Do You Suffer From The Imposter Syndrome?

Are you familiar with theimposter syndrome?  It’s a state of mind where you feel like a fraud that is fooling people into thinking you’re a qualified professional, but you sure don’t feel like one yourself.  Quite the contrary.  You feel like a pretender … an imposter.  You fear that others will see past your deception and “find you out.”  

What a way to live.  Always feeling inadequate. Never feeling good enough.

Ironically, the imposter syndrome is associated with some of the most clinically competent doctors out there. They’re performing a function and performing it well, but there’s some mismatch between their actual level of competence and how they feel about what they’re doing. Not a chiropractor and not a physician, what the old timers would call a “medipractor”

Even if it doesn’t rise to the level of a condition that has a clinical name, this sense of being an imposter is a pretty common experience.  Have you ever felt it?  Are you feeling it currently?

If you’re fairly new in practice it’s understandable.  After all, people start out in any field of endeavor a bit green and it’s only through experience that we master our craft and increase our self confidence to the point of knowing who and what we are.  Most people grow into their role and feel more and more confident and competent as they gain experience and enjoy some success, but some continue to struggle with the idea that they don’t belong.  If you’re one of them, give yourself a break or maybe even seek some coaching.  You’re being way too hard on yourself.

One class in a major US university teaches a course about the imposter syndrome. The course says that there are three levels of involvement we can exhibit in whatever role we’ve taken on in our lives, especially a major role, like the work we do as chiropractors.

At first we play the role or play at the role.  The role doesn’t define who we are, at least not yet.  It’s something we’re doing or attempting to do.  We’re like the actor or actress who “acts like” the character they’re assigned to play.  It’s easy to feel like an imposter at this level … and, if you’re in the wrong field for you, maybe you’ll never shake this feeling.  But don’t assume that just because you sometimes feel as if you don’t belong in the beginning, that it means you truly don’t belong.

As we mature in our experience and our commitment to our profession, we take the role.  It’s not only what we do, but who we are.  We think of ourselves as being defined by the role.  We can honestly say, I’m a chiropractor and not feel inauthentic.  Like an actor/actress who identifies with and “owns” the character.

Finally, there’s a level of involvement in a role where you’re so totally into it, so animated by it, that it takes over who you are.  Like a method actor who loses him or herself in the character, who “becomes” the character in every way.  When you’re in that role, it represents being truly alive for you.  It’s your reason for being.

This level is called organismic involvement.  That’s what you were looking for when you went out to find your place in the world as a chiropractor, isn’t it?

You wanted to do something that not only lit you up but wrapped you up, something that not only inspired you, but took hold of you, something that expressed who you are in a way that involved your whole being … physical, emotional, and intellectual … and put you in “the zone.”

It’s the place where you feel your personal power manifesting itself in a commanding way, even though it sometimes feels like you’re on a kind of intuitive autopilot.  That’s the flow you get into when you’re making the highest use of your talents and skills as a chiropractor, doing the thing you love.

Sounds good, huh?  Unfortunately must doctors have to pass through the first two levels, sometimes wasting years in practice doing so. I understand and believe that it’s okay to feel a little inauthentic in the beginning.  It’s hard to feel like a full-fledged experienced professional when you don’t have much experience.  But there are a few  doctors out there who have totally skipped phases one and two, they know immediately after getting a license who and what they are, however the vast majority of doctors getting out of school have no idea what they really are, what their role is. The schools have so confused them by trying to explain what their role is, that they don’t know what profession they are in, let alone how to market and promote such a profession.

This problem isn’t isolated to the “newbie” in practice I have clients who have been in practice 20 years and still don’t know who and what they are. I’m changing that and even after 20 years I show these doctors no matter how long a time or for that matter how short a time you’ve been in practice it doesn’t have any impact on what you can become.

There’s an old expression, “You gotta fake it till you make it.”  The truth of the matter is that you shouldn’t have to fake anything, you should know who and what you are and what your PURPOSE is. If you don’t write to me, drvernonchiro@aol.com

Whether you are a “newbie” or a 20 plus year practitioner I can help you. Stop trying to “fake it”.

The Marketing Calendar
Every practice should have a marketing calendar, no matter what your budget, you can do some form of marketing each and every month.

You need to, at a minimum weekly add activities to your marketing calendar. There are dozens of options, some of these marketing programs will take place inside your office, and others will be out-of-office events. Some will involve some form of media such as newspapers, radio and for some even television. If you go on-line you can find free calendars that are in WORD format and are easily edited. You should have at least 1 outside event scheduled every month, a speaking engagement, an attorney lunch or some other outside the office function. Your calendar should include any patient appreciation day, any mailings that are scheduled, like the news letter, days that advertisements you have placed in newspapers are scheduled to run, as well as internal marketing programs.

I’m a strong proponent of internal marketing. One of the more popular internal marketing ideas in chiropractic is called The “Three-a-Day” Game - Inside your office, you can get a tremendous yield for the time and energy invested when you learn to play a simple new patient game called the “Three-a-Day” Game. When you arrive at your office each morning, select three patients from your schedule who will be your Three-a-Day players for the day. (Put a Post-It -note on their card or file to remind you.)

You can talk about the value of chiropractic to your patients all day if you like, but you only get to “close” with three patients per day. So it’s important to pick the right people and make those opportunities count, you need to use laser beam focus.

Don’t worry about the fact that it’s “only three times each day”, or if you are non assertive you may think “I have to confront people three times a day?” Either way, don’t worry, the more you play the game, the easier it is to understand why these issues don’t turn out to matter much in the long-run.

For example, if you tend to be more assertive and would prefer to ask more than three people each day, first think about the results you can reasonably expect. If you ask three times, five office days each week, that’s 15 times each week and about 60 times per month. About what percentage of the time do you anticipate a referral? Ten percent? That would be 1-2 additional new patients per week, or about 6 per month and you don’t have to spend a nickel or take one step outside your office. This method of new patient acquisition takes only a few extra minutes each day.

For those of you who dread this kind of direct confrontation, look at it this way - you are hand-picking your three favorite patients for the day, the ones you feel most comfortable with and who are most likely to respond to you. Who better to ask for support, and a demonstration of their confidence?

The Three-a-Day game is a consistency game. Commit to playing it for 90 days, and watch what happens in your practice. As you play more regularly, you’ll become more skillful, and your batting average will improve. It’s okay to be creative - use props, a story-of-the-day, questions about family, friends and co-workers… whatever you can think of to keep it fun and entertaining, so you look forward to playing every day.

Case Fees For Decompression Come Under Scrutiny

Do a doctor and his patients have a different relationship than a gym and its customers?The Kansas Board of Healing Arts’ legal staff says yes, while Wichita chiropractor Bradley Eck and his lawyer say no.

The difference of opinion has led to a 10-count petition against Eck, alleging unprofessional conduct that violates the state’s healing arts act.

The petition stems from the experiences of 13 of Eck’s chiropractic patients and the investigations that followed their complaints to the board. It asks the board to agree with the allegations and discipline Eck. Punishment could range from fines to license revocation.

The case likely won’t be resolved until early 2009.

Flat-fee contracts

The dispute centers on Eck’s use of flat-fee contracts, his refusal to cancel them and whether they’re appropriate in a doctor-patient relationship. The contracts set an up-front charge for a series of treatments. The charge is the same whether a patient ultimately gets no treatments or many. Both sides say that, to their knowledge, this is the first time such a case has been considered in Kansas.

The Board of Healing Arts petition says that the contracts are unlawfully one-sided, that they unlawfully allow payment when professional services weren’t rendered, and that they were signed based on misleading advertising, including advertising that said prices were available for a limited time when they weren’t.

Dr. Eck’s attorney compared the contracts to the ones used at a fitness club or by an orthodontist. If a client decides not to work out after the first time or not to get his braces adjusted, Hodge said, “you just get marked as noncompliant. You don’t get the money back.”

Shelly Wakeman, disciplinary counsel for the Board of Healing Arts, said medical practices are businesses. But doctors “also have a special relationship with their patients, because they’re the doctor,” she said, and the board’s legal staff believes that some business practices are “not appropriate when you apply it to a doctor-patient relationship.”

The patients complaints are similar:

The patient sought treatment, usually after seeing or hearing an ad placed by Eck. A treatment plan was recommended. The patient signed a contract, and the full amount  ranging from $1,000 to $4,000 was billed to the patient’s credit card or to a credit account set up at Eck’s office.

Some patients decided later that they couldn’t afford the full course of treatment; others decided treatment wasn’t working. All were told the contract did not allow for any refunds.

In one case a mother took her 16 year old son to Dr. Eck early this year for recurring back pain. Eck and his staff told them that Jamie would benefit from decompression therapy, which uses a motorized device to stretch the lower back. He recommended 20 treatments but said that as many as 100 would be available if her son needed them.

The charge would be $1,900. She signed documents allowing the entire amount to be billed to her credit card but said she was told that $1,500 would be paid by her insurance and she’d pay $400.

Her insurance company, like others, said decompression treatment was experimental, and as a result, “we’re still paying on it today,” even though her son gave up the treatment because he didn’t think it was making a difference.

Others said Eck and his staff didn’t answer their questions or respond to their telephone calls about the charges or treatment.

The petition against Eck alleges that the contracts are “unconscionable, deceptive, fraudulent and/or misleading” because it is a violation to be paid for treatment that hasn’t been rendered and because the contracts are too one-sided in favor of Eck.

Eck referred questions to his lawyer.

Dr. Eck’s attorney countered, saying many types of doctors, including obstetricians, use some sort of “global fee,” in which a single fee encompasses a series of treatment procedures. “Most of the time, the fee is charged to the insurance company, and so nobody cares.” He called the petition a “ridiculous opinion” and said, “I’m just furious with the Board of Healing Arts.”

The Board has said that Dr. Eck can continue to practice, because  In a case such as this, where there is no medical danger to the public, a case may take months to get through the system.

April Class Sold Out, July Class Forming

Why I Should Be Your Coach

No affirmations, no group hugs, no use of the latest buzz words or secrets, in short, no BS, just plain old hard work. That’s what my coaching program is about. You won’t see my ad promising 100 new patients while you sit at home watching television, as a matter of fact you won’t see an ad for my coaching program anywhere, yet everyday I receive almost 100 e-mails from doctors who ask for my help and advice.

Questions range from new patient acquisition to having me critique their ad. I try to get to as many people as I can, however my members all come first. They receive a response to a question usually the same day, while non members could wait weeks to get a reply to their question.

As patient “cost sharing” rises (this is an insurance industry euphemism for increased co-pays) Many of you are having to confront the reality that a patients co-pay may actually exceed the cost of an office visit. Now you are even more worried with the dramatic downturn in the economy.

As things start to get tighter you’ll need to have a plan in place, a plan that can tell you who to attract to your office and how to attract them, a plan to show you how to structure fees, so that your care is affordable and yet fair to both you and your patient.

If you would like to be part of the next class, at $100 a month, (I’m so confident that you will stay with me that there are no contracts to sign) then click here and leave your name address and phone number.