Nathan and Adam explore the crucial first step to becoming a better leader: self-leadership. They share personal stories, lessons they've learned along the way, and practical advice to help you become the leader your team deserves.
Here’s what you’ll learn from this episode:
Why good leadership begins with you and how improving yourself can benefit your entire team.
The three key aspects of self-leadership: understanding yourself, managing your actions, and recognizing your emotions.
How to change from a divided mentality to a leadership approach that motivates and unites your team.
Easy daily habits that can improve your leadership skills and support your well-being as a business owner.
The common mistake many practice owners make when trying to nurture new leaders, and how to steer clear of it.
If you often feel overwhelmed by the weight of running your practice, this episode is perfect for you. Embrace your leadership role with confidence, clarity, and the right mindset to build a successful team!
Ready to enhance your leadership skills? Check out our Linktree for Coaching Services, a Free KPI Dashboard, a Facebook Group, and our Annual Strategic Planning Services: https://go.ppoclub.com/linktree-podcasts
Enjoying the podcast? Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://ppoclub.com/
[00:00:00] Leadership is Influence, right? Like it's our ability to recognize that we're using new grads during an interview process as an example, but these are riddled with through your organization, these little exchanges with people. But really, you're telling yourself that, like you said, like it's you versus them, like they think you're the bad guy, you think they're the bad guy, but really the bad guy is the limiting beliefs that the new grad has.
[00:00:23] Welcome to the Private Practice Owners Club. Your hosts and coaches, Nathan Shields scaled his practice and exited for millions, while Adam Robin went from working 60 hours a week in one clinic to scaling to multiple clinics while working less than four hours per week remotely. This podcast is meant to share with you exactly how they did it and how you can build a business that supports the lifestyle that you truly desire.
[00:00:47] And don't forget to join the Private Practice Owners Club community on Facebook, where we are obsessed with providing even more resources that help owners just like you win the game of private practice. Hello and welcome to the Private Practice Owners Club podcast. I'm your host, Nathan Shields, got my buddy Adam Robin back on with me. How you doing, man? Doing good, man. Doing real good. Glad to be here. Excited about the topic today. And yeah, let's get rocking.
[00:01:17] Yeah, because yesterday we had our first aligned leaders group call in which for our coaching clients, we are providing some leadership development and training for their leaders and potential leaders.
[00:01:32] And it's something that could be a huge benefit to them. At least we think so. There's a huge value in helping these potential leaders get grounded, give them perspective, give them insight into and also encourage them and build them up to be the future leaders in these clinics, especially for those who are within our clients clinics.
[00:01:53] So exciting day yesterday to simply kick that off the Align Leader program. And the topic was super cool. I came away enthused. I thought it was a great discussion that you let out on. And I think it's totally worthy of doing a podcast episode about it. So I'm excited to talk about it. Yeah, it's pretty cool. I spent about, I don't know, a whole lot of time building out my first leadership development program.
[00:02:19] It's probably like my first or second, like really piece of work, if you will, that was like something that I would like, I really did put a lot of energy into it. And so I'm excited to just kind of share how we've been building leaders in our organization. And it's like been super powerful for me, like transformative for me personally. And just like the relationships I've built with my team have been unlike anything that I could have ever imagined.
[00:02:44] And so like, I'm hoping that what we do is we can help these owners really build those strong relationships with their leaders and create, give them an opportunity to be inspired and like to want to sacrifice and do some of the hard work and like make some money and win and achieve and all the fun things that come with a competition that comes with running a clinic.
[00:03:04] Yeah, because when I talk to clients about a leadership development program or who are your next leaders, how are you going to develop them into clinic directors, et cetera, usually they don't have any ref frame of reference. They haven't gone through a leadership development program themselves 99% of the time. So they don't necessarily know what that looks like. And they're thinking, how do I take what I've learned about my clinic or know about my clinic and pour that into someone else? Right. Right.
[00:03:31] And without any frame of reference, how do you just develop this leadership development program? And it can be a popular topic. I know like at PPS, when I went there, that was one of the more popular rooms that I went to was leadership development. And so I think it's cool to talk about the program a little bit that we're doing, but also how we kicked it off. And yesterday was a lot about just the fundamentals. It wasn't about how do you hold somebody accountable? How do you, what KPIs should you measure? It was nothing about that stuff.
[00:04:00] It went deeper because we want to build this foundation first. So let's get into a little bit about you let out on the discussion. Tell me a little bit about your thought process, why you decided to start at this point and choose these topics in particular. Yeah, because here's how I see it. You can agree with it or not. This was my experience, right? Like in order to do anything great, it's going to require sacrifice. And you're never going to have enough time, money or energy to get it done.
[00:04:28] Like you're going to have to make some hard decisions, right? You're going to have to choose that. I want this more than I want that. And that's like a hard thing to do, right? And so there's these hard conversations and hard decisions that you have to make with your team. And the last thing that we want to do is make it me versus you. It's like if we look at it like, hey, Nathan, you're my leader now. And now you just do what I tell you to do. That's hard. That puts both of us at a disadvantage, honestly.
[00:04:57] But instead, if we can recognize that this is actually a personal journey, it's actually you versus you. And it's actually me versus me. And we're doing this as we get better. We serve each other better, right? And then that's why it transforms the conversations, right? It automatically elevates the personal ownership and the personal accountability that this journey has. And everybody's journey is a little bit different, right? And so we start with that personal development piece. It's like, hey, who are you? And what do you believe in?
[00:05:26] And what do you stand for? And what are some of the things that are important to you? How do you get in your own way at times? Yeah. Tell me a little bit about that. Because you say you versus you and me versus me. What does that mean? Yeah. So first person you lead, and this was a great question because we talked about this idea of leadership and this idea of like, hey, leadership is about getting out in front, doing the scary thing and looking behind you. And there's actually people following you. Or maybe not even following you, like alongside you, like in your hip pocket. Like, hey, I'm with you.
[00:05:56] That's when you know you're a good leader. If you're out front doing all the heavy lifting, losing sleep at night, working all weekend, and you're looking up and nobody's around. You're not a good leader because nobody's willing to sacrifice with you. Right? Right. And as we go along these journeys and we do these hard things, we encounter the bad guy, which is the voice in your head, the emotions that you have in your chest or whatever in your stomach, fear, anxiety, worry. And we tend to self-sabotage through those hard things.
[00:06:24] And the degree in which we can overcome ourselves is the thing that allows us to succeed. So recognizing that when I win the game against myself, I'm able to produce more value for others. And so starting with yourself is leading yourself well is the first step in great leadership. The hardest person to lead is yourself. The biggest knucklehead in your life is yourself. The most stubborn person in your life is yourself. It's not the person across the table. It's you. How can I inspire Nathan to be great if I don't even know what it means for me to be great? All right.
[00:06:54] So this idea of leading yourself well, learning this idea of self-awareness, learning this idea of like, actually, when you're doing these things, you're really trying to negotiate with yourself on the best way to produce. Right. So that first step is recognizing that idea of self-awareness. Yeah. Because I can see myself as a younger owner where I wasn't, number one, organized and disciplined. I can say I was organized and disciplined about patient care.
[00:07:22] But around business ownership, zero. Right. I was focused on treating patients and expecting everyone else to just treat patients and make sure the company ran. But there was no organization. There were no systems other than what I told you to do. And I wasn't clear as to exactly where I was going. Right. Right. My clarity involved. Provide the best patient care and we'll figure out the business stuff on the side kind of thing. As an owner, that's opposite of where you need to have your mindset.
[00:07:51] As an owner, your business comes first. You're a physical therapist second, frankly. And if you don't have that, those priorities in place, then your business will suffer. You might provide good care, but your business will suffer and the people within your business will suffer for how long. Who knows? And so as I got clear as to what it meant to be an owner, as I got clear as to what it meant to be organized and structured, what did small business ownership entail?
[00:08:20] When I got clear about my role as the owner, as the CEO. And my purpose in those positions, that's when my business changed. That's when my business improved because I got better. My business got better. I got better. What I could provide for my team got better. Right. As I got better, leadership opportunities for my team improved or actually presented themselves. Like I needed a leader for blank so I can focus my time over here and do these other things.
[00:08:49] All of a sudden opportunities arose. Right. And I had an opportunity to look forward and see what was coming and make changes and organize my business and actually generate a culture within my business intentionally that people enjoyed and appreciated. And I had time for my partners.
[00:09:09] And I had time for my partners and you name it.
[00:09:36] But that's when I was acting from a place of ignorance. Yeah. And I had time for my partner. Yeah. Yeah. And like whenever I hear you talk through that, it makes me really appreciate you more because I understand you more.
[00:10:04] And what I really heard was it's like it wasn't that you were doing the thing that made you a leader. It's the internal decision that you made with yourself that this was a new thing that you were going to create. Well, first you have to find the clarity. Right. And the reason why we don't find clarity is because we have all these other things in our way. Distractions. They're distractions. And we have these urgencies and fears and like we're kind of blind to our own self.
[00:10:28] But once we orient ourself to something new and we make a decision that the old way, the old you must die so that I must discover something new. Right. Yeah. That's the thing to help you actually internalize like, wow, I do have control here. I can decide where I place my attention. I can decide to react to that insecurity or fear or whatever. And that's powerful. That's super powerful. Yeah.
[00:10:51] You know, in my situation and in many people, if you listen to some of my past episodes early on, especially I get stories from successful PT owners who talked about a difficult period that they had to experience with their life. And I know you went through the same thing, but they had to experience a pain from living the way that they were living and owning the clinic the way that they were owning and running it before they finally made a change.
[00:11:19] And what we're hoping to do, you and I and the coaches that we have is to catch you before it gets to the pain point. It doesn't have to get to that point. I mean, you don't have to wait until your business is struggling. You're stressed out. You're stressed out. You're anxious. You're up at night. You're up early, missing time with your family. Not good with your mental health for your mental health. Not good for your mental health. Maybe. And in a lot of these cases, the marriage was suffering. Divorce was on the table.
[00:11:48] Not good relationships with your kids. Financially, you might have had a hard time. If you're at that point, we can definitely help. But hopefully, we can catch people before then to say, listen, as an owner, this is not the path you want to go down. We're burying your head in patient care, not up and looking at those who are working hard around you to actually lead them. Because I loved your visual in that. You're out there thinking you're the leader. You're running fast. You're setting the pace. You're seeing all the patients. You're running hard.
[00:12:18] And then you look behind you and there's nobody there. No one else is in the fight with you, right? You're the crazy person. Yeah. They're on a different path altogether just treating their patients, right? They're like, this is what's going to get me what I need. And this is going to make me get my paycheck. So we're not on the same path. But I think I'm out there being the leader. Because you're doing some stuff. Because I'm busy. I'm busy and I wear my bad. I wear my busy badge with pride. I'm a super busy business owner, right?
[00:12:48] But it took some pain for me to, like you said, let that old self die and experience something new, become a different person. And my life significantly changed after that. And I know I did the same for you. So when we're talking about this, this leading yourself, it's transformative. It was at least in my case. For sure, man. That's what happens when you give the teenager the keys without letting him get his driver's license first. He wrecks the car. He brings it down the hill. It's like you got some growing up to do. And I would argue that you really didn't become a new person.
[00:13:17] You realized who you really were. Because in the beginning, it's like you're just running on adrenaline and coffee. And the real you is under there somewhere, right? And so the way that I like to describe self-awareness and the way that I described it yesterday during our call is self-awareness is the recognition that you exist beyond your thoughts and emotions. And the active pursuit of being in touch with that instead of in touch with the feeling or whatever it is, right?
[00:13:45] We've all experienced hopefully at some point like are able to actually sit down and take a break. Or maybe it's at church when you're in prayer or we experience glimpses of being present and still and centered, right? And that's when we are able to tap into who we really are. And we're kind of beyond that external rapid stimulus, the urgency and the scarcity and the fear and all that stuff.
[00:14:06] And so it's like how do we tap into that a little more often and how do we stay grounded in that more often so that we can step into hard things and not lose control, which leads into the second phase of leadership, which is self-management, right? So self-awareness is number one. Self-management is step two where it's like now that I understand how to get grounded, I'm able to insert myself into challenging situations, whether that be treating patients, hiring, firing, growing a clinic, managing financial struggles.
[00:14:33] And I'm still able to stay connected and grounded and clear and confident as I lead. And so now you're leading yourself well. Now people can understand you a little better. Now you're not the crazy person running the clinic. You're actually a clear, confident person that people look up to. Yeah, we talked about this. We spent a little bit of time on this part of it, the self-management part, because altogether and especially as owners, we can come across issues in the course of a few hours.
[00:15:03] And of the workday and get emotionally tied up into the problems and the issues that arise. And to be a better leader requires us to manage our emotions. That's right. Check ourselves, frankly, and operate not from an emotional state, but from a logical state. And use that part of our brain. It's not fight and flight, right? But rather being at peace and thinking logically.
[00:15:32] And that requires some work that requires whatever that might be. Meditation, prayer, recognizing the situation for what it is and not being tied up into the details and the perseverating negative thoughts that come with it. Right. It's like the monkey mind is telling us a story that's not quite true. It's like, let's just be more objective about this. And here's the thing.
[00:15:56] I think that whenever you realize, whenever you're able to go through that experience and kind of debrief and recognize that we've all been through some type of experience like that at some point, your leaders are doing the same thing. Your leaders are going down the same trail. Right. Right. And so my belief is that starting with this foundation and helping them realize that I understand the journey you're on. I've been on the journey you're on. I want to learn more about your journey.
[00:16:24] I want to share my experience with you and I want to get to know you more. Right. And it's like, what a great opportunity. What a great place to start a great relationship. Yeah, exactly. To come from a place of experience and perspective and recognize that not all of your people are honky dory. Even on the surface, they might present the facade that everything's going well.
[00:16:49] But to ask the right questions and also share from perspective and also act out appropriately, right, in front of them, how to handle things is the best way forward. And also to give them the not only to give them example, but to invite them into a better version of themselves. Yeah. And, you know, this is my opinion. This is where we get it wrong. Right. This is the piece that is missing all of the things. This is when I know it's missing. When I hear things like this.
[00:17:17] All these new grads only want money. You're missing this. You're missing this. My team won't work hard. They don't get it. You're missing this. I'm looking around. I'm working 80 hours a week and nobody wants to do any heavy lifting. They can't do it like me. They won't do it like me. You're missing this. There's a whole different game. It's like this idea of emotional intelligence and truly understanding human psychology as it relates to performance. That must be understood.
[00:17:43] If you're actually going to get people like leadership is like, how do I get this people to do things they don't want to do, but help them learn how to love it? You know what I mean? Like that's leadership. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Like a checklist ain't going to do it. Like who really wants to do the documentation? Not me. No one. How do you get them to do it and do it well? Right. Right. And want to do it and crave to do it and be willing to suffer because they understanding that suffer is just the journey.
[00:18:08] And it's like, we've got to frame that up in a way that's got to put some language behind that and kind of help them realize what that is. So what do you find? What leads people to say those things that you mentioned? Like all these new grads, yada, yada, yada. No one wants to work as hard as me. What leads them to say those things and how do you get them out of it? Yeah. I think it's really just a lack of awareness. I mean, I think that it's a different level of leadership.
[00:18:33] So like I think that if we sit here and have a conversation with a rational PT owner or OT owner, whatever you are, we can all acknowledge that sometimes emotions compromise our decisions. I've done it. Totally. All the time. And so like, great. You're able to understand that that exists. That's level one. It doesn't make you a good leader. Like just being aware that your emotions make an impact on your decisions. Just being aware that your emotions are being willing to say it out loud.
[00:19:01] Like, okay, now you're a level one leader. You wouldn't even be my clinic director. You know what I mean? Like you're not there yet. Level two is how do I move through the stress without letting my emotions compromise by behavior? Or perspective. Or perspective, right? That's level two. Okay, now you're able to lead yourself. Now level three is how do I recognize the journey in other people? Hmm. How do I recognize and how do I have empathy with what their journey is? The emotions that are compromising their judgment.
[00:19:31] And that's what's missing. Because when these new grads come in with fears and insecurities and they have their guard up around what they think is true. I don't want to be taken advantage of. I'm not going to be taken advantage of. And we judge and we boom, we instantly lose our leadership and we start judging instead of appreciating and learning that that is another human being going through a similar journey. And our job is to understand it, not to fight it. That's where we miss. But it's hard to get there if you can't lead yourself. Yeah.
[00:20:00] If you're not in touch with your own story, you can't help other people. You can't understand other people's story. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Hey, it's Q4 2024. It's time to put your foot on the gas. It's busy season, guys. And your goals are within reach. But if you're feeling unclear on what to do next, it's likely due to a lack of planning.
[00:20:28] Listen, if you want to be a great company, you have to do what great companies do. Post an annual strategic plan with your team. Setting aside one to two days to map out the entire year ahead has been the single most impactful habit I've developed in my business. That's why Nathan and I are offering exclusive strategic planning sessions for practice owners ready to make 2025 their best year yet.
[00:20:55] We'll fly to your practice for two days and help you get crystal clear on your goals. So every day next year starts with purpose and focus. Imagine waking up knowing exactly what to do and how that clarity would impact your team and your work. We're only taking 10 businesses for 2025 and spots are first come first serve. This promotion runs to the end of the year. So if you're serious about growing in 2025, check the show notes and claim your spot today.
[00:21:24] This could be the most important decision you make next year. Think about it. The way you frame me is and it's something that needs to be overcome. There can be a natural tendency to make it us versus them. You're the bad guy. I'm the good guy. I need to bring you over to my side somehow. Instead of maybe asking different questions. What are their motivations? And are those motivations okay?
[00:21:53] And with their motivations, am I able to work within their framework to tap into those motivations and get them to be aligned, do the things that make them successful? That's the business successful, right? Instead of making it an us versus them. And I know we've got examples of clients of ours that have really stood that ground. Like, I can't get these people to do anything. No one's here for the right reasons. No one's aligned. No one wants to sacrifice anything.
[00:22:21] And as long as they had that mentality, they got a churn. Like people crashed and burned in their clinics and they had a lot of turnover. It won't ever stop. And it didn't stop. And it won't stop. And it has changed when those kind of attitudes have changed towards their team. It's like it's the definition of influence. Like leadership is influence, right? Like it's our ability to recognize that we're using new grads during an interview process as an example.
[00:22:50] But these are riddled with through your organization. These little exchanges with people. But really, you're telling yourself that, like you said, like it's you versus them. Like they think you're the bad guy. You think they're the bad guy. But really, the bad guy is the limiting beliefs that the new grad has. And you have. And you have. Right. So it's like, how do I understand what those beliefs are? And how do I help influence that story so that they can see something a little different? And that's leadership. Right. And that's not a like it's going to take something more than a checklist.
[00:23:19] It's going to take something more than a nice website to solve that problem. And it's part of what I love to do. Honestly, it's why I get passionate about this topic. And it's also the reason that gives me so much confidence in what we're doing, because when people are like, oh, what makes you different, Adam? Why would I want to join your coaching program? And I'm just like, man, I would change your life. I could probably help you change your life. You know what I mean?
[00:23:42] Like, I really do think we could shift your perspective and man, like you could be so much more powerful in these situations and get way more of what you want in those interviews and in those negotiations and in those sales processes and all of the things. And when you do that, you create win-wins everywhere. Yeah.
[00:23:57] Can I say one of the most fulfilling things that I experienced in business wasn't in the patient care, but it was in seeing people within the organization become leaders and become more than what they came into my business as. Like they developed skills and traits and started leading teams and grew in a professional way.
[00:24:22] And the fact that I had an opportunity to lead and guide and establish an environment in which they could do that was super fulfilling. Like I said, one of the best things about ownership was providing people that opportunity. And what we're talking about are the beginnings of what Jim Collins and good to great relayed as the level five leader, level five leadership.
[00:24:45] And two of the, those things that, that create a level five leader are self-awareness, a really healthy sense of self-awareness and putting others first, like putting others needs above your own and recognizing that for the business to succeed, they need to be successful.
[00:25:34] They need wins. Those are the things that we're talking about today. And we started the conversation with our leadership development group on the call was leadership development is about leading yourself first. Be aware. What do you need to improve on? Are you clear? Are you confident? Are you committed? Are you disciplined to the improvement of self? And as you do that, you will then have a sure or better foundation off of which to lead other people. That's right.
[00:26:03] And then the hard work doesn't become the barrier. It, it becomes the opportunity. Just becomes the opportunity, not just for you, but for the team. Listen, if you have a team of five or six people and they're all growing personally and they understand the journey and they want to grow personally and they understand that success and sacrifice is part of it. And they view sacrifice as an opportunity. How do you lose? Who's going to stop me? It doesn't happen. You don't lose. That's the answer.
[00:26:32] Yeah. You just don't lose. And it takes work. It's not something that comes natural. It's done intentionally. But it also creates an environment where if you're committed to this or if you create some type of commitment to this within your organization, you'll be able to look up one day and say, hey, team, here's the flag. Let's go get it. And you walk out of the room and they're all freaking starving for it. And they want to go for it. They're excited. They're excited. You ain't got to ask them. You ain't got to beg them.
[00:27:01] You just got to plant the flag. And they want it. And that's what you want to create. Right. Yeah. So yesterday we talked about some of the tools. Well, you recommended some tools in which to have greater self-awareness and making yourself a better leader. Tell us where you started. So there's two of my favorite. And by the way, these are just my favorite. So like everybody's got their own thing. But the first thing is I stole from Michael Hyatt. Check out Michael Hyatt. It's cool. Cool, dude.
[00:27:28] He was the person that taught me about this idea of non-negotiables, establishing your non-negotiables. And we all know the things that we're supposed to do or we should do, but we always put on the back burner things that are like good for our health, good for our mental health, good for our relationships, good for our presence and peace of mind and spirituality. And for me, it's number one, getting eight hours of sleep. That's something you probably shouldn't sacrifice very often. You need to get your sleep.
[00:27:57] Daily reading, family time, exercise, quiet time, meditation, whatever that practice is of filling your cup. And the first sign for me, whenever I know that I'm sacrificing myself is those things start to slip. I start to cut my workout short or skip my workout or like, eh, I don't need eight hours. I'll just get six hours. I'll just stay up a little later. Right? And that's a bad way to lead yourself.
[00:28:24] But if you can be more intentional about taking care of yourself, then you'll start to realize who you really are and you'll start to connect to yourself a little bit better. So establishing your non-negotiables and putting them on your calendar and they don't move. Whatever they are, right? If you're working a bunch of hours, you might not be able to have 12 hours a week of non-negotiables, but you can have 10 minutes a day. You know what I mean? You can go for a walk at lunch every day. And I think that's the first place to start establishing what those non-negotiables are. Yeah.
[00:28:54] Because I think some people, and it was even mentioned in the call yesterday, like one guy said one of his non-negotiables was to work out every day and he's fallen off the wagon a little bit. And he admitted like, can't get back on the wagon on Wednesdays. I've got to do it on Mondays. Right? Like you just tell yourself these silly stories. Like, so if he misses Monday, he's like, oh, I guess I missed working out this week. I guess we'll start next Monday. Right? And then it progresses week to week to week. But instead of telling yourself that, well, okay, I didn't make it today. I can start tomorrow.
[00:29:24] Or like you said, I don't have an hour to do a full morning routine, but maybe I have five minutes to meditate and pray. Yeah. Perfect. Drink a cup of water. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, it doesn't have to be everything. You don't have to get all the things in at once. Right? And that's my weakness sometimes is, well, if I'm not meditating for 15 minutes, then I don't have time for it. And I guess I just won't do that today. Or I could just meditate for two minutes. And they say that's about the same benefit.
[00:29:53] So we can always work it into our schedule. And, you know, for me, it's one of those things that it's so simple that, and you mentioned this yesterday, that it's easy to let it drop because you don't see the immediate benefits of it. Right? It's the long-term dedication. It's the long-term commitment and discipline that over time results in success. That's right. Yeah. It's like, who do you want to be led by?
[00:30:16] Do you want to be led by an older, tired, unhealthy, crippled, foggy-minded person that comes to work every day who underperforms and doesn't commit to themselves? Or somebody who has, like, some self-worth and actually, like, takes care of himself and comes with the energy and, like, is really committed to growth. They're fresh and they're healthy and they're creative. Most of the time they're fresh. Yeah. They've got a clear mind. They're aware. Right? They're not sickly. Yeah.
[00:30:46] They've got a clear head on their shoulders. They know what they're doing. They know your purpose. And all these things lead to that. That's right. So I think that one of the first signs of good leadership, self-leadership, is taking care of yourself and making that a priority at some level. And so that's the first thing that really transformed me. When I figured that out, I was like, oh, my God, I can choose myself over other things? Wow, that's weird. And, dude, once that switch flipped, I became like – I instantly leveled up. Well, you took control of your schedule. Yeah. Is what it sounds like.
[00:31:16] You took control of your schedule. And I mentioned this yesterday, and I don't think I got the point across. The words were to the effect of. As therapists, we sacrifice ourselves to the schedule. I mean, every day we're sacrificing ourselves to the patient schedule. And we get in that subservient mindset. Whatever my schedule says, that's what I do. Right? Instead of taking control and saying, this is when I do things for myself. This is when I see patients. And this is when I see family. And draw some boundaries. Right?
[00:31:44] But I think sometimes we fall into a mindset to the schedule that's placed upon us by patients versus taking control of it ourselves. Emotions. Right. Emotions. Right? So that's ultimate flex is whenever you can decide, like, I matter. I'm going to take care of myself. Because who in their right logical mind would say that that's not a good idea? Nobody. And if you think that that's not a good idea, I don't want to be around you. Right?
[00:32:12] But like, the emotions and the urgencies in our brain tell us it's not a good idea. So it's the ultimate way to show your brain and your emotions that you're in charge. It's like, it's the perfect strategy. In my mind, at least. So that is a small hack that has really helped me. The second thing is personality assessments. Commit to doing a personality assessment. And don't just do it, but like, study it a little. And then also share it with people.
[00:32:42] Share it with your wife or your husband. And share it with your team. And have them do one as well. Like, be interested in who they are. And like, what makes them tick? And what makes them nervous? What's their little battle that they go through? Some people are like procrastinators. Some people are anxious people like me. Like, I'm an anxious guy. Some people are kind of loners and depressed people. We all kind of have our little thing, right? But like, let's learn about those. And like, what's that like for you?
[00:33:12] The experiences are very similar. They're just kind of packaged a little different. And when you put that on paper and you share it with your team, you heighten your self-awareness. Because now you kind of understand that everybody's got a journey. And you kind of normalize those things. So you start to feel more comfortable with yourself. And also, you really start to appreciate others in the room at a much higher level. And that bond is where it kind of leads you into the next phase of leadership, which is kind of understanding others.
[00:33:39] But it's a really great way to like elevate your self-awareness. If you start doing those two things, I think your team would like you a lot better. Yeah. My experience with personality assessments is I took one. I think it was the Colby. And I'll never forget. It said, do not work with small engines. Oh, really? I need to take the Colby. I'm going to take it. Yeah. And I laughed as soon as I heard that. And I shared it with my wife and she laughed. She's like, yes. I wonder why.
[00:34:07] But it was such an insight to me that my personality trait was such that, and I get frustrated when I'm working on like handyman stuff and engine, things like that. Like that, I tried to do things around the house. And every Saturday I was like, don't get in my way. I was pissed off all day. Dude, I swear to God, I have the same thing. Literally, my wife would tell the kids, don't talk to dad. He's trying to work on something. Yeah. He's having one of those days. And like, get out of my way.
[00:34:37] And my wife was like, why don't you invite the kids to help you out? I'm like, no possible way. That's not going to be a good experience for either. I'm barely hanging on, honey. Right. The YouTube video that took 15 minutes to fix something is now four hours into it. And I'm pissed. Once I understood that about myself, because the personality assessment told me that, that was my trait. I found a handyman and I just got stuff done around the house.
[00:35:05] I paid the money to improve my relationships with my kids on Saturdays and get stuff done in a professional way that wasn't a drain. Oh my gosh. It was life changing. I mean, that's how it can help people themselves with the self-awareness, but it can also help understand your teams because some of these will tell you they like to be approached. They want to be shown the vision. And if they are clear on the vision, then they will be led. They will happily give themselves and sacrifice themselves to the vision.
[00:35:34] Some people want to know about the steps one, two, three, and four. They're not so clear about the vision, but if you can give me the next three steps, I'm on board. And there's different personality traits related to each of those. And there's others as well. It allows you then as the leaders to know how to approach them. So what might've been frustrating in the past in trying to share your vision and get them involved in the process. Now you can say, okay, for so-and-so, I need to paint the picture. Then they'll join in to the journey.
[00:36:04] Whereas for this other person, I can paint the picture, but I also need to say, these are the next few things that we need to do in order to get there. Are you cool with that? And like, yeah, I'm totally bought in. And so there are different personality traits that you can then understand how to work with your team better. And they're going to think you're the most amazing leader because you're speaking my language. Yeah. Because you understand a little more. The thing that I resonate with when you talk through that is like, it really does help you find more balance in your leadership style.
[00:36:31] Because like for me, like I'm a very hypervigilant dude. Like I can get a lot of work done. A lot of work done. It's not all going to be accurate, but like it's going to get done. But I tend to like bulldoze through people. Like I just like blow by them and almost like in a disrespectful way. I'm going to get it done whether you're here or not. Correct. And I don't really care the way it makes you feel or anything. You know what I mean? And so like, that's why my brain is wired and you can understand how that would probably not be a great thing for my team at times. Right.
[00:37:00] And so what it really helped me do was recognize how some of my hyper aggressive strengths were also negatively impacting the people around me. Then it came back to like, I got to leave myself better. I see that now. I understand where I can get better as a leader to help serve people around me a little more cleaner. Right. So that's really what, how it helped me is just bringing myself awareness up. Yeah. It was cool that you brought up those two things and we asked people that was their homework for the next month, right?
[00:37:30] Between this call that we had yesterday and next month's call in March. And then the last thing that you brought up, and I just shared it as extra credit for those people who wanted to get a little bit more self-awareness was, and you brought up the book, emotional intelligence 2.0 great book to get a little bit more self-awareness and how being self-aware can definitely improve your ability to lead yourself and others. Well, I had somebody tell me that EQ, which is emotional intelligence is the new IQ. Emotional emotion. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:37:59] And so I'm kind of making this up. So maybe you guys can Google it and tell me if it's right. But I was told at one time that emotional intelligence is more correlated to an elevated net worth than your IQ. I can see that. Right. And so it's like the person in the room who has the most emotional intelligence is usually the person who has the most influence and is usually the person who can add the most value or who can create the most change.
[00:38:29] Right. And that's the game that I enjoy when I feel like I'm really in touch with myself and I'm really in touch with others. I feel in like complete control. I feel kind of like confident in what we're doing and clear in the direction that I'm taking. And like, I don't have all the answers right now, but I'm feeling really good that we have a great team that we're going to figure it out. That's kind of what you want to create as opposed to that elevated sense of panic and anxiety. And it's like, I don't know what we're doing.
[00:38:56] We're all hanging out, like kind of how you're feeling whenever you're trying to work on small engines. You know what I mean? Like you don't want that type of leadership team. That's going nowhere quick. You want a very composed, calm, balanced team who understands each other. Right. Yeah. So a good book to guide along the way. I like it. I'm actually going to read it again because it's been years since I've read that one, probably almost over eight. So I'm going to get back to reading that one, but we've got to wrap up. We shared a lot of great information. Anything else you want to cover on this topic before we sign off?
[00:39:27] We are rolling out the Align Leader program this year. It's only going to be for our clients because we want to make sure we get this right. And we're feeling really excited about what we're doing, but we will be rolling this out to others who are interested once it's polished up and we know that it's going to be just off the charts. But here's my vision. My vision is to take your team, plug them into a framework that helps them recognize how
[00:39:51] much power they truly have in your place and to really help them understand the excitement and the reward that comes with taking 100% responsibility of their own success, such that like they are just like on fire the moment their feet hit the floor and they are ready to just crush it with you. They want to help you make money. They want to help you do hard things. They want to help you see more patients. They want to help you do all the hard things.
[00:40:19] That's what we want to create for practice owners. And I believe that if we can do that, if we can just elevate the leadership in our industry, like we're going to transform people and patients. So stay tuned for that. If you want more information about that, like reach out to me and then I'm happy to have a conversation. Yeah. Awesome. Thanks for that, man. Adam at PPOClub.com or you'll find him on the socials. You got to be, if you're not already, you should be in the Facebook group, Practice Owners Club Facebook group. You can always find Adam and I there as well as our LinkedIn pages. So check us out there. Cool, man.
[00:40:49] Thanks for joining today. Sounds good, brother. All right. We'll see you later. Thanks for listening to the Private Practice Owners Club. If you enjoyed this episode, would you mind doing us a huge favor and leaving a review? This helps us get the podcast out to more clinic owners to help them create greater freedom and profit so they can own their future. And visit our website, ppoclub.com to find more resources and connect with us.