Feature Article:

On Becoming Successful

By Shelley Simon, RN, DC, MPH, EdD
Founder, Beyond Practice Management

There is no shortage of information available on how to become successful. You can read articles and books, purchase audio and video programs, and attend weekend seminars until you’re pretty sure you’ve heard everything there is to know on the topic. These learning opportunities all promise the same thing — to make you a success. New ideas (and even tried and true ideas) about how to achieve success are fine, but too often we seek information from “out there” as a way to avoid looking inward and applying what we already know about ourselves. When individuals fail to reach their most important goals it’s rarely because they are unmotivated, unwilling, or lazy. More often it’s because they don’t appreciate the degree to which achieving success is a unique and personal endeavor. One size never fits all when it comes to identifying and implementing the truly important factors of success.

One of my clients recently experienced some significant breakthroughs in his practice. In an effort to help him embody and reinforce how he’d changed in order to become more successful, I asked him to speak about exactly what he thought he’d done that made a difference. Here’s what he said.

• He became more effective at communicating, especially around using stories as part of his marketing efforts.


• He was listening and questioning more and “telling” less. He came to understand that there is a difference between knowing something conceptually or theoretically and absorbing knowledge in a way that makes acting on it possible.


• He had created a concrete marking campaign that he was implementing with consistent activities.


• He had involved his staff in helping him achieve his practice goals. Part of this involved learning to delegate.


• He had allowed himself to become more curious and creative. He began trusting himself more and took more risks in his marketing and communication endeavors.


• He took a more authentic, affirming stance toward marketing and saw the folly of trying to turn everyone he met into a “lifelong patient” during an initial conversation. He learned that marketing is mostly about building relationships.


• He was managing himself better — his attitude, his time, and his responsibilities as a leader.

Another client was struggling with feeling a sense of accomplishment in his practice. I asked him to identify times in his life when he was achieving what he set out to do and felt both motivated and satisfied. Here’s what he came up with.

• He had a clear goal about which he was genuinely enthusiastic.
• He felt he had the necessary skills and knowledge to reach the goal.
• The timing was right.
• He set himself up to achieve some early, small successes.
• He believed in himself and in his ability to continue along his path to success.
• He felt happy, upbeat, energized, and focused.
• Because he was on track with his own goals, he found it easier to speak with patients and others about their own goals.
• He felt empowered because he stayed in action.
• He managed his priorities well, became highly organized, and led by example.

Notice that while there is some overlap between the two clients’ list of success factors, a key difference is that the first client was more focused on the actions associated with achieving the goal while the second client reflected more on the process and experience. Neither approach is good or bad, right or wrong — it’s just a difference worth noting. In the case of both clients, everything they stated they did to achieve success — actions and attitudes — are learned behaviors.

As you think about times during your career when you’ve felt especially successful, what do you recall about the actions you were taking, the attitudes you’d adopted, or the behaviors you were exhibiting? Sometimes practice success is no more complicated than pinpointing what works on a consistent basis and doing more of that. I know what you’re thinking: “Easier said than done!” But if you stop and think about it for a few minutes, I bet you can recall times when you were engaged in activities that made practice feel easier, less stressful, and that yielded good results. Are you still doing those things? If not, why not? How might your practice be different if you discovered and consistently applied new strategies for success? The newsletter this month in intentionally short and designed simply to provoke thought. I hope I’ve succeeded in doing just that.

Book Recommendations:

On Change

In the February issue of Practice Your Way, we discussed taking a proactive approach to managing change. There are several books that I recommend to clients when they are dealing with significant changes in their practices or in their personal lives. Here are six of my favorites.

1. Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life, by Alan Deutschman
2. Learning as a Way of Being: Strategies for Survival in a World of Permanent Whitewater, by Peter Vaill, PhD
3. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by Malcolm Gladwell
4. The Way of Transition: Embracing Life’s Most Difficult Moments, by William Bridges
5. The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life, by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander
6. How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work: Seven Languages for Transformation, by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey

Read Online:

Dr. Simon’s Column in Dynamic Chiropractic

Dr. Shelley Simon’s column, Beyond the Basics, is ongoing in Dynamic Chiropractic. Read her most recent article, A Natural Immunity to Change – Part 1 online here.

An Opportunity:

Ready for Coaching?

Effective April 1, 2008 my coaching fees for new clients will be increasing across the board by about 25%. Due to the level of customization I provide to coaching clients, I can work with only a limited number of people at any given time. If you’ve been thinking that this is the year to make sustainable change in your practice and you’ve been on the fence about signing up for coaching, now is the time to take action. Clients who begin coaching prior to April 1 can lock in current rates for the remainder of this calendar year.

The first step in deciding whether coaching would be effective for you is to request a complimentary, introductory consultation. When you schedule this session online you’ll be asked to answer several through provoking questions as a way for you to: (a) become clear on what your most pressing issues are; (b) think about what you would like to get out of our conversation; and, (c) convey to me how I can best help you. To request your consultation, please click here.