Career Advice Article Archives

Check out all my career advice articles. There’s something for everyone, from students, to new grads, to the more experienced.  Explore the archives below or click the button to subscribe and never miss another post.

A 3-Step Plan to Deal with Burnout as a Physical Therapist

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Today’s post is a guest post from Jenna Gourlay and Phil Plisky from Professional Rebellion.  We recently featured a podcast episode where we discussed how to avoid burnout as a physical therapist.  We talked about some of our strategies for avoiding, overcoming, and propelling yourself forward.  After releasing that, Jenna and Phil reached out to let me know they started a website to help physical therapists deal with burnout.  Here’s some great tips below, but also check out their website.

 

I could feel myself getting madder and madder. Not like an annoyed mad where you just need to step away for a minute, mad like I had to bite down to stop myself from saying anything I’d regret.

He just didn’t get it.

And even though he didn’t get it, he was still trying to give me advice.

I’m sitting there telling him how burnt out I am and how much I hate Physical Therapy and he’s telling me I need to change my caseload and change my attitude.

Really? Change my attitude, like I just chose this one? You think I want to be burnt out?

This is exactly what I wanted (eye roll)… to spend a ridiculous amount of time and money on a career I can’t stand.

No, I legitimately feel like I need to leave my career in PT. I cannot listen to one more patient tell me that he has an eleven out of ten pain and a high pain tolerance after arriving ten minutes late. I can’t do it.

I can’t muster the energy to try and inspire unmotivated patients. I can’t be satisfied with the average PT salary, the average PT schedule, or the average PT caseload.

He doesn’t understand… He isn’t the average and he doesn’t get what it is like to be stuck and have no idea how to move forward. He doesn’t understand the feeling of not having control over your day. Of not being able to figure out a time to go to the dentist, let alone get a haircut. He doesn’t have the loans that, regardless of how many payments are made, seem to gain interest as quickly as its paid.

He experiences none of this… but he’s telling me to own my day. Well, my day sucks and I don’t want to own it…

 

How to Deal with Burnout as a Physical Therapist

This was years ago now, but the memory of the feeling hasn’t left. I remember how frustrated, mad, and hopeless I felt. I remember thinking that everyone giving advice was doing so from their ivory tower and therefore just didn’t understand.

But, here’s my mistake: The people I was talking to were in a much different position than I was. They had a much better day than I did and they loved PT in a way I couldn’t fathom. BUT, they COULD relate and their advice was actually genuine, not accusatory.

They were speaking from already having experienced what I was experiencing.

Burnout isn’t your fault, but getting past it has to become your mission.

I hate to say it, but eventually you have to accept the problem of burnout as your own. I know, I know, I’m doing the exact thing that made me so angry. But, the reason everyone tells you what to do or how to beat it is because they recognize that no one is going to rescue you.

 

3 Step Plan to Overcome Physical Therapy Burnout

I’ve seen all the videos of what is wrong in healthcare and why its causing burnout. I agree, but I think we are far from an entire overhaul of the healthcare system to fix the problem of burnout.

The only way to fix our situation is to change it ourselves with the support of others.

Want to know what I did? Here’s my 3 step plan that I used that may also help you.

 

Step One: Find Your Ideal

It has been said that people are happiest when they are learning and growing. Have you been working toward a new set of skills or knowledge? And if you have, have you been intentional about it?

If not, this can be a big source of burnout.

Take a look a the person who has your ideal career. What do you need to study to set yourself up for the opportunities you are looking for?

Make a list of what you need to get you where you want to go. Do you need better manual skills, a higher level evaluation approach, public speaking ability, or teaching experience? Once you know what you need, start finding the courses, books, or opportunities you need to get yourself there. This is your personalized growth plan and it will act as your road map.

  • Look at where you are and where you ultimately want to be
  • List the skills you’ll need, the people you may need to be involved with, and/or the information you need to learn

 

Step Two: Don’t Just Plan, Go Do It

The thing about burnout is that you get stuck in this never ending cycle. You’re burnt out so you feel exhausted, and then you feel exhausted so you don’t have the energy to change anything about being burnt out.

When this goes on long enough, it is human nature to feel like we need some grandiose plan. We start planning and planning and planning then we get tired or lose momentum by the time it comes to acting.

Treat beating burnout like row of dominos. Do one thing and let a chain reaction occur where you continue to progress.

  • Choose ONE action and do it NOW
  • Choose a SECOND action and SCHEDULE when you will do it

 

Step Three: Find Your Team

Burnout is not something to address alone. The power of having good people around you is unparalleled when it comes to changing your environment. People to challenge you, support you and hold you accountable can be the difference between being stuck and propelling forward.

Be intentional about the team that you create around you.

Some may already have this available at work while others may need to be more creative in joining a tribe, like Mike’s Inner Circle.

A group to support and guide you should never be underestimated.

  • Look for others in positions or areas you wish to grow into and start to “seek what they sought.” Take courses, read articles, join discussions.
  • Find a group to hold you accountable. This is best when it is made up of individuals also aiming to level up and progress.
  • Establish a mentor to help guide you through the process. No one said it was easy and no one has all the answers. The best thing we can do is find someone to help and provide perspective along the way.

 

Ready to End Your Physical Therapy Burnout?

Burnout is not the end, burnout is the beginning.

What comes after it is what will ultimately define you. It can be the first step in going from average to amazing. Do you have negative and frustrating feelings? Burnout is not your greatest setback, it’s the secret weapon to your next success; go get something amazing.

Ready to end your physical therapy burnout?

Great. The first step is getting started!

Looking for more resources to jumpstart your career, check out some of the free resources at the Professional Rebellion:

 

About the Authors

Jenna Gourlay, PT, DPT, SCS, is the co-founder of the Professional Rebellion, a platform where people believe their ideal career is possible come together.  She is currently working toward her ideal career and wants as many people as possible to join her on the journey.  She is an adjunct professor at the University of Evansville, works with the women’s volleyball and basketball teams, and mentors within the sports residency program of ProRehab and University of Evansville. She believes that the top is not the loneliest and that we climb best together.

Phil Plisky, PT, DSc, OCS, ATC, CSCS, is the co-founder of the Professional Rebellion, where he guides and mentors professionals on the path to their ideal careers.  His mission is to advance the profession by inspiring those with the power to change it.  He does this as a researcher, Associate Professor at the University of Evansville, Director of the Sports Residency program, co-developer in Functional Movement Systems, and professional sports consultant.

 

Do You Want to Learn More About Optimizing Movement and Enhancing Performance? 

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I’m really excited to be launching my brand new course for rehabilitation and fitness professionals looking to help people restore, optimize, and enhance performance.   It’s my Introduction to Performance Therapy Training course.

And you know what the best part is???

It’s absolutely FREE!

Check out the information and video below, and click the link below to enroll today!

 

Introduction to Performance Therapy and Training

If you’re anything like me, I’m sure you’d love to work with more highly motivated people, and even athletes, that want to focus on improving their performance.

But I remember not really feeling prepared for this or knowing how to get started, I really felt overwhelmed. We all learned the basics, but no one really teaches you how to optimize movement and enhance performance.

Over these years, I’ve learned a ton. Good and bad! But everything I have learned has shaped what I do, and it took some time and experience to realize this.

There so much info out there, but people tell me all the time they’re still confused and that they feel like they just start treatments and training programs and aren’t even confident that they choosing the right ones!

Check out this video for more of what I mean:

 

Enroll in My Course for FREE

I want to help.  When we started our facility at Champion PT and Performance, one of our biggest goals was to develop a simple system for our physical therapists and strength coaches to help people move and perform better.

My Introduction to Performance Therapy and Training program will teach you our 4-step system at Champion to assure you have everything you need to start helping people move and perform better.

Introduction to Performance Therapy and Training

Best of all, it’s absolutely free to anyone that signs up for my Newsletter. You’ll get all my best articles straight to your email, and immediate free access to the course.

Thank so much, hope you enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How To Best Collaborate Between Physical Therapy And Fitness

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The latest Inner Circle webinar recording on How To Best Collaborate Between Physical Therapy And Fitness is now available.

 

How To Best Collaborate Between Physical Therapy And Fitness

This month’s Inner Circle webinar is on How To Best Collaborate Between Physical Therapy And Fitness.  In this presentation, the strength coach and physical therapy staff at Champion PT and Performance team up to discuss better ways to communicate and collaborate between professions

This presentation will cover:

  • Why it’s so important to develop relationships between professions
  • How to find people to collaborate with that share your core values
  • How and why you should stay within “your box” and create a team of people to collaborate with
  • How to best communicate between professions

To access this webinar:

 

The Difference Between an Expert and a Beginner

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A couple of weeks ago, I made an Instagram post of a graph that I found showing the difference between a expert and a beginner.  BTW, if you aren’t, you should be following me on Instagram, I have a ton of content up there.  That post has created a lot of buzz and a ridiculous amount of likes, comments, and shares in social media.  I absolutely loved the message and want to share this with everyone.

the difference between an expert and beginners

I recently came across this graph and was really floored with how accurately it depicted our evolution of knowledge and expertise. This has become more and more relevant with social media allowing everyone to have an opinion and to self proclaim expertise. ⠀

When we first start out, we have a period where we rapidly progress from feeling like we know nothing to feel like we know everything.  Maybe it’s false self confidence or maybe it is just ego, but it’s pretty common.  You then often proclaim expertise.  Some people get stuck here.  Others soon realize that what they thought was true, may not be true!  The humble people amongst us will progress and start to realize there is so much to learn!  Congrats, you made it.

At Champion, we always discuss this concept with our physical therapy students and strength and conditioning interns. They all want to start a website and social media branding, and often try to do it by pretending they are experts.  Essentially, they are using the “fake it ’til you make it” mentality.  They’ll learn something and then the next day talk about it on social media as if they were now experts on the topic.

I always advise our students that anyone with experience will see this lack of authenticity and it will ultimately end up hurting their brand in the long run.

Trust me, when I see some posts on Instagram I shake my head.

Often times it’s proclaiming something that with a little more experience, they would realize maybe isn’t the best idea. And if you are too vocal about your stance, you’ll end up defending your position in the future instead of keeping an open mind and adapting as you learn and experience more. ⠀

What can you do about it?

Rather that self proclaim expertise, embrace the fact that you are learning and share your journey. That will help you grow more personally, and all of us on social media will grow with you.⠀The key to becoming an expert has less to do with how much you know and more to do with realizing how much more there is to learn.

 

How to Best Integrate Evidence Based Practice

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Over the last couple of decades, our professions have made great strides towards moving towards evidence-based practice.  As our understanding of the body and principles behind our professions expand, it is imperative we seek out evidence behind our exercises and manual therapy techniques so that we provide the best services as fast and safe as possible.

However, I am seeing a trend too far along the curve towards evidence-based practice that I am not sure is good or bad.  I feel like I have heard so many people arguing against a technique just because it has lack of evidence suggesting efficacy.

We have created this “paralysis-by-evidence” situation where some people think you can’t do anything unless it has strong evidence suggesting it is effective.  This approach is challenging and ultimately unrealistic.

 

What is Evidence-Based Practice?

I have felt many times on social media that some people have forgotten the three components to evidence-based practice:

  1. Best available evidence
  2. Clinicians experience, knowledge, and skills
  3. The patient’s wants and needs

As you can see, “best available evidence” is only one component of evidence-based practice.

Far too many times, especially in the physical therapy world, we are forcing “evidence-based physical therapy” on our patients based solely on best available evidence, instead of providing them with the service they originally came to see you for, which is to simple to “feel better.”   I am not talking about a situation with a pharmaceutical effect and potential serious adverse reactions, I am talking more about some of our exercises and manual therapy techniques that will at best make people feel better and at worse do nothing.

Now before you begin your criticisms, please continue to read the rest of this article.  You should at all times base your practice on evidence.

However, what do you do when there is lack of evidence?

 

The Evidence-Based Practice Light System

When I teach students and young clinicians how to begin integrating evidence based practice, I always begin discussing what I call the evidence-based practice light system.  Using this system, it becomes clear very quickly what techniques you should absolutely perform and not perform.

evidence based practice light system mike reinold

  • Red Light = Stop.  If there is strong evidence by quality randomized controlled trials suggesting a safety concern or lack of efficacy, then you should find an alternative approach that may be more advantageous.
  • Yellow Light = Proceed, but with caution.  When there is conflicting information, or there aren’t enough quality studies examining the effect you are assessing, then you must proceed with caution.  In this scenario, perhaps there are some low quality studies (like a case study or publication without strong methodology) that show efficacy, or maybe even some conflicting results in the literature without an overwhelming trend towards efficacy or lack of efficacy.
  • Green Light = Go.  If there is strong evidence by quality randomized controlled trials suggesting efficacy, then you can comfortable use this approach with evidence-based justification.

There are many great resources to search the available evidence on a technique in question, including published clinical practice guidelines, the APTA’s evidence based practice website, and performing your own literature review on PubMed.

 

How to Integrate Evidence Based Practice

Unfortunately, where do you think the majority of our techniques, assessments, exercises and other approaches fall into the evidence-based light system?

Yellow.

It is very hard to create a well controlled study assessing everything we do.  I often see issues with groupings of people based on things like “shoulder pain” or “patellofemoral pain.”  How do you define those?  They are so broad there is no doubt that trying to assess efficacy of an intervention is going to be challenging.  Or how about the flip side of that?  The study that looks at “massage” for a certain pathology.  How do you define “massage?”  Would I do it different than you?

So a large amount of time we are going to have a lack of evidence, or conflicting evidence, suggesting an effect or lack of effect. In this scenario, you have to make the judgment yourself based on sound theoretical principles and experience.

That’s key.  Sound theoretical principles and your experience.

If you do not have enough experience yourself, I am OK with you relying on the experience of an expert clinician.  Just realize that the number of social media followers does not make you an expert, experience does.  However, you should never be comfortable doing anything just because someone else told you that it was effective in THEIR experience.  You should continue to carefully scrutinize the technique in your hands based on YOUR experience.

As new research is conducted and evidence becomes available, you will need to continually refine your techniques based on our current understanding of the evidence.

Base the foundation of what you do on green light principles.  But in the meantime, don’t feel that everything needs to fall within the green light designation.   Consider including techniques that fall within the yellow light designation if based on sound theoretical principles and your experience has shown positive outcomes.

 

 

 

Evidence Based Practice Light System – Photo by Kathera

13 Lessons I Learned from Dr. James Andrews

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One of the most influential people in my career has no doubt been Dr. James Andrews.

Many know Dr. Andrews as one of the most prolific and acclaimed orthopedic surgeons of our generation. Heck, he’s been named the Most Influential Man in Sports, which is pretty impressive for someone on the medical side of sports.

But I’m pretty fortunate to know Dr. Andrews as a friend and mentor, someone that has shaped my clinical skills, my work ethic, and my entire career.

I spent nearly 10 years working directly with Dr. Andrews, from a research assistant at ASMI to a PT clinical student to a Sports Physical Therapy Fellow, and finally to a member of his sports medicine team in Birmingham. I’m also fortunate to continue to conduct research, speak at conferences, and collaborate on patient care with Dr. Andrews.

While I’ve learned countless lessons from Dr. Andrews, I spent the day with him recently at the APTA Combined Sections Meeting where we both spoke together in an education session, and later that evening Dr. Andrews was honored with the Sports Section’s most prestigious award.

4 Great Quotes from Dr. James Andrews

During his presentation in our educational session, he showed one slide towards the end with four amazing quotes that I just had to share.

I sat back, listened to Dr. Andrews discuss each of these and thought to myself, wow, the majority of people on social media right now are breaking each of these rules daily.

If you are still talking about what you did yesterday, you are not really doing much today

Many of you know that one of the key principles of my career is never to stop learning. When I look at this first quote, I think of all the people on social media that are busy defending their opinions rather than keeping an open mind and growing. This creates a really poor learning environment when you do this, as you are constantly trying to defend your position, rather than growing and evolving your position as new evidence and experience emerge.

I don’t ever want to be the maker of the big statement, it may come back to haunt you

It’s so easy now to get online, grow a following, and become an influencer. It’s super common now to see people with limited experience making BIG statements because they get caught up in a recent trend, worse, internet marketing.

You don’t want to say something you are going to regret in 5 years. Trust me, my opinions continue to evolve as I learn and grow. I know that everything I teach now will likely be at least a little different in the future.

That’s called growth. Remember when we thought the earth was flat?

Don’t make the big statement. You’re either going to change your mind in the future or worse, spend your efforts defending your big statement instead of evolving.

In medicine, there’s no such thing as always and never

Just another great example of big statements. I’ve worked with many people in my career that speak with “always” and “never.” Nothing is definitive, especially in medicine.

More importantly, if you think this way, you are again sabotaging your ability to grow.

I’m still listening and learning

Probably the most impactful statement of the presentation in my mind, spurring me to post this on Instagram:

Dr. James Andrews, the most renowned orthopedic surgeon in sports medicine, a man that has been practicing sports medicine for almost 50 years, is still listening and learning at this point in his career and life.

Yet how many people do you see on social media that aren’t listening or learning?

If there’s one thing you can take from this article, keep listening and learning.

Dr. James Andrews’ 9 Keys to Patient Care

Later that evening, Kevin Wilk had the honor of introducing Dr. Andrews during the awards ceremony. As part of Kevin’s presentation, he shared Dr. Andrews’ Patient Philosophy.

These 9 keys to patient care are something Dr. Andrews has followed his entire career. To this day, he continues to carry these with him on a little card in his wallet.

1. Listen to the Patient
2. One Must Always be Able to “Read the Patient”
3. The Patient is Always Right

The first keys are all related to your interactions with the patient. Communication and interpersonal skills are just as important as clinical skills in medicine. People want to be heard and are coming to us to help them.

One common mistake I see in young clinicians make is the desire to impress the patient with their knowledge. To truly help people, you need to connect with them first. As the phrase goes, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

It’s really important that you focus on these people skills just as much as your clinical skills.

4. Make the Patient Feel They Were Treated Properly by Their Previous Physician
5. Do Not Say Anything About Another Person

The next two keys focus on your interpersonal skills with other professionals. I can’t tell you how common it is to hear that a patient saw a new clinician and all that clinician talked about was how poorly the previous person was.

Everything is easier to see in hindsight. Don’t make judgments on what others have done in the past because you were not there.

Another point to remember is that the patient likely has a connection to the people in their past. Speaking negatively about them is only going to hurt your new relationship with this specific patient.

Unfortunately, I’ve been in these situations before and have observed people try to get ahead in life by bringing others down. Don’t be that person.

6. Do Not Be the First Person to Make the BIG Statement
7. Always Be Open-Minded

These next two keys are very similar to the lessons learned above, but again another great reminder. Keep listening and learning.

8. Attitude, Responsibility, Knowledge, Desire, and Availability are Always Necessary to be Successful
9. The Physician Must be Confident with Their Diagnosis and Skills. Their Confidence is Reflected Back and Perceived by the Patient

The last two keys are finally about you and your interactions with the patient.

Much of this comes with experience. But even with limited experience, you can show compassion and sincerely want to help people.

You also must be confident in your own self. It is very transparent and easily noticed by the patient if you have any doubt. If there is a specific area that you are not confident in, you owe it to yourself and your patients to become more knowledgeable in that area, so you can become more confident as well.

What to Do Next?

I’m super proud to be able to share the things that I have learned from Dr. Andrews over the years and hope they help you too.

If I were you, I would share and save this article and reflect back on it routinely. I have done this throughout my career and will continue to do so.

 

 

Watch My Live Q&A Recording

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The latest Inner Circle recording is now available – it’s a Live Q&A I recorded recently.

Watch My Live Q&A Recording

This month’s Inner Circle presentation is a recording of the Facebook Live Q&A session I recently hosted for my Inner Circle members. I always enjoy these sessions, we run through a ton of great questions!

Here are just a few of the things we discussed:

  • Distal clavicle excisions
  • Adhesive capsulitis
  • Repeated motion
  • Pain threshold
  • The future of the PTA profession
  • And so much more…

To access this webinar:

 

4 Things I Learned in 2017

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Each year I try to always look back and reflect on what I have learned and changed in my life, both personally and professionally. We really put a priority on personal development at Champion. This helps me to grow and evolve as I learn each year, plus, helps me set goals for the upcoming new year.

If you don’t also reflect back on what you have learned and changed, I think you are missing out on a huge opportunity to grow.  Too many people in our fields spend all their energy defending their beliefs instead of keeping an open mind and evolving.

I’ll share some of the things I learned in 2017, but if you are interested, I’d love to read in the comments what you have learned that has changed your approach this year. By sharing, we can all grow.

Ego is the Enemy

Early in the year I read a great book called Ego is the Enemy, by Ryan Holliday. I thought it was great and had a big impact on my year.

Usually when we think of ego, we think of it in a bad way. But that’s not always the case and not what I took from the book.

Being egotistical all the time can be bad, but often times we just do things for the wrong reasons, that I believe often limit us and inhibit our growth.

I actually used this mindset a lot this year, and said “no” more than any past year in my career. I am a big fan of establishing goals. If a project wasn’t right and didn’t ultimately lead to my goals, I said “no.” In the past I have felt like I have always said “yes” to everything for the fear of missing out. That to me was saying “yes” for my ego.

From a business perspective, think of it this way, rather than building a new service for your facility to make money or gain notoriety, or essentially to boost your ego, build a new service to actually help people achieve their goals.

It’s surprising to me when I clearly see people advertise things that are clearly just for them, not for the consumer. If your motivation behind the program is sincere, things will always work out better for you, and you’ll make that money and gain that notoriety organically.

EliteBaseballPerformance.com is a great example of this concept for me. I started the website because I was sick of all the garbage and marketing around baseball development that I saw online. We needed a trustworthy place for information for players, parents, coaches, and rehab/fitness specialist.

I didn’t start it to make money, in fact I’m well in the hole financially, I did it to help the game of baseball, which I’m passionate about. Will we offer products on it in the future and make money, sure, but we won’t offer these products with the goal of making money, that will be the side benefit. We’ll offer them to help our mission and the game of baseball.

We also did this when we launched our new Elite Pitching Performance Program at Champion this winter. We could have charged triple what we did, but it wasn’t about the money, it was about giving back to the local teams in the area and building what I believe is the best and more comprehensive pitching development program in the country. It wasn’t about my ego, it was about helping these kids achieve their goals, heck their dreams, by taking their baseball career to the next level.

This year I really reflected on my decisions and said, am I doing this for the right reasons, or for my own ego?

Simple is Still Better

Man, are we getting carried away in the rehab and fitness fields with the latest trends and fads. It seems like every day there is a new post on social media that blows my mind by taking such huge leaps in rationale.

I’ve always been complimented on my presentations for one main reason – people have told me I make the complicated more simple.

As social media continues to become a contest of who can make simple things more complicated, I’ve been doing the exact opposite.

Students are graduating school right now with set mindsets and opinions that complicated systems are the definitive answer. Wow, I wish everyone realized there are no definitive answers.

But more alarming to me is that they haven’t learned how to actually treat a shoulder, yet think the first thing they must tackle is diaphragmatic breathing. Sure, that may be important but is that your primary focus? Is that how you want to spend your VERY limited time with your client?

At Champion, we always focus on the low hanging fruit first. You’ll hear us say that a lot.

I’ve talked about this in the past with things like the concept Kinetic Chain Ripple Effect and my post on The Problem with the Kinetic Chain Concept. Sure, it stinks that your left big toes doesn’t extend. But there are about 50 other things I would work on first that will be more impactful for someone with shoulder pain.

Students and new grads – Master the basics first, then expand your approach to focus on the more complicated. You’ll get much better results.

As I look back on the year, I’m focusing on the basics and keeping it simple more than ever, and I believe my outcomes just keep getting better.

Our Assessments Must Have 2 Components

When I first started physical therapy school more than 20 years ago, we were a very “joint-based” profession. We weren’t thinking globally and we were very focused on the person’s symptoms.

Over the last couple of decades, the “functional” approach has taken priority with a focus on movement quality, which is great.

At Champion this year, we took a big step back and assessed our own evaluation process. We essentially said, each of our evaluations must have two components:

  1. A structural examination
  2. A movement assessment

Our treatment sessions and our performance programs all focus on both. If you are still focused on only one of these, you are really missing the boat.

As with anything, pendulums shift and we are probably starting to lean more towards the movement side of the assessment on our profession.  But, I think this will come back to the middle at some point.

You must look both structurally and functionally.

The Right Way to Use Social Media

I’m really proud of so many young professionals getting themselves out there on social media. I believe that sharing our knowledge is a key component of our own personal growth.

But, I’m not sure most are doing it right, or least what I would consider “right.”

I’m not sure we need another post on the plank, and I’m not sure we need to be making our own “quotes” as if we are all brilliant prophets.

I want to see more people educating and making posts for their clients.

This year I tried to keep it simple and not about my ego, make it more about helping people (see the recurring themes from above?). Remember, we are in a service industry.

Want some examples of people I think doing it right?

Here are some links to Instagram profiles you should follow and model yourself after, like I have:

  • @achievefitnessboston – My friends Jason and Lauren Pak may have the best IG account going right now, with excellent quality content.  Their approach to things like making strength training less intimidating to the masses is a great example of people doing it right through education and focusing their posts on helping people, not themselves.
  • @shiftmovementscience – Dave Tilley shares his passion about improving gymnastics.  Not 1 ounce of what he does is about his ego, it’s about the athletes he helps and the sport he loves.  
  • @fitnesspainfree – Dan Pope has been sharing his knowledge and walks the walk about high level fitness athletes.
  • @syattfitness – It’s been fun to watch Jordan build his online presence, sharing a TON of simple but impactful content
  • More of our crew at Champion, and some newbies to the online world are @lenmacpt, @kieferlammi, and @mikescadutodpt, who are building their online presence the right way with great educational content from the start.

What Have You Learned?

Now’s a great time to reflect on what you have learned this year. Again, I would love to hear about it in the comments below, but even if you don’t share I encourage you to reflect on the past year on your own.

Good luck in 2018!