Skip to content

Pull the Trigger

By Sid Mouk, D.C.

I consider my self to be one of the greatest planners in the history of this profession. Early in my career, I would spend hours and hours planning to do great things in chiropractic and in my life, coming up with the most elaborate plans to accomplish those things that have never been done in this profession. I would spend many hours writing out business and practice plans, new ways of adjusting patients, patient treatment plans, and planning for incredible new clinics and ways of filling them. I was awesome, or so I thought.

One evening I was enthusiastically telling Dr. Joe (the wise old DC from Chicago) about all my plans, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum, when he suddenly turned to me and made a statement that totally changed my way of thinking from then on in my life (and rightfully deflated my obviously over inflated ego).

He simply said, “So what.” Then he continued, “I’ve been sitting here for the past months listening to you go on and on about your big plans and I haven’t seen one bit of action on your part… just planning, planning, planning. This is a world of doing, not just planning. At the rate you’re going, you’ll wind up 50 years from now still planning as they put you 6 feet under ground and what will you have accomplished? Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Don’t just tell me what you’re going to do, show me what you’ve done and are doing to accomplish these big things and then I’ll listen to what you have to say. I’d much rather see you put that much energy into actually doing things and one-tenth as much energy into planning how to do things. This profession was built by doers, those who were willing to go out and put their plans into creative action no matter what the world thought or said about it.”

I knew Dr. Joe had been a champion rifle shot at one time in his life so I fully understood the analogy he next brought up. “Suppose I had a high powered rifle with all the niceties of modern technology associated with it but I spent all of my time just aiming the rifle at the bulls-eye on the target, trying different angles of fire, different positions from which to fire, admiring how well I held the rifle and enjoying the feel of the butt against my shoulder… but I never pulled the trigger. How much do you think I would have accomplished in that field of endeavor and how many awards do you think I would have won (looking over at a case full of winning trophies)?”

Aiming is certainly important but the essence of shooting a rifle is pulling the trigger. And the essence of life is taking action. During your time in chiropractic, if you do nothing else, at the very least PULL THE TRIGGER. If you do this, you’ll have a real chance of hitting the target you’re aiming at, sooner or later. And if you miss the bulls eye the first time, just correct your aim and pull the trigger again, and again, and again, and again, and keep pulling the trigger until they put you 6 feet under. If you do this, you’ll be able to look back later in life with total satisfaction that you did the very best you were capable of doing (not just talked about doing it as the great majority of people do) and even if you don’t wind up hitting the bulls eye every time, you will still have accomplished a great deal in this profession and in your life during the short time you’re here on this planet.

Nowadays, every time I hesitate to take any type of action in my life, I think of Dr. Joe’s sage advice, “PULL THE TRIGGER!” and I do. It’s remarkable how many targets you can hit (and how many bulls eyes) if you simply take action. “PULL THE TRIGGER” in your Chiropractic career and in your life.

planetc1.com-news @ 3:29 pm | Article ID: 1025044190

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest

Comments are closed for this article!