My Biggest Mistake in Practice
My biggest mistake in practice –
Several years ago, I had a patient with posterior hip pain who’d seen as many therapists. I was not just overconfident in telling her that I could help her achieve her goals, but I also wasn’t very honest in hindsight. Each session I was using positive language that she’d be feeling much better afterwards, we just need to keep trying. I also didn’t give her any idea of an ongoing treatment plan or prognosis. I’d hoped that she was finding it beneficial and found the idea to ask for her feedback and her expectations to guide the sessions too daunting as time went on.
At the time, her feedback would most likely have directed me toward looking into referral to another professional better suited for her needs given the lack of understanding I had for her presentation.
You might relate with the example of another patient who I saw episodically that needed to reschedule for family and travel commitments and didn’t make another appointment. I had forgotten to make a call in the first few days after his plans to check in with him. After a few weeks, the time between our last conversation made the idea of that follow up seem like it was a cold call tactic to get money from him, rather than the genuine care and enquiry that it was to see how his painful episode was progressing.
Both examples share the mistake that I’d say we’ve all faced at some point in clinical practice, and life more generally – and that is being unsure when to act, waiting for the right time or opportunity to suddenly appear to us before taking action.
I’m guessing there aren’t many arborists reading, but the following phrase still fits quite well –
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second-best time is now.
After more experience and time to reflect on these scenarios, it became clear that the barriers that I thought were stopping me from doing the right thing, really weren’t as big of an obstacle as I thought them to be. I could have asked my patient for her feedback on our sessions and addressed concerns and made the adjustments needed. I could have called my second patient and prefaced that I just wanted to check in on how he was feeling and let him steer the conversation from there. Both are more likely outcomes and much more positive than the scenarios I pictured.
As the Roman philosopher, Seneca, wrote –
…we suffer more in our imagination than in reality.
I was trying to think what the other person would be thinking. That’s a convoluted idea given that we are two different individuals with our own perspectives. This can be a spiral of guessing other’s reactions instead of the quicker, much simpler method of asking someone.
Maybe you can relate to the issue of inaction through a different example. I was working at a clinic in a self-employed capacity for the first time. I had to work around the available hours of other staff members which changed from week to week. I had to use their personal branding entirely, and I also didn’t have access to the clinic when I needed to start early or stay late. I had none of the benefits of being either self-employed, or on a contract but most of the negatives for both!
It took me almost four months to decide to have the conversation with the practice manager that I thought we’d both be better off if I found something that better suited my needs.
When I’ve spent time reflecting more recently and I can identify these moments that I think of some catastrophic outcome, I’ve made the effort to act sooner. This can be tough if you feel like a perfectionist or want to have a contingency plan built into every scenario. From personal experience though, I can say that it has only given me less stress, and more time to focus on other tasks which are often more meaningful.
One thing that had helped me change my perspective is a simple, short quote from a mentor –
Confidence is a verb.
Apologies to any linguists reading, I know it is a noun.
Like any other verb – running, drawing, reading… you can get better at these things with practice. We can’t expect to be exceptional or even comfortable to begin with, but over time we build competency through repetition. Becoming comfortable with confidently taking action is what makes it easier to act sooner rather than later, breaking down the barriers of ruminating negative scenarios.
The last thing I want is for someone to make a brash decision when underprepared. But this consistent issue of imagined suffering forces us to avoid action when we are more than capable to do so. Consider what you could do right now to prepare and implement the change you want to see, rather than only what might go wrong.
So, I challenge you to do the thing that you’ve been suffering from in your imagination – post a video to social media without retaking because of a slip-up for the 19th time. Ask your patient for their feedback, your mentor on how you’re progressing, and find that progress is much more common than the imagined suffering we expect to face.
