Practice Tip Of The Week -- 11-17-97 .. Dr. Dennis Perman .. Masters9@aol.com Patient Personalities Practice Tip Of The Week -- If you're going to communicate effectively with someone, you must know who you are dealing with! These are the words I began last week's column with, and it's just as true seven days later. One of the interesting and useful ways you can categorize people is with a method I originally heard from Guy Riekeman and Joe Flesia in the old Renaissance days, and has been taught expertly for years by Larry Markson. This system divides people into four groups, drivers, expressives, amiables, and analyticals. Drivers are extremely direct, assertive, dominant types, often in positions of authority, or at least they act that way. Nothing makes a driver crazier than wasted time, wasted words, and wasted effort. If you are with a driver patient, get to the point quickly, take care of the patient efficiently and with great certainty, and release him or her as soon as possible, because that's what a driver wants. Expressives are sociable, enthusiastic talkers. As opposed to the drivers, an expressive loves a good conversation, and appreciates the social graces. When you're dealing with an expressive, offer interesting, colorful patient education that keeps the patient's attention, and watch out for the expressive's tendency to engage you in small talk. Naturally outgoing, the expressive will be a great source of referrals if properly educated. Amiables are pleasant and easy to please. They rarely complain, and often will not even bring up something that's bothering them. With an amiable, be sure to ask questions to find out how the person will be best served, because amiables don't usually volunteer information like that, preferring to avoid confrontation. Analyticals require lots of detail, and will ask questions and pursue all the information until they thoroughly understand it. With an analytical patient, be prepared to provide answers and specific information until the patient is satisfied. Look for blends of these types, since most people are not purely one type. Also, certain types tend to work better at the key staff positions, so consider these ideas when positioning your team. For example, you may want to have an analytical in the business office, so the numbers and details are properly managed, and you may want to put a driver/expressive at the front desk, so the many tasks are handled assertively (driver) and there's lots of conversation about chiropractic that could lead to referrals (expressive). Notice how you can use these distinctions in your report of findings, when asking for referrals, or in your visit-by-visit patient education. If you want more information about how you can use this system, let us know. Practice Tip Of The Week -- 11-24-97 .. Dr. Dennis Perman .. Masters9@aol.com Thanksgiving: In this season of Thanksgiving, let's pause for a moment and consider all that we have to be grateful for as chiropractors. We have the opportunity, indeed the gift, of providing safe, non-invasive, all natural health care to a questing and deserving public, while generating significant income and prestige. Just at the time that people are getting fed up with the allopathic, non-cause-oriented approach, here we are, maturing as a profession, learning to get past our differences and concentrate on how we can work together to make the world a better place. How thankful do you come across in practice? When was the last time you expressed your appreciation to your patients, the people who give you a reason to show up at the office every morning? How about your staff -- when was the last time you looked at how hard they work, how long their hours are, how willing they are to serve? Why not take this week to reflect on all you have to be grateful for? From the air that you breathe right down to the nut who cuts you off on the parkway, throwing you ten seconds off schedule and causing you to miss the accident that happens twenty yards in front of you, everything that happens is a chance to celebrate, whether it involves immediate pleasure or nor. It's all part of our growth and development as people, as chiropractors, and as public servants, teaching us valuable lessons we can use throughout our lives. Let's decide to make the best of whatever happens, with gratitude, patience, flexibility, and love. Try this exercises today in your office, and see what happens. In each office visit, think of one thing you can be grateful for, and express it to the patient. It can be something simple and obvious -- "Mrs. Patient, I notice that you are always on time for your visits, and you have a great atiitude toward helping yourself to get well and stay well -- I just want to let you know how much I appreciate having you as a patient. You're terrific!" Or, you can match up specific appreciation with specific patients, based on your relationship with them -- "Mary, I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am that you are telling people about chiropractic, and about me. Through your caring and generosity, many people are getting the help they need, and I'm very thankful to have you in my practice and my life." As our annual season of giving and loving formally begins, let's remember to show our love and gratitude to those we serve and work with. You'll enjoy the way it feels to express your thankfulness, so tell people you appreciate them and why -- it will come back to you many times over, in patient volume, new found opportunity, and love. Practice Tip Of The Week -- 12-1-97.. Dr. Dennis Perman .. Masters9@aol.com Goals No matter how many people we help in our practices, and no matter how much money we make, every chiropractor, and really, every person, wants to experience growth in some form. Practice growth is easy to track because it's measurable, in the form of statistics -- numbers of new patients, office visits, services rendered and income give us a way to evaluate our progress in a finite fashion. While this particular article will focus more on tangible goals, remember that it is also important to aim at generating esoteric accomplishments as well -- more love, inner peace, and better relationships are worthy objectives, though it's a lot easier to keep score with practice stats than with these emotional and spiritual issues. While there is no single ironclad way to set goals, it's a great start to choose a goal that meets the following two criteria: 1. Goals must be believable. In order for a goal to work for you, you have to have some degree of certainty that you can accomplish it. While it is exciting to set outrageous goals, if a little voice inside of you says "I don't think so," then you may want to re-think or at least re-language the goal. Choose something that you feel is within your ability to achieve, and it will be more likely that your power, talent and drive will focus toward that end. 2. Goals must be motivating. You want to pick goals that get you excited, so you can get up a head of steam to push to accomplish them. Luke warm or mediocre goals don't get your juices flowing -- select goals that you really want, goals that turn you on, so you'll be willing to pay a reasonable price to get them. Now, if you make your goal too big, then it will be very motivating, but not very believable. On the other hand, if you choose a goal that is too small, then it will be very believable, but not very motivating. You want to find the balance between believability and motivation, and choose the increments of your growth accordingly. (Statistical goals are often reset in twenty percent milestones -- try this on for size and see how it works for you.) By the way, I taught a ninety minute workshop on goal-setting at the last Masters seminar, covering a system I call the Six P's, which guides and streamlines the goal-setting process. If you'd like information on how you can attend seminars like this, or if you'd like me to write about the Six P's in an upcoming column, please let me know. Practice Tip Of The Week-- 12-17-97 .. Dr. Dennis Perman .. Masters9@aol.com Goal Setting To begin the process of conceptualizing and creating your ideal future, you must start with the belief that this kind of vision has enough value to warrant the effort to attempt it. If you look at the concept of goal-setting, the cornerstone of classical success philosophy, it is simply this -- decide what you'd have if you could have whatever you want. Expand this thought to include all aspects of your life, and you can use the Six P's as a model. -- Purpose -- Begin this exercise by considering your purpose. Who are you? Who do you want to be or become? What do you want to do? What are you here for? Your purpose is the foundation of your ideal future. -- Personal Goals -- Now you can start to identify the personality characteristics of an individual with the purpose you have selected. What kind of person would you be? What would your habits be? What would your likes and dislikes be? Re- create yourself in the image of the best you possible, and write down the qualities that would describe you, and the goals you'd choose around life management -- include how you would eat, exercise, meditate, pray, read, or do anything else that builds you personally. -- Professional Goals -- Next, define in specific terms what you'd like to accomplish with your career, keeping in mind who you'd need to be to achieve this. List in detail your professional objectives -- practice statistics, seminars and techniques you'd find useful, etc. -- People Goals -- Who else will be a valuable asset to your growth? Who would you like to meet, to study with, to work with? Who would you like to help, to teach, to share with? Who would you like to develop, fix, or end a relationship with? -- Prosperity Goals -- What rewards would you like to reflect your growth? How much wealth do you deserve, based on your contribution and service? In what form and magnitude would you prefer your compensation? Define in specific terms, including income, savings, retirment, college funds, debt reduction, etc. -- Play Goals -- What toys and recreation are right for you? List the play things and events that fit your needs and wants. Now, compile and prioritize the Six P's on six sheets of paper, and read them daily, until they are part of your thinking. They must excite and compel you, or else you need to refine and improve them until they do. This is the basic structure of your goals, and will form the framework around which you build your future. Create an environment of clarity and certainty around your goals, and you'll improve the likelihood of achieving them. Practice Tip Of The Week -- 12-22-97 .. Dr. Dennis Perman .. masters9@aol.com Let's look at ten steps you can take to improve your practice and your lifestyle. 1. Remember why you do what you do. The mundane, apparently trivial tasks you face each day actually hold a deeper significance for you in the long run. Don't overlook the bigger picture -- sweating the details effectively gets you there sooner, easier, and better. 2. Have as much fun as possible. No matter what's going on, you can always find a bright side, or at least a productive way of looking at it. Perfection takes many forms -- be willing to see things a new way, and extract the positive essence from every opportunity. 3. Help as many people as you can. Whoever you ask, from Deepak Chopra to Tony Robbins to Albert Einstein, service to others is a big part of our purpose, so go the extra mile for those you serve, and you will be rewarded multifold. 4. Grow yourself in some valuable way. The hallmark of our system of personal and professional growth revolves around identifying and addressing weaker areas that may be holding you back. Be willing to work on yourself. 5. Take action. A few gifted individuals may be able to sit cross-legged in a tree in Tibet playing the flute and manifesting their dreams, but most of us find that rolling up our sleeves and working steadily and efficiently is the shortest distance between two points. Just do it! 6. Be loving toward those you encounter. Everyone who comes into your life does so for a reason, so look for the benefit and value of whatever happens and whoever you meet, because there are gifts hidden in each experience, waiting for you to notice and receive them. 7. Make it okay to be wrong. No matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides, so make some room in your thinking for the possibility of another perspective also being reasonable -- great ideas frequently arise when you consider another point of view, so avoid getting locked into a "right" way. 8. Be creative and flexible. Things rarely happen exactly as we plan, and sometimes, the unexpected leads us to an even better result -- embrace the opportunity to break new ground. 9. Expect miracles. They're happening all around you all the time. From the breath we take to the flowers that grow to our patients healing, there is magic in every moment, when we look for it -- so look for it. 10. Be grateful. We live in a free and abundant society, with opportunities for greatness, love, wealth, health, and fulfillment everywhere we look. Realize how fortunate you really are, and be thankful, both for what you already have and for that which you have yet to fully experience. Enjoy your life, and appreciate all you have, for you are already successful in so many ways. Thank you so much for reading our column! Happy New Year! We'll see you in '98!