As part of an elimination diet consider eliminating living beyond your means.

Debt turns us into slaves, reducing possibilities and creating fragility. It lessens our ability to respond to economic downturns and all manner of contingencies.

A common deception of those living hand to mouth is that they plan on saving and creating margin in their life after they become successful.

They have it backwards.

The discipline of living beneath our means is what permits success—not some new patient gimmick, marketing ploy or winning the lottery. When you need more new patients to maintain your lifestyle, you emit a subtle odor that is off-putting and tends to repel.

It's why practices that don't need new patients seem to have an ample supply.

Resolve to have that difficult conversation, either with yourself or your spouse, to rein in the spending. Because it's usually a spending problem, not an earning problem.

Bill Esteb has been a chiropractic patient and advocate since 1981. He is the creative director of Patient Media and the co-founder of Perfect Patients. He’s been a regular speaker at chiropractic gatherings since 1985. His 12 books explore the doctor/patient relationship from a patient's point of view. His chiropractic blog, in-office consultations, patient focus groups and consulting calls have helped hundreds of chiropractors around the world. Since 1999 Monday Morning Motivation has been emailed to over 10,000 subscribers each week.