It just so happens that this week’s Luck Factor is perfectly falling on April 1st. April Fool’s Day.
Life, as they say, makes fools of us all.
The biggest culprit is the way we so often fool ourselves with “stinking thinking” and not being positive about our ability and belief in what is possible.
Yes, your thinking makes you foolish all too often. We frequently discuss positive self-talk and setting yourself up for victories with your expectations.
I challenge you to stop getting in your own way of Luck and remove any foolishness from your mind that is sabotaging what you are trying to do. This not only robs you of reaching your potential, but robs others of the care you can give.
Now, I’m not going to stop with how you fool yourself (both in good ways and bad), I want to talk about how you and your patients fool each other.
That’s right. You play a game every day with your patients. You often tell patients something is okay, when it’s not. Perhaps you make problems sound as if they are less of a big deal. You certainly short change patients on what is possible and the ways you can help.
Usually, this is done for fear of you not wanting to overwhelm them or thinking you are saving them money or that they will just say no anyways.
Don’t fool your patients – tell them the truth – every time about what’s real and about what you can do to help them.
And that is one of the most powerful LUCK FACTORS of them all. It is the great fool-prevention skill you will ever gain and it happens to be the easiest thing in the world to do…
TELL THE TRUTH!
Team Members and Doctors alike are amazed when they realize the power of just telling patients straight up about their current state of health and how many more patients are interested when you give them a chance to be.
Of course, the other side of this is making sure that you don’t let Patients make fools of you either.
They can do this by using insurance, money, time, delay and so many other things as excuses for denying themselves of the benefits of treatment. You can’t just let them walk out without any pushback, with no added encouragement, with nothing that gets them to reconsider.
And then there are those patients that you never think would accept treatment or say yes… until they do. Don’t let them fool you either.
That is why I say ‘every single day, it only takes but ONE patient to make a day a huge success.’
The only challenge is that we don’t know which patient it is going to be. Therefore, we just treat every single patient like they are the one. You will be amazed at how many victories you’ll line up each and every day because of this philosophy.
Never forget my mantra that Patients can only say yes to what you give them a chance to say yes to. Tell them the truth, give them a chance, fight for your patients’ success, and don’t let anyone play the fool.
Today, have an open discussion about foolish thoughts or habits that get in your way of helping your patients. Practice on how you will improve and then get ready for victories all day long.
