• 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book in the last year,
• 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years,
• 58 percent of U.S. adults never read another book after graduation; and
• 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after graduation.

• You must have an extraordinary knowledge of your services; and
• You must have the communication prowess to make a concise presentation to your patients’ everyday.

Still need to be convinced? Then here are three more reasons to learn how to think for yourself and for those you lead.

• Thinking allows course corrections. If we can’t think, we are unable to understand our circumstances or adjust our actions.

Study as if your livelihood depended upon it, because it does. Knowledge gives you the power to act with certainty and mindful focus. When you place your full attention in any area of life, the rewards are dramatic.

Rediscover for yourself the power of concentration and the ability to focus your mental intentions. Just as a reminder, we are preparing for the best performance possible in all that we do. Every day is a potential Peak Performance!

• When your mind is absorbed, it doesn’t wander. If your mind is trained to focus, you will perform impeccably.

Let me give you an example. People who play golf love to hate it. The above-average player practices the physical skills adequately, yet his or her game is rarely consistent.

The reason? The game is mentally taxing. The pace is much slower than work or most other sports — the average time that a golfer is actually hitting the ball in a four hour period is only three minutes.

What happens in between shots is that the brain has too much time to react emotionally. But players who have developed mental powers of concentration and the ability to stop the emotional kidnapping succeed in the sport.

The same happens in life. People who develop Tiger Woodslike concentration learn to let go of control and to trust their abilities, regardless of how much time they have between shots.

How does this apply to you? In every practice there are natural breaks in patient flow. The average doctor becomes fearful and anxious when their schedule is light. The mentally adroit doctor stays focused in between adjustments.

• Without knowledge, self-empowerment is impossible. Self-empowerment is the key to reaching your goals. It is essential to interpersonal relationships, both social or business.

Leaders are readers. The universe is filled with knowledge ready to be absorbed and put to use. Become a person who is not afraid to ask questions and who eagerly seeks knowledge and help from others.

Surround yourself with people who demonstrate strengths in areas different from your own.

Thinking and understanding are processes, not events. Your degree was a commencement exercise, a beginning, not a finish line. Provocative reading stretches you intellectually, challenges your current beliefs, poses possibilities, and stimulates your imagination.

You will not only think outside the box, you will be living there.

My suggestion:

• Read every day. Do it for a minimum of 20 minutes a day.

• Subscribe to at least one newspaper. Get the Wall Street Journal sent to your home. It is written at a higher grade level than most newspapers. Subscribe to magazines such as Psychology Today, and Scientific American. The point is to provoke thought, not reinforce emotional patterns.

• Read or listen to books on tape. Select books on these topics on your reading list: philosophy, art and science of chiropractic; communication and public speaking; personal growth; business and finances; spirituality or inspiration.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. We are all born with an incredible capacity for intelligence. Learning is like eating a fine meal, acquire the knowledge, ingest it, ruminate over it, digest it and assimilate it into your being.

Then release anything you cannot use. Stay alert, fully conscious, while experiencing the confirmation of the things that you already know to be true and the pliability to accept radical new information.

Frank R. Sovinsky, DC, CPBA, CPVA, CAIA, is the author of Life: The Manual. He is a personal performance coach and speaker and founder of Chiropractic Mentoring Experience (CME) (www.dcmentors.com). He can be contacted at 800-570-5272 or by e-mail at drfrank@dcmentors.com.