“I’m a great starter, but a poor finisher,” he confessed.

“I have ADHD,” he admitted, almost proudly.

“It’s hard for me to stay motivated,” she observed.

I encounter these signs of a lack of discipline frequently in my coaching and consultation calls. Fascinating, because these same chiropractors can be amazingly disciplined when it comes to exercise, diet, a hobby, prioritizing family time, or some other objective.

Why so listless when it comes to practice? What’s going on?

It seems similar to the behavior of many patients who lose interest in attending to their health once their presenting symptom resolves. Because improved health wasn’t the real purpose of consulting your practice—regardless of what they initially told you.

Discipline and purpose are inseparable. Make no mistake: your practice has a purpose, even if you’ve never articulated it.

Once practice volume is sufficient to afford some comfort and breathing room, motivation often ebbs.

This is an important and often overlooked inflection point—the transition from survival to the “teenage” years of practice. Finally, there is a relatively stable platform on which growth could occur. But the discipline required to make it happen seems elusive.

A Purpose Beyond Survival

Comfort, the enemy of excellence, derails countless practitioners.

Comfort is a selfish, inward pursuit that simply can’t generate the passion required to make a ruckus. True strength comes from striving.

It’s a problem that one of our livestock guardian dogs frequently faces. She is compelled to chase cars. Occasionally, she “catches” one—only to discover she has no idea what to do next.

Comfort can feel the same way in practice.

This pivotal moment in the life of a practice often discloses a lack of a “high and noble purpose.” In other words, having a big enough “why” that would inspire you to lean into the practice and put peddle to the metal.

This is when many flounder, transitioning from adrenal-fueled survival mode to continued, sustainable practice growth and maturity.

Take an inventory of high achievers and you can tell they have a compelling driving force. Which is their unseen source of motivation.

Shadow a colleague seeing the patient numbers you’d like to achieve, and their purpose isn’t readily obvious or on display. You can replicate the action steps you observe, but it rarely produces the same effect due to missing the underlying “software” of purpose—the beliefs and convictions that quietly drive behavior.

Thinking that success is merely a procedural hack, a scripting choice, or some other easy-to-copy action step overlooks the unseen metaphysics of a practice that is purposefully directed to an enduring North Star.

Struggling practices or those merely treading water in the comfort zone tend to be inward focused.

If It’s to Be It’s Up to Me

When the underlying purpose that drives a practice is self-centered, it simply can’t soar. If the stated (or unstated) practice objective is to primarily solve the practitioner’s problem, rather than that of patients, it produces a stiff headwind.

None of these are wrong—but simply not audacious enough:

Paying the bills
Getting new patients
Being busy
Attaining a statistical goal
Seeing approval
Impressing (or pleasing) others

While not particularly attractive (and certainly never spoken aloud!), it’s easy to see how these or other equally selfish energetics fail to spawn lasting motivation.

“But if I don’t look out after myself, who will?”

It’s a common trap, confusing cause with effect. In other words, paying the bills, reaching some arbitrary practice statistic, and all the rest are effects, symptoms. You’re already familiar with the bankrupt notion of treating symptoms, while ignoring the underlying cause. While this seemingly underpins the practice of medicine, it simply can’t fuel a chiropractic career spanning decades.

An Honorable and Virtuous Purpose

What would be a big enough “why” that would inspire and fuel you sufficiently to escape the doldrums and take your practice to the next level?

Might there be some helpful clues by returning to the time you contemplated the notion of becoming a chiropractor? Back before arguing with insurance carriers. Before the hassle of finding, training, and managing support staff. Before the frustration and unpredictability of leading patients.

Granted, if your original motivation was to make a lot of money. Pursue a shortcut to becoming a doctor. Seek a career where you could “work with your hands” a mere 20 hours a week, or some other superficial motive, then a retrospective look won’t be that helpful. 

However, I bet deep down there was a far higher calling. A yearning to…

supply an alternative to the failing medical model
convey hope and help the sick dream again
improve the lives of infants and children
save people from the harm of drugs and irreversible surgery
be a source of information, inspiration, and encouragement
inspire others to take responsibility for their health
alleviate unnecessary suffering

These are far more generous and outward focused than mere survival. They offer a compass heading that is far more likely to get oneself out of bed in the morning, making Mondays more exciting than Fridays.

Discipline Is Not the Problem

When we have a high enough purpose, discipline emerges from a source we didn’t know we had. It brings a fresh meaningfulness to routine daily activities as we pursue a deeper calling. It reframes what we do by giving the mundane significance and the routine greater context.

Discipline isn’t a personality trait that some have and others lack. Instead, it’s a signal of a far deeper issue: misaligned purpose.

What does your practice stand for? What could it stand for?

By choosing a higher purpose and standing for something larger than ourselves, a hidden source of energy and focus blossoms. Practice becomes a calling rather than a job. Less pleasurable obligations become more tolerable. We are in the pursuit of something of significance.

As we take aim and direct our energy in a way that inspires us, boundaries become clearer. Conversations are braver. Diversions less tempting.

We don’t rise to the level of our discipline. We settle to the level of our purpose.