Patience and Stonecutting

The stonecutter wishes to split a rock.  After choosing the right tool, he strikes his hammer at an exact, pre­determined spot on the huge boulder.  The blow was not arbitrary or random; he hits precisely at a specific point de­termined after much study and analysis.  But nothing happens.  The stonecutter strikes again. No change.  The stone does not split.

The stonecutter slams his hammer down again.  And again and again. Nothing.  Not even a dent or chip in the rock’s surface.  His expression is stoic.  No worry or confusion.  His expression is one of knowing— a faith in himself, his tools, and the laws of the physical world that govern the splitting of large rocks.  100 blows. 200 blows.  The rock simply shows no sign of any change, much less breaking in two.  But the stonecutter persists.

Then, on the 357th strike, after 356 hits to a rock at exactly the same point without even a chip or a scratch, the large boulder splits in two.

What would have happened if the stonecutter quit after five hits, or ten, or one hundred?  Wouldn’t it have been so easy for the stonecutter to say, “This rock is too tough, I better pick another one.” Or maybe, “I must’ve chosen the wrong hammer.”  Or, “The spot I picked is wrong. I better choose another spot to hit.”  If the stonecutter kept second guessing himself and changed his technique, tool or focus, the rock would never, ever split.

When we know our objective and have formulated a plan to achieve that objective, it is imperative that we stick with it.  Don't quit!  Just because the results do not come right away does not mean that we are on the wrong track!

We should expect the miracle, but prepare ourselves for a trial of faith.

For faith precedes the miracle.

Not the other way around.

A Bit More Patience

A couple of months ago, I blogged Patients and Patience.  Didja see it?

Anyway, I was just now reading Seth Godin's blog.  If you don't know Seth, he is basically a bolo-head genius who has written some of the best books ever about marketing a business.  I've never met him, but if or when I do, I'll have choke mahalos to give the man!

But anyway, Seth's last post was about this important virtue of patience as it relates to business success.  Here's an excerpt:

I discovered a lucky secret the hard way about thirty years ago: you can outlast the other guys if you try. If you stick at stuff that bores them, it accrues. Drip, drip, drip you win.  It still takes ten years to become a success, web or no web. The frustrating part is that you see your tactics fail right away. The good news is that over time, you get the satisfaction of watching those tactics succeed right away.  The trap: Show up at a new social network, invest two hours, be really aggressive with people, make some noise and then leave in disgust.  The trap: Use all your money to build a fancy website and leave no money or patience for the hundred revisions you'll need to do.  The trap: read the tech blogs and fall in love with the bleeding-edge hip sites and lose focus on the long-term players that deliver real value.  The trap: sprint all day and run out of energy before the marathon even starts. The media wants overnight successes (so they have someone to tear down). Ignore them. Ignore the early adopter critics that never have enough to play with. Ignore your investors that want proven tactics and predictable instant results. Listen instead to your real customers, to your vision and make something for the long haul. Because that's how long it's going to take, guys.

Patients and Patience

The Honor Box eliminates, in principle, any financial obstacle from all my patients who desire and are willing to commit to their chiropractic care plan.  There is another obstacle out there, though, that stops a patient from getting the full benefits of chiropractic:

Lack of patience.

In this world of instant gratification and the "I want it NOW" attitude, many (not all, but many) patients expect that relief should happen right away following the chiropractic adjustment.  When expectations are not met right away, these folks will dismiss chiropractic as something that doesn't work or they will blame the doctor saying, "He just couldn't get my spine to crack the right way."

The solution to this is to explain very carefully to these people that healing takes time-- that getting adjusted is not like popping a painkiller, relief is not guaranteed to happen in seconds, minutes or even hours.

More like days, weeks and months, as the body heals from the effects of subluxation.

The catch-22, however, to this problem-- the conflicting practice of chiropractors that perpetuate this fallacy (and I am often guilty of this, too)-- is found in those special moments when we deliver that perfect adjustment with that certain, special something and the patient leaps off the table amazed that the pain that HAD been there for so long is instantly gone.  Instant relief!  Miracle!

And we as chiropractors humbly rejoice with our patients who are so thankful that the suffering has seemingly disappeared.  We act as if, yes, this is how the adjustment should be.  This is what the adjustment does.  Instant relief!  Miracle!

Like popping a painkller...

Mixed messages we send to our patients and also to ourselves.