All You’ve Got is Time
I want to share a lesson that I learned many years ago that completely changed the way I thought about what it is that we do as chiropractors.
I’ve asked hundreds of doctors this one simple question and have very rarely gotten the right answer: “As a chiropractor, what is the one product that you sell?”
If you said, “The adjustment!” You’re wrong! Try again.
If you’re thinking, “The experience?” Wrong again.
TIME
The only product that you and I possess and the only thing that we can sell is our time. I know, I know, it took me a while to wrap my head around this concept too! Everything we do requires our time. As chiropractors, we can’t generate an income without spending time performing our craft. This does not mean that we can’t develop systems in our office that run themselves, but your entire operation does not exist without you in the middle offering and selling your time.
Unfortunately, time is not infinite. Without getting too deep into philosophy and morbidity, understand that your time is all you have to offer. Time, your time, is precious and every minute is incredibly valuable.
If you woke up one day and were told your income was finite and the sum wasn’t large enough to provide for you and your family for the rest of your life, what would you do? You would probably seek out ways to increase your wealth or maybe invest a portion of what you had to try to earn some interest. I guarantee something that you would do; beyond a doubt, is increase the amount of value you placed in every dollar you had. You would immediately shed the unnecessary expenses and sell-off any extra material possessions you had that you didn’t use. Simply put, you would immediately take action to get the most out of every penny.
This situation I just described is life. It’s your life. The amount of life you have left on Earth is finite, only we don’t know how much time you’ve got left!
So, how can we increase the value of the time you are spending working on and in your business?
Increased Efficiency
There are several different concepts and lessons pertaining to time that we teach here at SIDECAR.
- We recommend you utilize your valuable time in the following increments during your work week: twenty-four clinical hours, twelve management hours, and four hours as an entrepreneur.
- We recommend you examine your vocabulary and table talk to identify where you are wasting time using incorrect phrases or excess verbiage with patients.
- We encourage utilizing a concept known as “Dollar per minute” instead of the standard dollar per hour. This unit helps you identify exactly how much you are worth and stresses the importance of every minute you spend in your day.
If the scenario mentioned above resonated with you and depicts the life you’re living now; you aren’t currently valuing your time and understanding that it is the only product you have.
Twenty-four hours a day, 168 hours per week. That is all we have. However, you decide to spend that time is up to you. Just please, understand that time is the only product you truly have.
Dr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR
