What Will Become of You??

Affordable Management and Consulting for Chiropractors Chiropractor?  Potter?  Sculptor?  Blacksmith? THE TIME HAS COME to get off the fence.  Time to choose hot or cold, and spew the lukewarm out of your mouth. In the near future, Chiropractic and the resolve of chiropractors will be put to the test… And what will become of you?? The best answer is not found in handwringing pessimism and passivity.  Better to flip the question around… “What must you BECOME?” A sculptor is chipping away at a block of granite.  A boy walks up and asks, “what are you doing?”  “Why, I’m sculpting a lion”, comes the reply.  It doesn’t look at all like a lion” says the boy.  “Oh, he’s in there” replies the craftsman.  After a pause, the boy asks, “How will you find him?”  “That’s easy”, says the sculptor, “I just keep chipping away at anything that isn’t the lion”. Who are you? You may HAVE the stuff around you that says you’re a chiropractor… you’ve got the Diploma, the Board Certifications, the License, a practice, even some patients… but the question remains… “Who are you”?  Are you truly a chiropractor, from the inside out, or one in title only? The movie “300” tells of King Leonidas and his small band of warriors from Sparta, a city-state of ancient Greece. If you saw the movie, yes there was plenty of cheesy dialogue, and CG effects gracing all the soldiers with 6-pack abs… Nonetheless, it gives an account of how Leonidas and 300 of his Spartans held off the invading Persian army, numbering in the MILLIONS, as the massive horde attempted to travel through a narrow pass. To this day, the battle is a case study in military academies of how a small group of resolute warriors can defend their position against a numerically superior force. Now that you have some background, there’s a scene in the movie where Leonidas and his 300 meet up with a large contingent of Greek allies on their way to battle… In your profession, who do you most closely identify with?  Are you THAT focused, THAT passionate, THAT confident in who you are??  Or are you like the reluctant civilian, drafted into battle, lacking real resolve or purpose? Now I’m not advocating we pick up spears, but a battle is coming.  We need to be certain we are not our own worst enemy. To the Spartan, “soldier” was who he was – to his very core, not just a title. There is something to be taken from that scene regarding the lack of professional identity, resolve, and confidence amongst so many of our colleagues. Maybe you never fully grasped what you were studying to become after making a decision to join this profession… or maybe the frustrations of practice have beat your passion right out of you. Do you find yourself just going through the motions, showing up to your office as though an employee rather than the CEO? Do you dabble in chiropractic?  Do you wish to morph this profession into something else?  Then maybe you’d prefer to be a blacksmith.  Or a potter? What will become of you? The world is full of mediocrity.  Are you?  What must be chipped away to become who you must??   Because NOW is the time. Your patients are counting on you, and so is your profession for its very survival. So, Chiropractor, are you in or are you out? I’m in. “It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly… who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither knew victory nor defeat.”                                                                             – Teddy Roosevelt