03/11/2025
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬…
Part of me doesn’t want to admit this, but there was a time when I didn’t actually want to be a chiropractor anymore.
It wasn’t burnout, and it wasn’t because things were going badly - in fact, by every external metric things were going really well.
My diary was full, patients were getting good results, I’d spent years honing my clinical skills and patient management strategies so that things were really flowing smoothly.
On paper, I’d made it…
But somewhere around the five-year mark, I realised something had changed.
It wasn’t dramatic, just this quiet, creeping feeling that I was going through the motions.
I’d still show up, give my best, do everything I knew worked… but it started to feel mechanical., almost clinical (in the cold sense).
The moment I realised something was really off came, just after a Report of Findings.
I’d explained my plan, delivered some treatment, and they’d left to book their next few visits.
I was sitting at my desk, and happened to glance at my old “Road to Recovery” poster - the one that (back then) I’d used in every RoF to explain the treatment plan.
The RoF itself went well, it all seemed to make sense, and the patient had left grateful and enthusiastic to start care.
But sitting there, I just remember thinking to myself:
“Well, they’ll either get it or they won’t… oh well”
It hit me that although I hoped they did, for some reason I wasn’t especially bothered about it.
There was this sense of “if not, there’s always the next patient..”
And although I did want to help them, at the emotional level I wasn’t really connected - I wasn’t present, I was performing.
It didn’t feel huge at the time, but for the rest of that week I couldn’t shake the feeling.
Eventually one night, I remember sitting at the dining table with Cass, hearing myself say “I’m not sure I want to keep doing this for the rest of my life.”
It shocked us both, because I’d never felt that way before.
I grew up around chiropractic - for as long as I can remember, it’s what I dreamed of doing.
I really loved it.
But at that moment, it felt like the spark had gone out.
So I did what a lot of us do when something feels off - I went looking for answers.
I tried a couple of coaching programmes that promised to help me rediscover my passion.
They talked a big game about mindset and motivation- and to be fair, they did help me make a few superficial changes.
But underneath it all, they were really just selling the same old systems with a shiny new wrapper - new language, same pitch.
It all felt like compliance and transactional relationships, dressed up as inspiration.
But rather than give up, I started looking further afield - to psychology, neuroscience, and behaviour change - and began to discover new possibilities…
… I realised the problem wasn’t chiropractic, and it wasn’t my patients.
Deep down, the problem was that I’d become disconnected from the why behind what I did, and from the way I communicated it.
Instead of it being about truly connecting with patients, and helping them on their terms, somewhere along the line it had become about educating them on my terms, and persuading them to buy into me.
Realising this was like turning on a light - the problem became crystal clear, and I started to realise how to get out of this funk.
And fortunately, it didn't require changing my technique or reinventing my practice - on the surface, you might have not even noticed much change.
But underneath it all, the way I was showing up had fundamentally transformed.
Deep down, it was about reconnecting with the humanity that made my career meaningful in the first place.
That’s when I started developing what eventually became 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵.
And once I began practising that way - with better connection, clearer and cleaner communication, and genuine curiosity again - things got so much better.
I felt the passion and drive that had been missing for so long, and as cliche as it might sound - I fell back in love with practice.
Consults felt lighter… patients felt more engaged… and for the first time in my career, Report of Findings visits became genuinely fun!
And the feedback I’ve had from so many colleagues since has been almost identical.
Many of them were where I was - experienced, competent, but quietly running on autopilot - and they all tell me the same thing: they’ve rediscovered the joy in their work.
One of the most consistent pieces of feedback from experienced practitioners is this:
“𝘐 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 !”
And when you think about it, that kind of says everything.
Even if you've been in practice for years, and know you deliver great care… I don’t know many DC’s who would say that part is exactly a highlight of their day.
But it can be - because that moment, where empathy, expertise, and connection meet - is the beating heart of truly patient-centred, fulfilling practice.
When that feels alive, everything else does too.
So if any of this resonates - if you’re doing well, but quietly wondering whether you’ve lost a bit of the spark, I want you to know this:
You’re not alone, and there’s nothing wrong with you.
That feeling isn’t a failure; it’s just your signal that you’re ready to practise in a deeper, more connected way.
That’s exactly what we work on inside 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵.
It’s where you’ll learn how to reconnect with both your patients and your 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 - in a way that makes practice feel enjoyable again, not mechanical or transactional.
And thanks to the addition of Digital Chris, you can now rehearse, reflect, and refine how you communicate, any time you like.
It’s like having me there in the room, helping you rediscover your curiosity in real time.
If that sounds like what you’ve been missing, this is your chance to jump in.
I don’t open enrolment often, and I don’t yet know at what point in 2026 I’ll be opening it again - so if you’ve been on the fence, take this as your nudge.
Because at the end of the day, practice should be fun.
And if it’s not, that’s your cue to change something.
Join our tribe of like-minded, patient-first practitioners, and rediscover the reason you became a chiropractor in the first place.
The link is in the comments.
𝐏.𝐒. If you’ve ever caught yourself halfway through a report of findings and felt like you were just going through the motions - I’ve been there.
So have hundreds of others who’ve since found their spark again.
If there’s one thing every member has told me at some point, it’s that they wish they’d found this sooner.
Because when you start practicing in this way, you wonder how you ever managed before.
And if you’re going to spend the next couple of decades doing something, it deserves to be something that energises you… not something that quietly drains you.
P.P.S. I’ve just finished recording a short-but-mighty free training video that I’ll be sharing with you on Wednesday - keep an eye out for that one, it’s pretty mindblowing!