Chiropractic Excellence

Chiropractic Excellence

December 8th, 2009 // 11:45 am @ Dr. Todd Osborne // One Comment

Today I have excellence on my mind. When I was practicing, excellence was something that I strived for in all areas, in my technique, my attitude, my management, and my facility and so on.

One of the truly successful behaviors of those who rise above the crowd are they never settle for “I’m good enough”. They are constantly striving to improve even though they may be the best!

A story I once heard by a chiropractic colleague comes to mind.

He had the opportunity to spend the day with the late, great, Dr. Gonstead. Graduating with clinical honors and seeming to have mastered the Gonstead technique while still in school he thought he had “arrived”.

While spending the day observing Dr. Gonstead as he saw patients, he said he grew uncomfortable as Dr. Gonstead kept telling every patient, “Aw, that’s the best adjustment I have ever given” in his famous German accent. He said the same thing to each, and every, patient.

At lunch, Dr. Gonstead invited the young doctor to ask him questions before they started the afternoon. The young chiropractor told Dr. Gonstead that he truly respected him and really enjoyed the morning, yet he was a bit uncomfortable with Dr. Gonstead telling every patient that it was the best adjustment he had ever given. As he told it, Dr. Gonstead quickly looked up from his desk, and said, “Young man, don’t you improve on every adjustment?”

My reaction, when I heard that story, was the same as the young doctor–wow! Dr. Clarence Gonstead was still improving with every adjustment he delivered–where does that leave me?

That story had a great impact on my career and me. I always tried to be the best at whatever I did, especially in my technique, but this took my thinking to a new level–that I could continue to improve everyday.

Doctors, that is the secret! Whatever your technique may be, are you continuing to improve every day, with every adjustment? If you do, can you imagine how good you will be at your technique (or whatever you are improving) in a year, or 5 years, or at the end of a long career. That is exactly how some “rise above the crowd”; they do not settle for good enough, they continue to strive for improvement, a better way, a better result.
In whatever you do, try to improve continuously. I used to keep a quote hanging on the door between my personal office and my adjusting suite. It was a quote from the famous ballet dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov. It read, “I do not try to dance better than anyone else, I only try to dance better than myself”.

That spoke to me every time I entered the adjusting area to encounter patients. Was I going to be better today than I was yesterday? Make this a principle in your life and your practice and you cannot help but rise above it all and continue to grow.

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