Posted by Dr. Janel Hitson | Posted in Practice Foundations | Posted on 07-01-2010
I have been a huge advocate of goals for most of my life. My first exposure to goals happened in grade school with a unique class called, “I CAN”. The curriculum was designed by the legendary Zig Ziglar, and was geared towards developing success attitudes in kids at an early age. I can’t say that it made a lasting impact on everyone in the class, but the message sure reached me!
I became very focused on what I wanted and driven by accomplishment. It became fun to define my next ambition and then watch it materialize in due time. I had it all figured out, that is up to graduation!
The arena of academics made sense to me and it was easy to set goals and reach them in this setting. The problem came when it was time to leave school and compete in the real world. I could set goal after goal, but my concepts were so poor that achievement was impossible. I had so little actual knowledge of how to run an office, no matter how much positive thinking I did; it was not going to make up for shear ignorance.
Too many students have the goal to graduate, but understand little of what takes place after that! They want a successful practice, to get out of debt, to make a good living, and to help a lot of people; but they have no plan (or an undereducated plan at best) as to how to achieve their goal.
What I wish I had known is how different the real world is verses the academic one I had lived in for so long. I mistook my accomplishments in school as evidence of my future success in business. I assumed because I was successful in about every other venture in my life that running an office would be much the same. What I wish I had done was find those who really knew and understood the art of opening a chiropractic practice and followed their wisdom instead of my ignorance.
Had I done that, I would have saved thousands of dollars, years of toiling, and a lot of frustration!
