Dr. Kenney’s Friday 5 Spot
On Fridays I like to share experiences I’ve had during the week with patients and in my personal life that I’ve found significant. I share these in the hope that you might find value in them and have something that resonates with you in your life.
Something I heard and loved. I was listening to a podcast about the upcoming NFL draft and one of the hosts mentioned that the general manager of one team said they were looking for players that were “intangibly rich.” This was meant to explain players that were not only obviously talented but strong in areas that can’t be measured with size or speed. The term was very applicable to not only athletics but life in general.
Plenty of people have high level characteristics such as great looks, speed, height, strength, intelligence, and/or talents of various kinds. As wonderful as those things are, they are far more impressive when the person that possesses them also has strong character, high level work ethic, loyalty, determination, empathy, humility, and more. Intangibles magnify other talents and can elevate a person exponentially. For example, when I met my wife, I was very aware of her beauty but after a couple of dates her character shined so brightly that I knew I wanted to be with her forever. The more you can become and surround yourself with people that have not only talents and skills but also those rare intangibles, the better your life will be.
Something I think of often. As many of you know, I was highly active in ultramarathon running for over a decade. As a result, I have run as far as one hundred miles straight and have been on various course trails for anywhere from about 7 to 32 hours at a time depending on the event. Obviously, those races were incredibly challenging and can bring anyone to their physical and mental breaking points. In fact, there were countless times when I would befriend someone during a race only to have them decide to quit. They would train for months and then once the pain became too much or things weren’t going as expected, they produced a reason and quit. Many times, they’d be doing much better than I was and I would implore them to keep going but they just couldn’t or wouldn’t in that moment. As odd as it may sound, I think of those interactions often and it helps me.
I always wonder if those people regret surrendering a goal they trained so hard to attain because they were tired, stressed, worried, or uncomfortable. As someone that quit on things in my early life, I try to remind myself that any discomfort or pain I may encounter is preferable to the agony of regret I’d feel for giving in. This is true in races, but there will always be more of those. It is even more significant in everyday life to consider how we’ll feel if we quit on someone or something that deep down, we know we shouldn’t. When I feel at my worst in anything and am contemplating surrendering, I picture myself telling my wife and children all the excuses why I gave up. That always provides enough of a jolt to remind me that I’d rather face physical and mental anguish than endure a lifetime of regret over some decision made from short-term emotion.
Something important. When we account for our actions, it is common for us to accentuate the positive. For example, trying particularly hard with exercise, nutrition, at work, or in a relationship for a period of days often leaves us feeling great about ourselves. These actions are admirable but sometimes make us feel entitled to see results instantly – weight loss, better fitness, a promotion, or someone liking us more. However, in my experience I find that while we are great at praising and recalling our best efforts, we tend to minimize and forget about our mistakes and misses. This brings up a crucial point for all of us to remember. In life, everything we do counts, not just what we like or are proud of.
Sometimes our mistakes cause damage, impact performance, decrease trust, or worse. It is noble to want to change these circumstances and putting forth an earnest effort is an excellent place to start. However, we must understand that our actions are a series of deposits and withdrawals, much like a bank account. Just because we’ve made a few solid deposits doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll be out of debt or where we’d like to be. Our best efforts may take time to show results in our health, jobs, or relationships but if we really care, we cannot let that deter us.
Something I’ve learned in my career. Chiropractic is a profession that carries with it mixed opinions, misinformation, and trepidation on the part of some. As the doctor, I have the benefit of millions of adjustments done with my two hands to prove to me the worth of what I do and the benefits it can provide when done well. A prospective patient does not have that experience so what I’ve learned is that what I am ultimately “selling” to my patients is trust. One of the ways I have found most successful in developing this trust is keeping simple issues simple. Let me explain.
When a patient comes to me with something that I know to be an easy-to-fix, straightforward issue; I tell them so. I don’t try to make it more serious than it needs to be or upsell them in any way. Instead, I reassure them, immediately provide my best care, and once the issue is fixed, allow them to come back at anytime (or never again). I have had a lot of success simply being honest, upbeat, and competent over any tactics or gimmicks. In the event something is more serious, I’m honest about that as well but still won’t do anything to make them feel pressured in any way. Best of all, once you establish trust with people, they entrust you to care for those they love which makes for a more fun and fulfilling career.
Some quotes I Love.
“An inch of movement is better than a mile of intentions.”
“Discipline is boring. Hard work is boring. Studying is boring. Doing the same thing everyday is boring. Boredom is the birthplace of success.” – Leila Hormozi