Do you have one of these? If not, get one!

You Really Need ONE!

"One what?" you're asking.

Well let me tell you,

There is an old saying that a “duck” cannot teach a chicken how to become a chicken. A duck is designed to swim and to float in water, while a “chicken” is made to live on land. It’s much better for ducks to teach their ducklings how to be ducks and leave the instruction of being a chick to chickens. I know that sounds silly, but I am going somewhere with this thought if you will bear with me for just a few moments.

One of the most important things that an individual can have in their life is ‘personal guidance’. None of us, by ourselves, is an expert on how we want to live life.

I'm not and I'll bet you're not.

We not only need help in the process of growing up, (man that was a long time ago for me) but we need help (mentoring), once we have grown up and become an adult and a business person as well.

That's why I'm doing these blogs.

To help mentor you.

I don’t know about you, but when I first opened my practice, I didn’t know as much as I do now. That’s called experience.

I believe that one of the most valuable experiences I have had in my life is being mentored by someone who I modeled for the kind of life and practice I wanted to possess.

Since I have never been older than I am right now, I have needed coaches who are a little further down the road of life and practice than I am, to give me some guidance.

Luckily, I found people who were where I want to be when I get to their stage in life. I’m talking about people - who can be your role model, mentor, and coach.

I've also learned something else. You can't have enough of these people. Jesus was 12 peoples mentor. He more or less knew everything they ever needed to know. Can you imagine what it would have been like talking to him. Wow, that would have been an eye opening experience.

In our culture, women typically have the majority of the child-rearing responsibility. I know this isn't true 100% of the time, but in many cases it is.

I, myself, had a wonderful mother and will always appreciate all she meant to me and taught me in my lifetime. She loved me unconditionally and cared for me like I was her only son, even though there were three others.

However, I don't believe a woman can teach a little boy how to become a man.

Neither do I think a man can teach a little girl how to become a woman. This is not a process that happens over night.

It takes time and a lot of patience, love and commitment.

Now, don't get me wrong - I believe a woman can teach a boy a lot about life and that a man can teach his daughter many things. I have one son of my own and I think I can participate in teaching him lessons about life. I have a little secret to getting the best mentoring on the planet and it's just something you read every night or day if you want the best possible knowledge ever.

If more people read this, they'd be smarter, and a lot healthier. And they're be less violence in the world.

Mentoring is not only true in family life, but it is true in the business world as well. Today we advocate going to college to earn a degree and then getting a “JOB” in that field. And, while that process may be a good thing, how many doctors do you know who have graduated from Chiropractic College and are not even working in our field or using the information they spent so much time learning? How many people study to be accountants, or lawyers and never work in their chosen fields?

A ton of people.

So the question is, 'why'?

This is one of the largest complaints with our educational system.

What is at the heart of this issue?

I believe it is the fact that a person learns a lot of general information in school, but has not had someone personally mentor them, to give them the practical skill set that they can use in their practice everyday.

Think about that.

For hundreds of years, people learned a trade through an apprenticeship model.

Those who wanted to learn a trade found someone who already knew how to perform that task and studied with them for several years until they had learned all of the necessary skills.

If a person wanted to learn how to become a blacksmith, he got a job at the local blacksmith shop and received on-the-job training.

If a woman wanted to learn to be a seamstress or clothing designer, a person who was already skilled in that craft would be found and the young woman would be tutored until she was skilled as well.

That model worked successfully for many, many years. The reason it was so successful is because someone modeled the role of the job and mentored another person in the process as they learned the skill for themselves.

If you have any years under your belt, you can probably look back and see how you could have perhaps saved a lot of time, effort and energy if you had only had someone (a coach or mentor) give you some guidance early in your career.

I know I could have made hundreds of thousands of dollars MORE, if I would have only picked a mentor differently and had someone to talk to. It works.

It is unfortunate that so many doctors and business people spend most of their life trying to find what they are good at or how to perform certain skills alone, without the help of someone older and wiser and more skilled than they are.

Has anyone ever directed you away from doing something you thought you wanted to do but they had personal experience you did not possess?

That can be a valuable experience saving you years of wasted time, money and heartache.

It can be a very positive experience, if you can just find someone who is already doing what you think you would like to do.

Finding a mentor and asking them for guidance and help is wisdom at its best!

It works!

Hope you're having a great and wonderful day. Enjoy them. As you age, they get shorter and shorter. I know. I'm experiencing those now....

All the best to you.

Sincerely,

Dr. Carney