COLUMNIST kEYS TO YOUR PRACTICE living the new rich lifestyle m Flexibility and time off key to maintaining your practice by anGelo Santin y recent vacation in-spired me to share with you some ideas I have learned about stepping away from your practice, and giving yourself some much-needed rest and recreation. Although this is already the Septem-ber issue, and you may be thinking summer vacation is over, I believe the fall is a perfect time to plan out more vacation time for next year. Traditional thinking leads us to be-lieve time off for chiropractors is just not possible. The thought of losing possible patients and income scares some. While these are valid concerns, I argue that time away from your prac-tice is not a luxury, but a necessity. In Tim Ferris’s book The 4-Hour Workweek , he defines the “new rich” as people who have time, flexibility and mobility, in contrast to working long hours for all your life and only begin-ning to enjoy it once you retire. I must admit, as a younger practitioner, I can relate to this type of lifestyle, which is completely different from the example our parents gave us while we were growing up. As chiropractors, we have to look at our careers as a marathon and not a sprint. By this, I mean we need to look at the big picture and do what it takes now to have a long-lasting career. Why take time off? AngeLo SAnTin, dC , operates a busy subluxation-based family practice in Thunder Bay, Ont., and is president of the Thunder Bay Chiropractic Society. Dr. Santin is also a Carter Universal proficiency-rated chiropractic coach. He can be reached at [email protected] or 807-344-4606. 22 Canadian Chiropractor September 2013 www.canadianchiropractor.ca Photo: Shutterstock Chiropractic is a physical art. No mat-ter what technique we use, there will be physical strains and demands on our bodies. So many of my colleagues are struggling with back trouble, disc prob-lems and shoulder issues, just to men-tion a few. Time away to allow our bodies to heal is necessary. This time off from work can be achieved in many ways. It can be in the form of a long vacation or simply designing your week with full days or half days off. This time off will allow you to recharge mentally and spiritually – equally im-portant reasons to step away from the office. Practice growth, from my experi-ence, is made up of peaks and valleys. Rarely can someone have his or her foot on the gas pedal indefinitely. Time off is needed to clear the mind and, more importantly, spend time with loved ones. How do I do it? By now, some of you might already be saying, “But I just can’t afford to take the time off.” I would suggest this is an illusion that many of us have created. There were years when I would take only long weekends here and there because I thought I needed to be in the office for my patients. It wasn’t until I got busier and had my systems in order (patients pre-booked, etc.) that I de-cided to take a leap and take my first weeklong holiday. I now take a minimum of six weeks off and spend it with my family. I can
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor September 2013: Page 22
