I have four college degrees—two bachelors, one masters, and one doctorate.  I taught college classes for 7 years in subjects all the way from Anatomy to Athletic Injuries.  I’ve been required to take 48 continuing education hours per year for almost 10 years.

Yet, despite all of this classroom education, I still never know enough. 

I keep learning.  And I keep learning that there’s so much more to learn.

There have been moments when I know I need to know more to help the patients that I really want to help.

Like moms who want to VBAC and moms who want to grow the healthiest baby possible.

Moms like me.

The real challenge is that when I don’t KNOW enough, I may easily feel that **I** am not enough.

The dis-ease can set in if I let my thoughts become beliefs.

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For many years, despite being a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician and the first resident in Sports and Rehab to be promoted to Assistant Director of Sports and Rehab at Logan, I measured myself—my “success” in practice—by what others were doing.

You know, the giants in the sports rehab world who have huge followings like Gray Cook, Stuart McGill, Dan John, Tom Hyde.

(BTW, why are the first ones who come to my mind all male and only one is a DC?!)

I had a really great mentor in chiropractic, but he was undoubtedly threatened by these gurus.  And he shied us residents and interns away from learning their protocols. 

So, like a good girl, I didn’t. 

But then, I continued to measure my worth and success by what I knew I didn’t know.

Now that I’ve revamped my practice style, philosophy and even the patients that I aim to serve, I’m again finding myself in a place of….. “will I ever be as good at what I do with my hands as ___________________” (fill-in-the-blank with your favorite prenatal and pediatric chiropractic guru).

I realize I have two clear choices:

1.      I can let my thoughts of “I don’t know enough” stop me from helping moms grow healthy babies.

2.      I can roll up my sleeves, break out my journal (or, in this case, laptop), and get to work questioning if my thoughts are even true—is it really true that I don’t know enough to be of service? How can I really know?

If I choose option 1, I may as well hang it up.  And women and babies in my community may miss out on the support they need, want, and deserve in their lives.

If I choose option 2, I might get over myself.  I might not.  But at least I can then clearly choose what actions I take next.

Actions that might look like:

• Avoid promising results that I don’t know for certain yet that I can deliver (pun intended). If I don’t feel super confident helping a woman in her 40s improve her fertility after she’s been through all the mainstream tests and protocols already (which haven’t produced a full-term pregnancy), then when that woman arrives in my practice I have to be truthful with her. One of the best things I learned from my chiropractic mentor was that it’s ok to let a patient know that you don’t know, that you’re guessing, but that you’re giving it you’re all. Maybe I refer her to another provide; maybe she stays in my practice and follows my recommendations because she trusts me. Either way is ok.

• I learn. Yes. Everything is learn-able. So perhaps I enroll in a course that teaches me more of what I need to know. I take the course, and I feel more confident helping my Ideal Patients. I move forward.

• I find a Biz/Practice BFF. She’s the one I go to when I am feeling really stuck in my “not enough”-ness and she gives me her ear. She lifts me up and reminds me that I’m great no matter what.

• I get a mentor. I find someone who’s doing what I feel God and The Universe are calling me to next, and I learn everything that that person is willing to teach me. This might mean I pay her for her knowledge and time. It might not. But I ask for help.

• I teach someone else what I’ve learned. And what I’ve spent most of my adult life learning about is this thing some may call “marketing” but that I call growing a practice that’s right for you and your family.

I am not an ideal mentor for you if you want to change or improve your clinical skills.  Yes, I taught many students The Nelson 1st Rib Move and how to tape inversion ankle sprains (among other things, of course) in my day at Logan. But that is not my greatest strength.  I have other women on speed dial to recommend to you if that’s what you need.

But if you want to learn how to attract more of your Ideal Patients to your practice—right now, regardless of what your adjusting technique is or what your go-to supplement line is—then I’m your lady.

If you’re ready to grow a practice that you love, that is aligned to YOU and your family, I’m here to support you.