Issue 1 - January 2003

How to act on your New Year’s resolutions
By Nancy Gold, DC

Have you made your New Year’s resolution’s yet? Maybe a better question is, “What happened to last year’s resolutions?” As you ponder that question, consider:

• Did you meet the goals and aspirations you set out to accomplish for 2002?

• If not, why, and what derailed you?

• If you met your goals, then how do you want to grow beyond them in 2003?

Here is an easy, effective and fun way to reach your goals (and resolutions) for 2003:

• Write down your top five goals. But as you are writing, be realistic. If you set your expectations well beyond what can be considered reasonable, you set yourself up for failure and disappointment. Stretch yourself, but don’t put your goals beyond your reach.

• Post your goals where you can see them. Make enough copies to place them in frequently visualized locations, such as your daytime organizer, the bathroom mirror, the car dashboard, in your wallet, on your desk, in each adjustment room and on your night stand or dresser.

• Review, visualize and be grateful. Review your goals at least five times each the day. Close your eyes and visualize what it feels like to have already attained the goal. Then give thanks for having achieved it.

Being grateful for something you have not yet received is a mind game: Your mind truly does not know the difference between what is actual and what it's being programmed. Have faith, confidence and belief that as long as you are putting action into your thoughts, goals and aspirations, with persistence you will prevail.

• List your action steps. When you set your goals, outline specific steps needed to reach them. Remember, no action = no results. Goals without actions are only dreams.

• Set a deadline. Give yourself a deadline to reach the goal. Again, coordinate your goal with a realistic time frame for you – not someone else’s timeframe.

• Reward yourself! When the date arrives, reward yourself if you reached the goal(s), then stretch again.

• Re-evaluate. If you didn’t reach the goal, ask yourself “why.” Was it was too tough for the time frame? Did you need to make it more reasonable? Or do you need to modify your action steps?

Modifying goals is okay. What you don’t want to do is give up! That’s the only certain way not to attain your goals.

_ Nancy B. Gold, DC consults on practice management success strategies.

It’s OKAY to brag!

Tell us about yourself – or a DC friend

Some of the best stories are the ones you can tell about yourself. We at Chiropractic Economics want to know about you – your challenges and your successes. And if you are too shy to talk about yourself – well, why not brag about a friend?
What are we interested in? Well, consider
these ideas …
• Unusual marketing practices
• An effective method of training your assistants
• Success in creating a multi-disciplinary practice
• Success in building a single-focused practice
• How you have recruited and worked with a new associate
• How you’ve reduced paperwork in your office
• How you’ve become “the chiropractor of choice” in your community
These are just a few ideas. Let your imagination go wild!

And don’t worry about being a polished writer. A lot of people don’t like to write, but they have great stories to tell. We’ll help you tell them.

All you have to do is contact us. Give us a call: 904-285-6020 ext. 207 or e-mail the editor, lsegall@chiroeco.com.