The past month has seen my personal life intimately involved in the ceremony of commitment aka marriage. A dad’s mixed emotion of the symbolism of giving one’s daughter to marriage is something that I haven’t experienced until now. It is certainly a powerful moment, as any dad will attest. (Or maybe it’s just the ‘wet’ ones of us that get all soppy about it!)…
Anyway, marriage is a commitment to a relationship that is enduring. So it is with the commitment to the relationships that we enter into as chiropractors. It may be your commitment to chiropractic, your team or to your practice members. The bottom line is that it is a commitment and commitments are made to be kept.
There are a few distinctions that I would make around commitment. Firstly, commitment must be firstly made on shared values. Once commitments are based on values in common there is no problem in sustaining them. Commitment based on something other than shared values usually are a ‘house of cards’; when the winds of change blow up, the house comes down. This is why establishing your statement of purpose both individually and as a team will give you a reference point of your defined values – values that you will base your commitments on.
Commitment results from choices, not conditions. It is an inside-out phenomenon. People tend to associate commitment with emotions. If they ‘feel’ the right way, then they can follow through on their commitments. But true commitment doesn’t work that way. Commitment is not an emotion; it’s a state that is unyielding. Some days you may not feel like being the chiropractor in the ‘firing line’ or being in the practice, adjusting people or attending a team meeting and dealing with team differences, but commitment will enable you step up and get over your feelings and honor your undertakings.
It’s a weird one but commitment is usually discovered in the midst of adversity. As they say, ‘great sailors are made when the waters get rough’. So it is with commitment – the challenges cement the bond. The trick is to stay committed to the cause when the practice takes a turn for the worse or when your team has a radical reshuffle. At the age of 67, Thomas Edison had a fire destroy much of his work and equipment. Was it the time for him to retire? No way, he said. “All our mistakes are burned up,” the inventor said. “Now we can start anew.” The fire that consumed his work didn’t destroy the fire that burned within him to continue his work. Edison’s commitment remained. Bring on the adversity – that is when the strength is developed.
Finally, commitment doesn’t depend on one’s abilities.
Commitment and talent are not synonymous. Many talented people lack commitment and many of us who lack the skills and finesse are tremendously committed and rise to the top. The big win here is to connect your best talent with unswerving commitment and you will go to a whole new level. This speaks to finding your passion and committing to it. Develop the practice style that is totally you, not someone else’s idea of what you should be.
