another thing. And sometimes they’re able to be really successful with it, but that’s not the norm. The normal routine is going to be that when people see this is what your public face is, they hope that this is your private face as well, because there are people who are able to put this out and pretend to be something.
But like I said, that’s not the norm, right? Because those people that can fake it. And then back here, there’s somebody completely different. There’s few people who can do that and I hope that’s not you. I hope that you are congruent with what you say. You’re authentic in how you show up.
You are genuine with your patience and with your staff and with your community about this is what we do. to live a better quality life and we hope that we can encourage you to do the same thing. So whatever that looks like in your office, whatever you’re doing, if you’re doing it for you and you’re sharing it with your patients, fantastic.
If you’re telling them to do something that you’re not doing, not so much. If you’re not telling them to do things that you’re doing to improve your own health, you might want to look at that too because maybe they need a little more encouragement from you. So walk in the walk really is about how you show up on a day to day basis.
Because what you do every day is what matters, right? It’s what you do when nobody’s looking. It’s who you are when nobody can see you. It’s what you say when nobody is listening. That’s what really matters. It’s your thoughts. It’s your words, it’s your actions, it’s your habits. They all become your character.
So make sure that what you’re bringing to the market, make sure what you’re bringing to your team, make sure what you’re bringing to your community and your patients is the best representation of yourself so that you can inspire, motivate, encourage and empower others to live a healthier life. I know that what you’re doing in your community is great work.
I just want to encourage you that if you’re hiring new docs, If you’re bringing on new team members, if you’re transitioning from one version of a practice to another, that you really take the moment, the time, the opportunity, to really step back and say, is there a mirror in this house? Is there a mirror in this office?
Put up a mirror to your practice and say, is this the image that I want to bring out to the community? Again, not talking about your physical, you don’t just have to be a Barbie doll if that’s your desire, but if you’re Great. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the overall package, how you’re putting yourself out there, because I will tell you this, and if you’ve ever heard me speak, you probably heard me say this.
We did a group interview process. We’ve done the many times, but we did one one time where we had two people show up that stood in the parking lot, drinking a Coke and smoking cigarettes, drinking a Coke, smoking cigarettes while they were waiting to come inside. And that was That says a lot about what their understanding of health is.
That is not the representation that I wanted at my front desk and I’m guessing that for most of you that’s not the representation you want at your front desk too. So hold that mirror up and say am I being that picture of health for my community? Is my team bringing forward an image, a representation of what chiropractic can do for you.
And are we living in a way that’s congruent with the message that we’re sharing? So when you hold that mirror up and you look at yourself and you say, I know I’m talking the talk, but am I walking the walk? If there’s something that needs to be tweaked, you don’t have to make a big fanfare about it. Just tweak it.
Just make a little change. Just do something a little bit better. Just one degree of change is sometimes all you need because that one degree of change over time really can add up. If you’re walking across the room and you wanted to get from here to the light switch, one degree of change it’s not that much.
I might bump into the desk, I might bump into the chair, but I’m gonna make it to the light switch. But one degree of change across an ocean in a boat is makes the difference between getting where you want and getting someplace completely different by the time you complete that journey. If you feel that there is a change necessary, or an improvement necessary, or a better version of yourself that you can bring to your community, to your patients, then To yourself, of course, but to your practice, then make that one degree of change.
Make that one percent change. Make that one little extra effort. If that means I’m going to start to do something a little bit healthier for myself, or I’m going to eat a little better, I’m going to work out a little bit more, I’m going to get more sleep, or I’m going to have a little bit more positive attitude, or I’m going to make sure that I’m getting adjusted and I’m getting checked on a regular basis, or that I’m Doing body work or whatever it is that matters to you.
If you do that little bit, that 1%, that 1 degree, that little tiny bit more and you start doing it now and you do it on a daily consistent basis, the difference in you will be so evident. two weeks from now, three months from now, six months from now, two years from now. You might not even recognize the person that you started off wanting to change because with just a little bit of a difference you can get there.
And when you’re doing that then you can share your journey You know what? I’m working on myself because I felt that I needed to do this. And here’s what I’m doing and I’d love to share it with you. That can be your conversation. I looked at what’s going on in my life and I decided this was a change I wanted to make.
And I’d like to encourage you to do it with me. Take this journey with me because we all can get better at anything. So if there’s something when you hold up that mirror that you say, I may be talking the talk, but I’m not necessarily walking the walk, then I’m going to encourage you to make that little degree of change.
And if you have questions, if you need help, if you have comments or you need a little bit of guidance, reach out to me. I’m happy to help you because we’re all in this together. We didn’t get a manual when we graduated that said, this is how you’re going to dress. This is how you’re going to talk. This is when you’re going to brush your teeth.
This is what you’re going to say to patients. This is how you’re going to train your staff. This is how you’re going to stay relevant in your community, or this is how you’re going to do social media. No, we didn’t get that. We’re all figuring it out on our own. Some with coaches, some with practice management groups, some with a group that they practice with.
But some of you are just out there figuring it out on your own and learning. Baptism by fire, right? So if you need a little bit of encouragement or a question answered or you have a comment or you don’t understand something, it’s never a bad thing to reach out to someone else. Reach out to a chiropractor in your own community, reach out to me, or reach out to one of our other hosts for this webinar.
Wonderful webinar series that we’re so happy to do. So listen, I want to just say thank you so much for not letting me ruffle your feathers too much and being open minded enough to hear that. Sometimes we got to hold that mirror up to ourselves. I try to remember to do it to myself on a regular basis because you have to be your first biggest love, but also your first critic.
And you have to look at yourself and say, am I living congruently? with what I’m saying. Am I being an authentic version of myself and is the message that I’m saying honest and true? And am I a good representation of what I’m bringing to the community, what I’m selling to the world? So when you do that and you hold up that mirror, you will be a much better version of yourself and I have so much faith in you, so much confidence in you, and so much appreciation for you doing what you do every day, serving the community.
Your corner of the world so that collectively we can bring chiropractic to the world and we can make this a better place Thank you so much. I’ll see you next time and thank you to ChiroSecure for Again sponsoring this webinar series so that we collectively can empower more women in chiropractic To rise up and shine and impact your community.
Take care ladies. I’ll see you next time
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