Start Where You Are
“Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small.
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”
~ Lao Tzu
Everyone is coming into this program with different goals and experiences, in different stages of life and career.
Some of you are seasoned practitioners who want to work with clients in a different way.
Some of you are just entering into your professional careers, or are building a second career.
Some of you are just testing the waters and are not entirely sure if private practice is for you.
Some of you are chomping at the bit to grow your existing practices.
You get the picture.
No two journeys are the same and you are exactly where you’re meant to be. Don’t ever feel like you “should” be further along, or “should” have something figured out. This is a process.
My hope is that you savour the experience of building a practice that truly reflects who you are, just as much as you will enjoy the outcome of all your hard work. As we begin this journey, I want you to ask yourself a question:
Are you ready for change?
I mean really, really ready? Ready to do things differently than you have in the past? In the words of someone smart “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got” Building a business or taking one to a new level is going to require you to do things differently. Change your mindset and change your habits.
It all starts here.
I often use Prochaska’s Transtheoretical Model of Behavioural Change when working with clients who are about to take a big leap, and it may be helpful for us to take a look here as well.
Because this is a big step!
Building your practice is no small feat, and it’s important to be honest with yourself around where you are today.
Transtheoretical Model of Behavioural Change
Pre-contemplation
(not even on the radar)
Contemplation
(Exploring options)
Preparation
(Gather information and determine the plan)
Action
(Let’s do this!)
Maintenance
(Maintain the change)
Relapse
(Habits have slipped, time to re-focus)
Just like you explain to your clients, change is so much more that just wanting it. It’s a process that involves balancing intention, with planning and action.
Wanting a private practice doesn’t get you a private practice.
It’s easy to get discouraged and stuck if you haven’t laid the proper foundation, or try to skip to the end without doing the prep work. This week is all about determining where you are today, discovering what you have available, what you need to put in place, and set you up for success.
In this program you will most likely fall into one of the following three stages: Contemplation, Preparation and Action.
If you find yourself in Contemplation, you may go through this program in information gathering mode. You might not act on all the suggestions, but you will be taking it all in to determine what to do next. Perfect! Soak it all in.
If you find yourself in Preparation, you will probably be doing a lot of processing and exploring. Most of your work will be internal as you uncover what you really want to create. You may struggle to implement some of the action tasks because you haven’t firmly decided the direction you are heading in. Wonderful! Take your time.
If you find yourself in Action, you will be taking tangible steps to build or expand your practice. Awesome! Keep it up.
No matter where you are today or at the end of this program – you’re right where you need to be!
I am here to support you every step of the way.