BEING EXTRAORDINARY!
Saturday, April 12th, 2008What’s the difference between being “ordinary” and being “EXTRAORDINARY”? If you look at the word extraordinary a little closer you will see that it is just a little EXTRA than ORDINARY!
When we think about being successful (whatever this might mean to you) we find that there are certain fallacies about how others achieve success:
FALLACIES ABOUT SUCCESS
- They are better looking than you…
- They have more talent than you do…
- Luck!
- They have stepped on someone else to climb higher…
- They have ripped people off in order to get ahead…
- They were given success on a silver platter…
- It’s easier for others than it is for you…
- They were born successful…
- Someone gave them a head start…
- They stumbled on it…
While some of these things may be true about some people who appear more successful than you: They are not THE reasons why they are more successful!
WE ARE ALL EXTRAORDINARY!
Every person has the ability to be “extraordinary”. If you don’t believe this then you should read autobiographies of some of the world’s most loved and famous people. What you will find is that each of these people at some point regarded themselves as the least likely person on Earth to succeed. But something in that person’s life helped them to make a decision that they could, and would be extraordinary.
So being extraordinary is first and foremost a decision that YOU are going to be EXTRAORDINARY.
People who are “ordinary” have usually decided to “settle for”. If your business had two extraordinary years of growth what would this mean for the following year? If you were to decide that you couldn’t possibly sustain this growth and development, and that in future years, you just wanted to maintain things as they were then you would become ordinary!
If you were to look at other practices and compare yourselves, and decide you don’t need to stretch anymore; then you would become ordinary!
If you were to look at the services offered by many other businesses and see how much more you offered and decided that you don’t need to do anymore; then you would become ordinary!
Being extraordinary means that you create your own standards; focus on how you can improve those standards; and don’t measure yourself by other people’s standards.
The only catch to making a decision to be extraordinary is that after a while your customers expect and demand that same level of service. So, to further surprise and satisfy your patients you have to discover new levels of “extraordinariness”…
“EXTRA”
Let’s look at some of the characteristics of these “extra” things that allow you to become extraordinary:
1) They are usually repetitive: All top sports people achieve their incredible skill levels by repetition of the basic skills of their sport. Peter Daicos the legendary Collingwood footballer said that he found the more he practiced, the luckier he became!
Examples of repetitive tasks in a chiropractic practice could be the scripts and remembering to talk about chiropractic to every patient. When thirty or more patients come through your office each day the things you say and the discussions you have appear repetitive to you: But to that person it could be the only conversation they will have about chiropractic that day, that week, that month, maybe that lifetime?
2) They are usually simple and easy: Each extra little thing that adds to your level of extraordinariness is in itself probably a very basic skill. But it is the very thing that others fail to do for this very same reason.
Forgetting to greet a patient as soon as they arrive, forgetting to tell a young mother that she can bring her children and they will be looked after while the mother receives an adjustment, forgetting to find out anything about a new patient’s family and friends (and missing 3-4 immediate referrals), forgetting to explain to a brand new patient what you are going to do before you do it…
WHY NOT?
If we can become extraordinarily successful by doing repetitive and simple things then why aren’t we all millionaires?
1) FEAR: Despite their simplicity these little extras often appear hard. Remember your first “crush”? All you had to do was ring them to ask them out to that party. It would probably only take ten words to ask the question and there were only two possible replies; either of which would give you instant emotional relief. But how difficult did that phone call become in your mind: Probably difficult enough to stop you doing it! Enough to give you dry mouth, rapid pulse and sweaty palms just at the slightest sight or thought of a telephone. But: If you did overcome that fear and make that call: Remember that feeling of euphoria and energy afterwards (no matter the reply)? This is the “adrenaline buzz” of being extraordinary!
The amazing thing about that fear though; was that the only way you overcame it was by ACTION! By doing the very thing that you feared. And you were able to take that action because you got yourself to the point of FAITH: Where you were so convinced that they would say yes that you just had to ring. Or, you were so convinced that they were going to say no that you didn’t care for them any more anyway. Or, that you realized that either reply would make you feel better than you were feeling by not ringing them!
2) LAZINESS: Because these extras are simple and repetitive, they are probably the first things that we put off and ignore. To do these things means exactly what the word means… EXTRA! And let’s face it many of us don’t want to do extra if we can avoid it.
Laziness usually manifests as excuses – “they’ve probably heard it all before”, “No-one wants to listen to this health stuff”, “people are turned off by a sales pitch”, “I tried that once and it didn’t work”…
Well, on the other hand – if you don’t tell them maybe no-one else on the entire planet will either – and maybe that could have massive consequences for that person?
So, as you can see, not doing the “extras” is what holds us back and stops us from becoming extraordinary.
HOW TO…
1) Take time to reflect on the things you do each day and ask yourself two questions:
a) Am I consistently doing the little things that will allow me to become extraordinary?
b) What am I not doing, or what am I avoiding doing which is preventing me from getting an “extraordinary buzz”?
2) Allow your creative imagination to sprout wings: Start to think about “extra” things, which may appear simple and repetitive, but will add to your being extraordinary – pick one and put it into practice: Once you have mastered it move onto the next one. And if you think it didn’t work, replace it with a new one…
3) Develop your faith:
a) That you can be extraordinary
b) That by doing the “extras”, things will start working out for the better
c) That if those little “extras” don’t work you will still be in the process of becoming extraordinary
d) By understanding that if you do the possible, God will take care of the impossible!
4) Act:
a) “Fake it till you make it!”
b) “Try on” a new behavior to see if it “fits” and give it sufficient time to “wear in”.
c) Take the first step on an incredible journey which consists of continuing to take more first steps, each after the other; till you arrive at a fantastic exotic location!