Throughout my life Nelson Mandela has inspired me with his words of wisdom, his courageous acts and deeds. He led a life well lived and has left an indelible mark on the future of humanity. His legacy will be etched in people’s memories in the future. His wise words have implication to all situations of life and practice.
From time to time I take a Mandela statement that resonates with me and will extrapolate it into the chiropractic context.
Today’s thought is from a Mandela quote as follows; “Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do”.
Many or most chiropractic practices let circumstances control them. They are not sustainable. The chiropractor is chained to the practice and it disintegrates if they are not there to attend to it at all times. They too, often we take a short-term view both with their business development and their clinical approach to the people they serve. We get disappointed when things don’t measure up to our expectations or the time frame that we put to achieving them. This is often met with a resignation to mediocrity and a pulling back on dedication and passion.
A test of whether your practice has risen above the circumstances of life could be in this question; Could you go away from your practice for 6 months and would the practice be functioning just as you left it when you get back? If the answer is no I suggest that there is work to do to create a sustainable legacy for you, your team, your practice members and your community.
The willingness to take a long-term view is a critical key to achieving sustainability. Everything takes time and there is wisdom in allowing seeds to be planted and having them grow and develop over time. When it comes to sustainability the old fable of the Tortoise and the Hare asks the question of whether it’s more sustainable to maintain a sprint or a plod? It is probably appropriate to employ both as the situation demands – it is not all a plod and likewise it is not all a sprint.
Sustainability calls on times of high energy and times of low energy in their requisite proportions. Make sure that you are scheduling time for designing, time for strategizing, time for frenetic growth, time for rest, time for celebration, time for learning, time for teaching, time for reinventing, time for expansion, time for contraction, time for spending, time for saving.
A sustainable practice, just like a sustainable body is in a constant process of regeneration. The constant is the passion for the vision and purpose and the commitment is a dedication, regardless of circumstances to ensuring that the vision gets to express.
How sustainable is your practice?
