Tip # 13

Someone once said that success was 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. I am going to take the liberty of changing that to success is 99% preparation and 1% everything else. It is all about having procedures in place that will allow you to function at your highest potential. Organize, systematize and then actualize. To do otherwise is chaos and although it may be exciting to jump on the chaos ride every now and again, it can not last. Pretty soon you will either get sick and confused where you will be screaming for the operator to stop the ride or they will just pull the lever and stop it on their own.

The chaos ride is exciting! You go to a motivational seminar or some type of meeting and you are pumped to the max. That in good. You learned some technique or many techniques on how to get new patients, run your practice, make lots of money .......... and then you go back to the office and implement everything at once. It's the proverbial "it you throw enough shit against the wall - some of it is going to stick" syndrome. And, it works - for a while. Suddenly your office is flooded with new patients, people are happy and you begin to prosper but then what? Or, maybe nothing happened because of your efforts (or pseudo-efforts) and now you are bummed out and become a 'that doesn't work person (yikes).

This is the exact opposite of 99% perspiration - it is 99% inspiration and 1% perspiration. Personally, I like the chaos stage. I like it when the endorphines are pumping and I love the thrill of the ride but...... think of your practice as a sporting event and the preparation part becomes vitally obvious and you will understand this tip a little more clearly.

Tip # 13 - Back to Basics

We are one week away from the Super Bowl - the biggest game in football. Every player on every team (or so we hope) begins and ends their career chasing this one milestone. The prize, a Super Bowl ring and the pride of playing on a winning team (not to mention a big fat paycheck). It is the pinnacle of their career - the icing on the cake. For 16 Sunday's a year, they take the field of battle for 60 minutes short minutes. Imagine that, these giants of the gridiron spend 8-10 hours a day, working out, studying their scripts, getting coached and practicing their performance just to showcase their efforts and talents for 16 hours out of a whole year.

Now, let's look at the numbers real quick. Let's say they prepare forty weeks out of the year, 4 days a week for 8 hours a day. That comes out to roughly 1,280 hours of preparation for 16 hours of show time. That is 80 hours of prep time for one hour of show time.

Every coach knows that in order to create a winning team (and in this case you are the coach) there has to be raw talent to begin with. Then, it is their responsibility to develop that talent. They give them a play book and ask them to study it. Wait a minute. Where did the play book come from? It is a collaborative effort but essentially - they developed it. They took what they learned during their journey to a head coaching position (school) and put their very own special twist on not only what they have learned but also on what they have observed other head coaches doing. Then they created their own play book, one which suites their personality and style of play. In their play book are their procedures and strategies on how to create a winning team - week after week they train from this book so they are prepared not only on how to score but also on how to keep the other team from scoring against them. Practice - drill- rehearse. Practice-drill-rehearse until game time. They either win or they lose but once again it is practice -drill-rehearse, practice- drill - rehearse.

There are offensive coaches, defensive coaches, quarterback coaches, receiving coaches, special team coaches, strength trainers, conditioning trainers and on and on. Each one practicing a minimum of 80 hours for one hour of play. That is an astronomical number of hours but demonstrates what goes into winning.

The team that wins is usually the one that continues practicing with continuity and is relentless in their efforts. They practice the same plays over and over hundreds of times until it is second nature and once they have perfected it, they practice it again and again. My assistant is great at answering the phone per our play book. I have received countless compliments on how good she is but every month we train on how to answer the phone. If we did not, she would inevitably sway from the procedure and the whole team would suffer. There needs to be a procedure for every aspect of your practice and every procedure needs to be practiced, perfected and trained on - ever and over.

Today, let's break your office down into squads or zones. We will make the front end Zone 1, your new patient room, Zone 2 and we will go on from there creating a play book for your office. but before that, we have to prepare you to be the head coach. For that, we have the Ultimate Success Journal, a tool I have already created. If you believe what I am saying here, then you will want to get yourself prepared. Visit www.successfuldc.com and order this play book.

Starting tomorrow, we get to practice.

Tip # 13 - Get Back to Basics