We often draw a very strong line between our professional and personal lives. From the very beginning of our professional careers, we are taught to not bring work home with us, nor to bring our home life into the office, which in turn can hinder personal growth.
You may find it much more difficult to keep that strong firewall between your personal and professional lives, as the very nature of chiropractic demands caring about the wellbeing and health of others. It is much easier to leave a stack of spreadsheets at the office than it is to leave behind the lives of your patients when you go home at night.
By the same token, your professional and personal growth tracks are closely intertwined – so how exactly does your personal growth influence professional growth?
Improve your physical health, and your patients’
Congratulations! You’ve finally started on your Couch-to-5K goal! While the benefits to your personal life from this goal are obvious, you can also derive important benefits in your professional life.
The most obvious benefit is that working on any fitness goal provides you a way to connect with your patients who are striving toward the same goal. This can provide opportunities to share wellness tips, such as healthy recipes and stretching routines, as well as set up friendly challenges to keep both you and your patients working toward shared fitness goals. Obviously, the more you are able to connect with your patients, the more you can grow your practice.
Expressing your creativity
Let’s say that one of your personal goals is to focus on your creativity and art, such as through painting or photography. How can you tie this personal growth into your professional growth?
Becoming more creative often involves looking at things from a fresh perspective. A photograph of a flower can look completely different if you zoom in on the details or change the color filter to black and white. Bringing that imagination and fresh perspective into your practice allows you to tackle problems in ways you may not have previously considered. It may also help you discover new approaches to diagnosing and treating your patients.
Sometimes, all it takes is just the willingness to look at the same thing in a different way.
Tools to connect with your inner calm
It seems as though the pace of life just keeps getting faster and faster, with no sign that it will ever slow down. We now live in a world with 24/7 news cycles, in which modern technology can do everything from delivering a pizza to operating a robotic rover on another planet.
With all of this hustle and bustle, it is only natural that you should feel worried that you just can’t keep up with everything you feel you must accomplish.
Setting a personal improvement goal for a meditation or yoga practice is an excellent way to give yourself space to breathe, relax, and focus inward. Even a simple mindfulness practice can do wonders to lower your stress levels, blood pressure, and anxiety. The sense of calm and focus that you derive from your personal practice of mindfulness will allow you to approach your work in the same way. You may even consider finding time during your workday to do a quick 10-minute meditation session to keep you focused and on track. In many ways, your personal growth often determines your professional growth.
The more you improve your physical, creative, and spiritual self, the more you will see those aspects reflected in your professional growth.
