Does This Apply To You? Are You Creative Enough?

A local car wash ran a loyalty program

For every car wash you paid for, you got one stamp on your card.
If you completed eight washes, you got one free wash.

Another set of customers also joined that very same loyalty program.

But they didn't have eight blocks to fill on their card. They had ten
blocks to fill. But there was a difference. The second set of customers
had two stamps already filled for them in advance.

You see what's happening, right?

You do right?

If not, please come back when you do.

Both sets of customers have to fill in the exact same number of
stamps to get the free car wash--namely eight washes. So which group
did better?

Think hard and then... take a guess.

Because unless you know, it's a guess.

Yup, the second group.

In fact 34% of the second group got to their free car wash vs.
just 19% of the first group.

So hopefully you're asking yourself, "why did this happen?"

It's called momentum

And it's a feeling you know exceedingly well. If you have to start
a project, you dilly and you dally. You find every reason to avoid
the project, because starting up is so hard. But once you've got
about 20% of the project going, you feel the wind in your sails and
you move groggily ahead, but at least you're moving.

And this is what resistance hates the most.

It hates momentum, because momentum disregards the temptation to
get easily distracted; it avoids those fervent pleas to just head
to the cafe or do something that's not project-related.

This works with customers and it works with patients. I mean think about
the dynamics.

You get a patient feeling at least 20% better and all of a sudden they
have that magical momentum.

Which is why you need to create momentum both for yourself and your
patients.

Let's start with your Patient. Let's say you want them to do
something really big and momentous.

Where do you start?

You start with the tiny bits.

So tiny in fact, that they're almost impossible to goof up.
(You need to be making notes on this, because this will change
how you look at your patient snd your practice. I don't care if
you're a real estate person, or an antique dealer, this still
applies.)

So let's take an example.

At a Mastermind, we want to create a safe zone as quickly as possible.
But this is difficult if everyone just shows up on the day of the event
itself. Everything is new; everything is different and hence quite
intimidating.

You don't know what to expect.

So we have a meeting and greet session the day before.

What do they have to do for the meet and greet?

Why, nothing other than show up.

That's easy, huh?

So they show up. And they don't show up in their regal outfits.
Everyone's casually dressed. There are no speeches, no notes, no
seats to find, nothing to do but show up.

And when they've shown up, we take them to the room and show them
the room. They get a chance to see where they're sitting. They see
the notes on their desks. And then we have a question session. If
there are any questions, they can get it out of the way. Once
they're done, we suggest they go to dinner together.

So what just happened there?

20% of the safe zone was created BEFORE the workshop began. When
you watch the participants walk in the next day, they're not
frozen. They're laughing, they're joking and they're having a great
time. There's no fear and intimidation. They see some familiar faces
and they know people. They're relaxed. And hence the momentum
towards creating a safe zone is well on its way.

And no matter whether you're in an office setting, or whatever, you can
knock out the resistance simply by getting stamps on their card.

Once the patient gets started, they continue to move along more
efficiently than if they started from zero.

But how do you use this concept for your own goals?

Weight Loss

Let's say you want to lose weight. What do you do? You need to get
20% on your card, right? Well, don't start with this big vigorous
program of losing 50 pounds in weight. Just focus on one thing you are
guaranteed to achieve. E.g. No munching sweets after lunch or
dinner. (One step at a time. Small steps if you will.)

Now this isn't about eating less, or exercising more or doing Zumba
steps. It's just a little something that is almost like cheating.
But it gets the momentum in place. A week of this simple activity
and you're well on your way to getting 20% on your card.

If you're doing chiropractic, give them small steps. You can't save
their lives in one visit. You can't make a huge change in one visit.

But isn't this kinda sneaky, almost like fooling your brain?

Sure it is. But why do you care? You want to get the job done,
don't you? So go ahead and fool their brain, if that's what it
takes. And help your patients fool their brain. If you're running
into patients that won't show up, won't do their assignments at
home, don't implement things on time--then look for the
blockage.

The blockage lies in them having to fill ten stamps on their card,
instead of eight. Are you getting the picture.

How can you fill two stamps in advance?

How can you get the momentum going?

Figure that out, and more patients will get to the finish line
faster than ever before. And ironically, so will you!

Okay Doc, that's it for today.

I think you have plenty to think about now.

I've given you a 20% head start.

Now run with it.

Dr. Carney