You Can Help Build the Practice by Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk
Nancy Singleton
As a chiropractic assistant, you have a lot of influence on your patients. Often, you'll spend as much, if not more, time with patients as the doctor does. You also have influence on the doctor. You are his or her support, and your doctor will look to you to help grow the business.
The business of chiropractic is unique. More than a century ago, D. D. Palmer identified three causes of subluxation—trauma, toxins, and thoughts—giving rise to the chiropractic profession as we know it today.
You probably are adjusted regularly to keep your body free from trauma. Most chiropractors and chiropractic assistants are. To rise above the competition, you also must go a step further and embody the healthy lifestyle (free of toxins and self-defeating thoughts) that you recommend to your patients. When you do, your patients will see the
difference, and they'll want to try it too. Your mind will be sharper, your energy levels will soar, and your newfound abilities will help you take your business to the next level.
Watch What You Eat: What you eat can actually affect your business! Eating poor-quality foods will undermine your own success. A 2012 study found that eating unhealthily is linked with up to a 66% reduction in productivity.! By comparison, smoking only reduces one's productivity by 28%! When you choose to treat your body this way, you'll have difficulty concentrating on important business decisions, and you won't get the results that you would expect from the work you're putting in, which can be enormously frustrating. That's why it's important to remember that the advice you give your patients, who also live busy, stressful lives, will work equally as well for you. You can always save time by using healthy meal replacement shakes, cooking healthy meals in large batches, or having groceries delivered directly to your home. Eating well doesn't have to be any more time consuming than you desire.
Watch What You Drink: If you find that your waistline has been inexplicably expanding, think about what you drink. If you're apt to reach for a sugary beverage to keep your energy levels up, you've found your culprit. A 2006 study showed that sugar-sweetened beverages are a key contributor in the obesity epidemic.2 Although other excess calories matter, especially those from refined carbohydrates, sweetened beverages are one of the most insidious threats to an otherwise healthy diet. Though a soda and a salad may have the same number of calories, a soda isn't satiating or nutritious. The same is true for sweetened teas, lattes, sports drinks, and commercially prepared juices. Consider cutting these beverages from your diet and replacing them with water. You'll set a positive example for your patients and develop a healthy hydration habit.
Exercise as if Your Job Depended on It: Exercise isn't just good for your health. It also makes you more clearheaded, energetic, productive, and confident at work.l The reason for that is exercise activates your body's "fight-or-flight" response, causing your pituitary glands to release endorphins that sharpen your mind and boost your mental clarity. Although this response would have helped our ancestors escape predators and outsmart environmental threats, it can be equally as helpful when you're building your business. Exercise gives you a mental edge that helps outmaneuver your competition and respond attentively to challenges that come your way. It also dramatically boosts your productivity throughout the day, making it easier to "do it all," even with limited time. This makes it possible to have the best of both worlds—the health benefits of exercise and the satisfaction of accomplishing everything you want to do at work.
Sleep More to Make More Money: Getting too little sleep is one of the top productivity killers in the United States. Though most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep, more than a third of the working population gets less than six.3 A study published in 2011 estimates that these lost hours of sleep cost businesses more than $63 billion in productivity losses each year.4 As someone re-
sponsible for making important decisions and managing others, your lost sleep—and thus lost productivity—affects everyone around you.
The bottom line is that getting enough sleep matters, maybe more than you think. When you're asleep, your neurons are busy clearing out the waste products generated throughout the day. They're busy making connections, encoding memories, and reinforcing skills that you've learned throughout the day. When you don't sleep, all of those functions go out the window. Your cognitive health declines and you may find that you struggle to make important decisions or focus on important tasks. You're less able to process information, respond to stressful situations appropriately, manage emotions, and remain calm under pressure. Even if you're a high-functioning individual, the extra couple of hours of work aren't worth these consequences.
Cultivate Positive, Productive Thoughts: Successful people think differently than others. They're more optimistic, creative, and innovative. That is largely because they're adept at managing stress levels and maintaining a positive outlook, even in the face of failure.5 Although you need to recognize failures for what they are, you also must realize that a negative attitude doesn't fix anything. You must move forward ratherthan dwelling on the problem. In your practice, that means learning to address challenges without letting them get you down. It will take time and practice, but the results will be well worth the effort.
When you begin to walk the walk and talk the talk, you'll see what a powerful difference it makes in your life and in your practice's success. As your own life transforms, you'll find yourself better equipped to reach out and help others. When you recommend a healthier lifestyle to a patient, it won't feel routine; it will carry the meaning and weight that it should. Over time, your patients will begin to look to you not only as a source of information, but of inspiration. Never underestimate the power of a positive example!
References:
1. Merrill, R. M., Aldana, S. G., Pope, J. E., Anderson, D. R., Coberley, C. R., Whltmer, R. W. (2012). Presenteeism according to healthy behaviors, physical health, and work environment. Population Health Management, 15(5), 293-301.
2. Malik, V. S., Schulze, M. B., Hu, F. B. (2006). Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain: a systematic review. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 84(2), 274-288.
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Short sleep duration among workers -United States, 2010. (2012). Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 61(16), 281-285.
4. Kessler, R. C, Berglund, P. A., Coulouvrat, C., Hajak, G., Roth, T, Shahly, V., Shillington, A. C., Stephenson, J. J., Walsh, J. K. (2011). Insomnia and the performance of U.S. workers: Results from the America Insomnia Survey. SLEEP, 34(9), 1161-1171.
5. Fredrickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Pek, J., Finkei, S. M. (2008). Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1045-1062.
â Nancy Singleton is a 1989 graduate of Los Angeles College of Chiropractic Assisting College. She has been consulting and helping doctors groM’ their practices for more than 20 years. Along with her husband, Dr. Todd Singleton, she oversees their busy private practice. In addition to that, they teach chiropractors how to implement multiple cash systems into existing practices. For more information to ngsingleton@gmail. com or visit wwMLDoctorsCashSeminar.com.
