Chiropractic Practice: The Second Puzzle

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Thrive in Five. I’m Dr. Dennis Perman, and I’ll be your chiropractic coach for today. This edition is called The second puzzle. When you explain to someone what you do, you intend to take them from where they are to where you want them. If it’s a chiropractic patient, you might talk about three phases of care.

First to feel better, then to function better, and finally to live better. For a weight loss client, you might need to slam on the dietary breaks. Develop better habits to establish a new normal. And finally, plan a healthy lifestyle to enhance quality of life. Everything we experience along the way has stages and gradations, even life itself.

Childhood into adolescence into early adulthood, adulthood into maturity into seniority. We create our own standards to measure our movement through these periods, based on our own personalized expectations and self assessment. So then, when someone gets to a point, regardless of age, that they reach a milestone of completion by their own definition, that metaphorically puts a piece of the puzzle in place.

And when enough puzzle pieces are in place, that solves the first puzzle. The first puzzle can have many configurations, depending on values hierarchy, Beliefs and the availability and utilization of key resources. One typical solution for the first puzzle might be someone who has good health and good self esteem, has the desired significant other and or family relationships, enjoys and is satisfied in work and play, and generates enough income to live as he or she wishes.

Now, this may not be the definition of your first puzzle, that’s up to you to clarify and review. Frankly, many people never solve or even fully understand their first puzzle, but you probably have at least some of the pieces of the first puzzle in place, and you may even feel relatively complete with this first set of worthy objectives, and that invites a discussion.

When I graduated from New York Chiropractic College in 1977, I was thrilled to begin practicing, and I woke up every morning excited to take care of people. I soon thereafter married my high school sweetheart, the girl of my dreams, started a beautiful family, and raised three kind, smart, handsome sons.

And after a substantial and challenging learning curve, I got some coaching and guidance, and built a thriving practice, yielding a very satisfying income and lifestyle. But about 10 years into this wonderful and fulfilling period, I started to get itchy, like there was something else I was supposed to notice and act on that wasn’t immediately apparent.

I realized that no matter how many hundreds of people I saw each week, I still felt like I had so much more to give. I needed a bigger game. I wanted a greater sphere of influence, and I was ready to leap toward a new reality where I could have more impact. I’d be lying if I said that I realized then what I know now, that such impetuous and irrational behavior was risky and fraught with possible failure.

But the pull was so great I couldn’t resist. So I went to my coach and said, Larry, Please help me sell my practice. I want to move on and go into show business. In his typical straightforward style, he said, you shouldn’t do that. I asked, why not? And again, with his usual candor, he said, you’re not good enough.

He saw me starting to boil inside and he redirected. I don’t know much about show business, but I know a lot about the chiropractic business. And so do you. If you want to go on stage, maybe you should join my team and you can present and share what you’ve learned with other doctors who need to know what you know.

And somehow that sounded right to me. So I became a coach and set out to find my bigger game. My quest led me through Marks and Management to initiating Consultant on Call, the first identity based coaching company. And I’m still To becoming a partner and co founder of the Masters and the Master Circle.

And finally to The Masters Circle Global, I have had the rare and precious experience of overseeing nearly a thousand Masters Circle members, attracting over 120,000 new patients and delivering more than 6 million adjustments in a single year. Now that’s a big game. The point is, as I lived my life, I learned and applied the first puzzle principles and distinctions that brought me to where I was on October 1st, 1987.

From there, the beginning of my second puzzle, I confessed that I was probably more courageous than I should have been. I went from being a successful chiropractic entrepreneur and an expert in practice to becoming a novice consultant and speaker, working for a small fraction of my previous compensation with no promise of abundant return.

Going from owner and leader to employee and part of a team, relinquishing much of my control. Inside, I knew I was on the right track, and that inner knowing is an important component to the second puzzle. Innate thought flashes are part of the second puzzle discovery process, transcending educated mind to reveal some vital directions toward fulfillment.

Tony Robbins taught me that we tend to overestimate what we can do in a year, but underestimate what we can do in a decade. Adjust your perceptions of time and space accordingly. Sometimes, second puzzle outcomes are gradual and methodical. Sometimes, they’re immediate and quantum. That’s part of the fun of the second puzzle.

It can be an elusive or obscure pathway, a road less traveled that many don’t notice, and most are simply not cut out for. I mean, think about it. People who solve the first puzzle are already big winners in life by their own definition. For many, that’s good enough. And they ride out their excellent lifestyles for the rest of their days.

Nothing wrong with that, but some have a quirk of spirit that causes them to always think bigger, to create a grander vision and grow into it. And those are the ones who explore the second puzzle, teaching, writing, leading, researching, reworking, inventing, associate doctors, satellite offices, entrepreneurial pursuits.

Or just developing a more elegant balance of your time and energy. It’s not for everyone, but for those who have an internal crusade that gnaws at them, perhaps these thoughts will prove useful. It’s when we realize that we’ve done all we can from our current vantage point that we move to investigate new territory of doing good.

It may be about sharing your wisdom with a mastermind or a group of students. It may be mastering other healing approaches. Or pursuing philanthropic or charity community service. It could be meditation. or yoga or martial arts or fitness as some reflections of a new identity. Advanced citizens know that there’s more to an extraordinary life than just the material trappings of success.

Think one step bigger than you seem. Look for the next opportunity to make a difference and let the magic of the second puzzle come through you. It can take years to manifest. Or, it can happen in an instant. Listen for the wee, small voice inside, and prepare to be awed by the result. In this, my final edition of Thrive in Five, I want to express my gratitude for you, beloved viewers and listeners, who bestowed upon us ample reason and opportunity to stretch creatively and to strive to give you a cutting edge product with expansive thinking and authenticity.

It’s been a great ride, and now, in winding up my own second puzzle, and reflecting on my many blessings, I can’t help but think. What does my third puzzle look like? Before I sign off for the last time, I’d like to encourage you to pursue learning and growing with enthusiasm throughout your life and career.

There are always new distinctions to make and more people to serve. Give from your abundance. Make as big a difference as you can. And leave it all out on the field of play. So whenever you put your head down on your pillow, you know you gave the day everything you had. That’s what winners do. And you are that.

By the way, if you’re looking for a strategy to guide people through their first health puzzle so they can become second puzzle wellness patients, try the Functional Health Management score to give them clarity up front about what you are focused on and why. Just scan the QR code to get started. Thanks for watching.

I’m Dr. Dennis Perman for The Masters Circle Global, where legends have been made and legendary practices have been built through chiropractic coaching.

Checkout our other Thrive In Fives

Don’t forget to learn about our Practice Growth Calculator